From The Ground Up
It's over a steaming cup of coffee that chef Carolize Coetzee and I instantly connect. It is early morning after another busy night of service at Tokara restaurant, at the top of the Helshoogte pass, on one of the most beautiful wine estates in Stellenbosch.
The routine activities of cleaning, ordering, and checking bookings and dietary preferences for that day begin. I cast my eyes around – William Kentridge tapestries, gleaming wine vats, and iconic architecture created from glass, steel and stone captivate me. Minutes later Carolize, in gum boots and clutching a basket, is whisking me off past the delicatessen, then through olive groves at breakneck speed, not warning me that she has never driven a golf cart before. As we fly over speedbumps at white-knuckle speed, up the Banhoek mountain, I tell her that her cooking is better than her driving.
Her food is exceptional and I now see why. Tucked away at the top of the estate is a garden that any food lover or chef would be proud to call their own. “Welcome to my o'ce,” she says, smiling. Carolize first checks on the asparagus like a concerned mother and, when she realises it’s come to an end, picks o’ the last few for us to chew, and then fondly bids them farewell.
We stop at the raspberries, where in the heat of the sun she encourages me to taste a few. They are warm, succulent and sweet. ”A few weeks ago they were tiny,” says Carolize. ”I have watched them grow.”
The swathes of kale, kohlrabi and rainbow spinach shine brightly, towered over by large sunflowers basking in the morning sun. “Last year I took the seeds and dried them.” We admire the fruit trees – pear, apple, plum, nectarine and peach – and pluck o’ a plum to snack
