Spring Served Outside - The Al Fresco Flavours of Magoebaskloof
There is something about Spring in Magoebaskloof that makes staying indoors feel almost unreasonable. The mornings soften, gardens stir back into colour, new leaves brighten the forests and the mountain air carries that unmistakable promise of warmer days ahead. With the landscape coming alive around you, meals seem to belong outdoors too. It is the season for finding a table outside, ordering something delicious and forgetting, for a while, about doing anything else.
Magoebaskloof does not offer the polished Mediterranean version of al fresco, with endless blue skies, white linen and obedient weather. Here, eating outdoors is more of an adventure: breakfast on a blueberry farm, coffee at the country’s highest-altitude coffee farm, a braai aboard the Sunset Queen as you drift across Ebenezer Dam, or cake amongst the blooms at Cheerio Gardens.
The common ingredient is fresh mountain air. Food somehow tastes better after a morning hiking up to the Iron Crown, meandering through indigenous forest, mountain biking or wandering through a spring garden. Coffee becomes a reward, cake a perfectly legitimate lunch and a cold Zwakala brew at four in the afternoon feels less like indulgence and more like good planning.
As the mountain shrugs off winter, there is a natural pull towards gardens, patios and sun-warmed decks. At Blueberry Heights Farm Café, the deck looks towards Stanford Lake from a working blueberry and organic kiwi farm. Seasonal flavours and an unhurried setting make this the sort of place where breakfast drifts towards lunch and nobody is particularly concerned about the time.
Further along the R71, The Pot ’n Plow offers a generous covered outdoor area, an extensive menu, mountain hospitality, live Sunday music and plenty of space for children to play in the gardens.
Zwakala Brewery creates an easy-going weekend rhythm with rolling lawns, mountain views, craft beer brewed with pure mountain water and the smell of burgers from the grill. At Magoebaskloof Farmstall, tables cluster beneath tall trees, perfect for a lazy lunch while younger adventurers enjoy the zipline. Or head down the pass to Krabbefontein Café, where roosterkoek can be enjoyed in the sunshine and even four-legged companions have their own menu.
In
Haenertsburg, outdoor dining has its own village charm. At Bistro, locals gather on the sociable stoep over Krabbefontein coffee, their famous cakes and dishes from the blackboard menu. Stella’s Farm Deli tempts you onto the deck with wood-fired pizza, gourmet bunny chow and all-day breakfast, while The Iron Crown pairs its familiar pub atmosphere on the deck with local craft drinks and the iconic Haenerts-burger piled with fresh local produce.
Spring encourages lingering. The gardens in bloom, and light-filled, golden afternoons that persuade you to abandon whatever sensible plans you had made. One coffee becomes another… somebody suggests wine and nobody is in much of a hurry to disagree.
And there are more tables worth discovering. The Red Plate’s wooden deck in the heart of the village for a trout breakfast, InniBerg’s cosy stoep outside the Pennefather complex, valley views from Magoebaskloof Mountain Lodge or Magoebaskloof Hotel, and the glassed-in stoep at Lechner's Brauhaus. There’s Habibi Turkish Restaurant’s spacious deck beneath cherry blossoms or the unmistakable log cabin-styled Pancake House.
Then there are the gardens. Enjoy a light bite amongst the blooms at Cheerio Gardens, or linger over lunch at Kings Walden Garden Manor where its garden paths give way to sweeping views towards the mountains. Of course, outdoor dining can also be back on the patio or deck of your cottage or cabin. Gather whatever caught your eye on the way home. Put bread on a board, add cheese, fruit, something pickled and something sweet. Open a bottle and move the chairs towards the best view.
And this is perhaps the real pleasure of Spring dining in Magoebaskloof. The food is only part of the invitation in a space where birdsong replaces the noise of traffic, there are forests instead of billboards and where a shared meal outdoors leads to a deeper connection with nature, your family and yourself.
Take a look at our Where To Eat guide on page 26 or visit www.mountaingetaways.co.za for inspiring articles featuring some of the best restaurants in Magoebaskloof and Haenertsburg.
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