Luke Dale-Roberts of La Colombe
The Wings of the Dove
It was under Franck Dangereux that La Colombe took flight. But Englishman Luke Dale-Roberts has taken the iconic Constantia restaurant to new culinary heights. By Joanne Gibson.
I speak schoolgirl French, which has proved useful on a number of occasions - on holiday in Madagascar ("No, I do not want to buy that chained lemur"), on a few wine media trips to France while working in London, and on a couple of special occasions at La Colombe on Constantia Uitsig Wine Estate when Franck Dangereux was still there, transforming local ingredients into inspired Provençal dishes with a haute cuisine sensibility, all listed in French on a chalkboard menu.
But sleep deprivation has taken its toll over three years largely devoted to two babies and way too many TV dinners, so it was a relief when we finally ventured back to La Colombe à deux to find that they had done away with the French (except for the name, of course, which means "the dove").
No need to frown through the candlelight, attempting to translate unfamiliar culinary terminology; no need to wait for the ever-so-slightly imperious translation...
Which is not to say that the dishes don't require some explanation - Duo of Lamb is in fact "grilled rack of Karoo lamb finished with lamb jus, alongside confit lamb shoulder on white bean and cherry tomato ragout with rosemary cream and potato dauphinoise".
Quite a mouthful, even in English, but it does make ordering easier for most of us. "And it's less pretentious," agrees British-born Luke Dale-Roberts, who was appointed executive chef in November 2006. "It worked when Franck was here, because he's French, but I'm not, so to carry on with it would have been ridiculous."
He is quick to pay tribute to the man whose big shoes he filled. "Franck has the most amazing sense of flavour; arguably the best in the country." But Dangereux had left to start The Foodbarn in Noordhoek some five months before Dale-Roberts arrived. "So I inherited a bit of a mess, especially as we were going into full season and still needed to appoint 50% of the staff! We had people passing out in the kitchen..."
Not one to mince his words, he says: "The first few months were shit. But we believed in what we were doing so we kept plugging away, and slowly we started to make progress."
New Asian influences were not so slowly added to the existing mix of classic and contemporary French cuisine, with bold flavours tweaked and refined, interesting textures added, and presentation perfected. The result? At the 2008 Prudential Eat Out Awards, Dale-Roberts was named "Chef of the Year" and La Colombe "Restaurant of the Year" - a title it achieved again in 2009, along with being voted one of the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants by UK-based Restaurant magazine.
Arguably more impressive, though, are La Colombe's discerning foodie regulars, from the general manager of Asara Wine Estate & Hotel, Horst Frehse, who sat adjacent to our table, entertaining a group of visiting Relais & Châteaux VIPs, to Lannice Snyman and Justine Drake, recently spotted having a good gossip.
"If they use my restaurant as their place, it can only be a good thing," laughs Dale-Roberts, who nonetheless can't always be persuaded to come out and greet guests at the end of the evening. "It's not really my thing - I'd rather just clean up and go home."
He's not the type to strut his stuff on TV, clearly preferring to let his food do the dazzling. So who is the man who has taken this already iconic restaurant to new culinary heights?
STARTERS
"I decided I wanted to be a chef when I was about 16," reveals Dale-Roberts, the East Sussex lad duly applying to a college in Eastbourne. "In the meantime, I got a job as the kitchen porter at a local manor house. But then I broke my leg in a motorbike accident on the way to work, so I spent three months on crutches, cooking at home."
Armed with two cookbooks - one by Raymond Blanc, the other based on a Channel Four television series called Take Six Cooks - Dale-Roberts started experimenting. "That's when I really started to get excited about food."
After college, his first job was at Baur Au Lac Hotel in Zurich, Switzerland - at the time recognised as one of the top fi ve hotels in the world. Then it was back to the UK, working at a number of well-known London institutions, from The In & Out Club (as The Naval & Military Club is better known) to Corrigan's, Elena's L'Etoile and, perhaps most signifi cantly, The Sugar Club restaurants. "I worked under the hottest fusion chef around - and also met my wife, Sandalene, who is South African and was working there as a waitress."
Within six months they had moved in together, marrying a year later. "She is my driving force - an amazing woman, very creative." Since returning to Cape Town, she has opened a boutique for her own fashion designs in Long Street, called Miyabi which means "elegance" in Japanese.
But back to London, where Dale-Roberts's first position as executive chef was at The Loft, part of the Accor Hotel Group, which subsequently asked him to open its signature concept restaurant in Asia, The Square in Singapore. Accor then sent him to open a modern French bistro in Seoul, Korea, where he later had the opportunity to work with top Japanese chefs from Tokyo's famous Shunji group to launch Shune, a modern Japanese dining concept combining traditional and modern "Nobustyle" dishes.
"The Japanese are a super-race," he marvels. "They just get everything nailed. Perhaps it's that whole dignity, savingface thing, but French patisserie in Japan is better than in France these days, and nine times out of 10, Italian food is better in Japan than it is in Italy."
Not surprisingly, he still hankers after spending some time in Tokyo ("I think it's the most exciting, inspiring place in the world"), but his five-year stint in Asia ended in the Philippines, where he launched Spiral, an interactive, multinational-dining restaurant at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila.
"It was a really good experience but I was getting tired of the hotel scene, so when Sandalene fell pregnant, we decided to come to South Africa. We arrived in Cape Town with a 10-day-old baby, and I started at La Colombe the next day."
MAINS
The rest, as they say, is history. Or at least history in the making. As waiter Lucy Lynham informs us, after unfalteringly describing dishes like Springbok carpaccio and tartare on sous vide green asparagus, semi-dried tomato and pickled celeriac, zucchini and goat cheese cannelloni, pine nut and thyme gremelata and basil crema: "Luke is going through a really creative phase at the moment. I don't know what's come over him, but there are new dishes every night!"
Dale-Roberts confirms that he has a whole notebook filled with ideas. "There's so much I want to do, but I'm struggling to find the time!" Which is hardly surprising, considering he has recently been given overall responsibility for the River Café, the least formal of Constantia Uitsig's three restaurants (the third and eponymous restaurant being in the hands of Clayton Bell: "Clayton's a great guy. We're forever borrowing stuff from each other.").
The aim at River Café is to offer an authentic and affordable bistro-style dining experience, using only the freshest local ingredients, with head chef Scot Kirton (previously sous chef at La Colombe) serving up plates of wholesome, satisfying fare with a sophisticated country feel. "Scot was ready to take on something of his own," says Dale-Roberts of his protégé, "and he has found his feet quickly - the food is really starting to shine."
Certainly I had one of the best Caesar salads I've tasted in Cape Town, followed by an intensely delicious tart of cep mushrooms and, to end, a sublime chocolate fondant that outshone La Colombe's warm chocolate truffle (sorry, Luke). A big space with some 150 seats, the River Café was previously only open for breakfast, lunch and tea but now also serves dinner - that's between 400 and 500 covers a day, according to Dale-Roberts. At La Colombe, meanwhile, there's a two-week waiting list for the "95 covers max" in summer, when there's outside seating.
"But that's pushing it. You reach a critical point fairly quickly in fine dining, because the kitchen is set up in a certain way and everything must be perfect because people are spending so much money. I think we get it right 99% of the time."
Dale-Roberts attributes La Colombe being fully booked every day - despite the prices - to good local support: "If we only attracted tourists, that would be artificial. What would happen if they went away?" For this reason, he is planning to offer a winter special even when the FIFA world Cup is underway. "Maybe a five-course tasting menu that's affordable."
Having previously done the so-called Transcending Seasons and Elements "concept menus", the latter including courses such as Field, Sea, Farm, Forest, Mountain and Garden served on suitably themed crockery, he currently offers a relative simple seven-course tasting menu.
"Just a few little theatricals - not too much!" For the food and wine matches, he works with manager Jennifer Whittle. "I think a good match has something to do with intensity. When it's bang on, somehow the flavours of the food and wine neutralise each other - but in a good way!"
Mostly diners find themselves guided through the veritable book of a winelist by one of three sommeliers: David Nel, Elisabeth Griggs and barman Brett Naicker.
It is the latter who quietly appears at the table just as I say that I've been dying to try the newly released Constantia Uitsig Chardonnay Unwooded 2009, and suggests that the Constantia Uitsig White 2008 will actually be a much more suitable match with my Fricassée of Quail and Langoustine starter.
He's spot on - the well-integrated honey and citrus flavours of the barrel-fermented Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon blend perfectly complement my fantastic pan-fried breast and confit leg of quail with grilled langoustine, baby corn and water chestnuts, Miso-corn butter and smoked olive oil.
On hearing this, Dale-Roberts says: "Brett gets a lot of compliments for being very knowledgeable yet understated, whereas so many sommeliers are over the top." (He gets brownie points from me, too, for bringing me a complimentary sample of that delicious Chardonnay...)
DESSERTS
It seems Dale-Roberts couldn't be happier, despite the restaurants being so busy that he's constantly being phoned on his days off. "It's okay, I need stimulation otherwise I get bored!"
He loves working with South Africans ("there's a great work ethic in my kitchen") and he's proud of the fact that Constantia Uitsig is "unique" in terms of its food and beverage offering. Above all, he's working hard to make sure that more people experience La Colombe.
"We have always had our regulars, which is great, but suddenly we also have a lot of new, younger people coming to try it, to enjoy themselves, to have fun. I can't stand fine dining being taken too seriously.
Eating out should be about discovery and enjoyment, not analysis and criticism." Which brings him to something he feels very strongly about in his adopted country, a country whose "restaurant industry is still in its infant state and needs to be nurtured in order to grow".
He says: "The worst thing for me is these little people with little agendas, dabbling behind their computer screens, being so critical, so destructive, forgetting that it's our livelihood, our passion, and knocking us down just because they think it's fun to do so."
Combining Dale-Roberts's imaginative flair and superb technique with impeccable service and an award-winning winelist, this dove isn't about to be knocked off its perch by anyone anytime soon.
La Colombe, Tel 021 794 2390. River Café, Tel 021 794 3010. Constantia Uitsig, Spaanschamat River Road, Constantia, Cape Town. www.constantia-uitsig.com
