As a committed rooibos addict it was with glee that I accepted an invitation to attend a gourmet rooibos weekend at the luxury Bushmans Kloof in the Cederberg.
The rooibos fun started off with a delicately-spiced rooibos iced tea that the boyfriend and I were served on arriving at the lodge after a hot and roadwork-obstructed drive from Cape Town. The rooibos delights just continued from there: we sipped on rooibos mojitos around the fire in the boma before dinner (while watching the clear Cederberg sky slowly fill with the stars we never see in the city), and feasted on gnocchi with rooibos-infused sautéed mushrooms, salmon poached in rooibos and a rooibos crème brulee. In a word: yum.
That night we settled into our extremely large and extremely luxurious hotel room which is about the size of my boyfriend’s flat. Seriously. It might even be bigger, with his and hers bathrooms, a massive bed, lounge area and patio. We were totally ready to move in forever.
The next morning dawned with beautiful clear Cederberg light and a delicious breakfast buffet (fresh fruit, various yoghurts, freshly squeezed juices, loads of different cheeses, five different kinds of breads) and the start of our rooibos cooking discovery.
Floris Smith, the lodge’s executive chef, hosts the cooking demonstrations, which are held in small groups. During our first demonstration, Floris showed us how versatile rooibos is to cook with, by demonstrating how to smoke ostrich fillet with rooibos leaves to make ostrich carpaccio, how to poach salmon in rooibos liquid, make rooibos smoked chicken salad and even rooibos risotto.
After the morning’s rooibos demonstration we had a lazy few hours lying next to one of the lodge’s (numerous) swimming pools. I was so relaxed that I fell asleep in the sun on a lounger, awoken by the boyfriend, who’d booked us in for an archery lesson. I turned out to be unsurprisingly crap at archery, although I did manage to hit the bulls eye – this is likely never to be repeated again – and thus won the contest. After our intense archery session, we set off on a very hot hike from the lodge. Knowing high tea was to be serve imminently, we cut the hike to a short stroll so that we would be back in time for what was promised to be a fabulous spread.
It was one of the best high teas I’ve ever had. While sipping more of the most delicious iced rooibos tea in the world, we tucked into rooibos cupcakes, dark chocolate and rooibos brownies, a rooibos and smoked salmon quiche, mini BLT sandwiches, fluffy scones with jam and cream, sausage rolls and platters of luscious fresh fruit.
I still felt ridiculously full when we went on a late-afternoon nature drive around the reserve. The English tourists who were on the drive were terribly excited about the ostriches, springbok and gemsbok we saw; I was more thrilled to spot wild rooibos growing in all its fynbossy glory in the golden Cederberg afternoon.
That night we dined under the stars at Embers, a deck built out in the reserve, and feasted on rooibos champagne cocktails, a chicken curry cooked with rooibos, bobotie infused with rooibos, rooibos malva pudding and rooibos milk tart.
You’d think that I’d have gone off rooibos by the next day, but no. On an early morning drive to one of the reserve’s 130 rock art sites we stopped for coffee and warm-out-of-the-oven muffins, overlooking the glorious vast Cederberg landscape as I sipped a big mug of my favourite fynbos brew. I loved the rock art site we went to. Not to sound corny, but it was kind of a mystical experience, seeing figures and animals painted three thousand years ago by pre-modern graffiti artists.
Before tucking into an indulgent brunch, we had our last cooking demonstration, where Floris showed us how to make some amazing rooibos desserts: baklava with rooibos syrup, rooibos-chai ice cream and a rooibos milk tart. They were all surprisingly easy to make, and so delicious.
I left Bushmans Kloof even more addicted to rooibos and with a new love for the magical fynbos plant. It’s so much more than just tea.
The gourmet chef’s weekends at Bushmans Kloof, run through the winter and cost from R1900 a person sharing a night, which includes all meals and lodge activities and cooking demonstrations.
Contact: Tel 021-481-1860, [email protected], www.bushmanskloof.co.za
Upcoming gourmet chef’s weekends at Bushmans Kloof:
Bread – the healthy way: 10 to 12 June
Decadent delights weekend (cooking with chocolate): 29 to 31 July
Watch out for my favourite recipes and pics in the June issue of Getaway.
