Flamingo - Restaurant Reviews - The Grapevine Restaurant, Swakopmund
“...is a piece of art and art needs a certain time to be exceptional. Time needs patience and to be patient is an art – the art of the gourmet cook.”
How true and how clever to put this sentence at the beginning of the menu so you, the guest, know immediately that this is not a ‘fast food’ restaurant and that the dishes are freshly prepared.
When we enter the restaurant we notice a big wine rack in the reception area, where patrons are greeted by a fireplace and a comfortable seating arrangement. We settle down at our table in the non-smoking section of The Grapevine Restaurant, situated in a separate room of this old German house that was built in 1908 and lovingly restored. A friendly waitress brings us the menu. We are pleasantly surprised to find a good but not too big selection of starters, fish, meat and vegetarian dishes as well as an interesting dessert selection. As always, it’s difficult to make a decision, but eventually we order the vegetarian curry and the Tagliatelle a la Fungi. For dedicated meat eaters, there are many choices, such as Ostrich Sosaties and Entrecote Camembert.
After ordering our meal, our curiosity takes us back to the front room to take a closer look at the wines. While studying the different labels, the owner, Jürgen Baas, approaches and asks if he can be of assistance. He tells us that wines are his passion and that's why he decided to display them, as people like to look at a label and hold the bottle in their hands. He says each guest can taste the wine before ordering a bottle. He then turns around to show us his wine-tasting nook. There are between 100 to 130 different wines to choose from, and we have great fun tasting a wine he recommends, which is a perfect choice for the vegetarian dishes we have ordered. If you don't want a whole bottle, you can order wine by the glass. The wine-tasting nook is also an area where you meet people and exchange information while enjoying the wine.
We are called back to the table, as our food is ready. The pasta has been cooked al dente, the mushrooms are fresh and tasty and the cream sauce with the tagliatelle is a delight. The vegetable curry is not too hot and the vegetables are cooked to perfection. It’s no wonder, as Jürgen’s wife, Sabine, is a qualified chef and both have had many years of restaurant experience. Sabine insists on using only fresh ingredients as far as possible and has her own herb garden.
The couple owned and ran a successful restaurant in Windhoek for 10 years before moving to Swakopmund, where they opened The Grapevine Restaurant five years ago. Their kitchen staff moved to the coast with them. When they saw the colonial house at 42 Libertine Amathila Street, they immediately fell in love with it. They started restoring it to its former glory soon after signing the lease agreement. During excavation they found old tiles and bottles that date back to the beginning of the last century when Johan Heuschneider brewed beer between these walls (1912–1918 Kronenbrauerei) and also to the 1930s when a tannery was put up in the house. The inside still has its old-world charm and the Baas’s have lovingly furnished the different dining areas. There are 35 seats available in two separate rooms and a small courtyard area.
After our meal we move to the reception room and settle in front of the fire to enjoy a good glass of brandy, the perfect way to end a meal.
FACT FILE The Grapevine Restaurant 42 Libertine Amathila Street Tel: 064 40 4770 Fax: 064 40 4760 Opening times: Monday to Saturday from 18:00, closed Sundays
