This restaurant has long been on our eating out wish list. Franck Dangereux and his Foodbarn Restaurant at the Farm Village in Noordhoek enjoy an excellent reputation, so we were ready to have our socks knocked off.
The Place – From the outside the Foodbarn is an unassuming old barn in the middle of the Noordheok Farm Village. The place has a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere. The main dining room has open space all the way up to the high thatch ceiling, which makes the restaurant feel spacious and airy; the light colours add to that feel. There's also an upstairs dining area overlooking the main room. We chose to sit upstairs, as it has a more intimate and personal ambiance. Even though the restaurant serves fine cuisine, it doesn’t feel overly posh or pretentious. We didn't get the warmest welcome at the entrance, but our waiter was very friendly, if a bit awkward. Even though we felt that sitting upstairs had been the right choice, we soon realised that the second floor is quite a challenge for the staff who have to run up and down all night, and as we found out, the disconnect from the main area can make co-ordinating their service a bit difficult: we finally got the wine we ordered before our main course just as we were finishing off.
The Menu – The Foodbarn offers a decent selection of starters and main courses in various combinations. They have a set amuse bouche menu with 5 to 6 smaller dishes each paired with a particular wine. Some good sounding items on there, however none of them were vegetarian. In fact, the big shortfall in general was the lack of vegetarian options. The entire menu offered no more than two vegetarian dishes – a starter 'Crunchy cucumber, tomato & mint salad served with fried haloumi and taleggio fritter, finished with virgin olive oil and balsamic syrup' for R78 and a 'Shitake mushroom risotto finished with buttered miso and lemon thyme' for R92. Even then the waiter had to double check whether or not the risotto broth was 100% vegetarian. The lack of choice was disappointing. Otherwise there were certainly some interesting choices. The summer bistro set menu offers a choice out of five or so options for a starter, main, and dessert for R220. Good value for money, although few of the signature dishes make it onto the bistro selection, AND due to the lack of vegetarian dishes this was not an option. For the meat dish we chose a 'Grilled free range beef fillet served with fried Porcini and fondant potato, finished with wild rocket & truffle scented brandy jus' for R155 and a side order of fresh seasonal veggies' for R28.
The Meal – The cucumber salad arrived fairly quickly and looked stunning. The portion was generous with some great elements on the plate, but just too many flavours competing for attention: mint salad, a very sweet balsamic vinegar syrup dressing, little balls of watermelon, and two varieties of fried cheese. Each element was great on its own, but in this case less may have been more. The main course arrived and both dishes looked great. The meat dish was excellent - the fillet tender and perfectly cooked with the brandy-truffle jus definitely raising the dish to another level. The side order of veggies was surprisingly plain considering the mains they were accompanying – although fresh, may as well have come directly from a deepfreeze veggie mix. The risotto was smooth and had an excellent texture, the buttered miso and lemon thyme foam would have been a nice combination, but was unfortunately too salty for my taste. The wine arrived just in time for the last bite of the main course. In short, not really good enough. We finished off our meal with very decent espresso and some chocolate truffles which can be ordered individually – a great alternative to a full dessert.
The Wallet – Considering the price tag and the high standards we know the Foodbarn aspires to, our dinner didn't quite live up to expectations. What we experienced appeared to be more akin to living off reputation rather than living up to reputation. Certain elements were great, even superb, however at this level you can't help but focus on the lack of attention to detail. The fact that the Christmas Menu 2011 and New Years Eve are still up on the webpage supports this impression.
The Rating – 5.5
We expected more.
Would we go back? Sure, if we both ate meat. Apart from the fillet steak that we sampled, some really great looking dishes passed by on their way to other tables. As a vegetarian, maybe one day, but certainly not before checking out the menu online first. However, choosing a meal before getting to a restaurant is not how we envision pre-empting a Foodbarn experience.
About the place: http://www.thefoodbarn.co.za/
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