Foliage

Foliage opened in July 2014, situated on the main high street of Franschhoek almost opposite Le Quartier Francais. Chef Chis Erasmus was formerly head chef at a winery restaurant Pierneef à La Motte before striking out on his own here. There is a modestly sized dining room supplemented by a few outside tables. Given the fairly casual feel to the place and modest price point. the menu is quite ambitious and complex, with most dishes having numerous elements.

The wine list was very kindly priced and had quite a wide selection of local labels. Alheit Cartology was a modest ZAR 435 for a bottle that can be found in a shop for about ZAR 595, Motte Syrah was ZAR 280 yet would set you back around ZAR 347 retail, and Porseleinberg Syrah was ZAR 1,250 but has a shop price of around ZAR 1,312.

Shanghai beef neck bun in a soy-based smoked broth and assorted vegetables including radishes and carrots was pleasant, though I suspect that the texture of the bun would have been improved by serving it separately rather than resting in the stock (12/20).

Yellowtail was correctly cooked, the tomatoes and courgettes with it having good flavour, as did a salsa verde (13/20). A salad of sweetbread and prawns with bacon and beetroot with wild plum puree and a berry and rose petal glaze had good sweetbreads but suffered from distinctly overcooked prawns (11/20).

Service was friendly and capable, the bill coming to just ZAR 550 (£25) for two including tip, so around £12 each with just soft drinks. If you had three courses and shared a bottle of wine you could run up a bill of around £30 or so apiece. Overall I was quite intrigued by my brief lunch at Foliage despite its inconsistencies, and another time I would be happy to try a wider range of dishes.