Eight Restaurant at Spier shares their summer tapas menu with us

by Karisa

I’m going to be honest… Over the past few years I’ve lost touch with the happenings over at Spier.  I mean the last time I was there, they still had a Moyo there.  So yes, I hang my head in shame…

Luckily I was recently invited to try out the new summer tapas menu at their beautiful farm-to-table style restaurant called Eight & it allowed me to fall in love with this wine farm all over again.

The name (or more correctly the number) Eight refers to balance, cycles, harmony, infinity & abundance, and that’s what they aim to achieve with this eatery.  The produce used at Eight is either grown on the farm or sourced from nearby farmers.  They prefer natural and organic ingredients which are combined in a unique way to create healthy, yet delicious food.  Their fillet, sirloin & sausages come from grass-fed cattle reared on Spier’s pastures & the eggs are laid by happy hens who roam around freely in the fields (you’ve heard of Farmer Angus meat & eggs right?  Well this is their home).

Their menu changes seasonally, and that’s why we were there – to welcome in the warmer summer months with some fresh new dishes paired with Spier’s range of beautiful wines.

As far as decor goes, Eight has a very light, easy feel.  They also make use of some clever “upcycled” features, like the ceiling on their terrace which has been lined with over 10 000 individually crafted flowers made from recycled white plastic milk bottles, and the light fittings in the main section of the restaurant that’s made from recycled plastic bottles lit with low voltage LEDs.

Now the menu, I’ll have you know, was an absolute feast…  I’m not going to single out any dishes in particular, because it really is a case of you can’t go wrong with anything.  We also had free reign over their Spier wine collection, of which the Creative Block 2 & Creative Block 3 were my favourites.  Another notable mention goes to their new Spier Secret Sparkling Wine which tastes a little bit like a strawberry and raspberry infused Prosecco.

But let me take you on a little visual journey…

Pre-starters consisted of a few delicious dippy and snacky things paired with some fresh gardens greens…

The starters selection included items like sustainable fish with ginger & chilli, a garden peas, baby beet, radish & labneh cheese salad, oxtail croquettes, a baby cos salad, and a cauliflower, vanilla & elderflower mash.

Mains part 1 – grilled flank, chimichurri , mustard seeds & potato wontons, karoo lamb riblets, double-thick yoghurt slaw, and a Lamb’s lettuce, broad bean , red onion & croutes salad.

Mains part 2 – sticky pork belly, charred asparagus with farm egg, potato & nasturtium, and pasture-reered hanger with a hollandaise sauce.

And then dessert was a spread of parsnip cake, and grapefruit & almonds, paired with ice cream & meringue.

Like I said… gorgeous food all round…  Pricing wise, I’m not going to give you specific prices per dish, because the menu will be changing based on availability of ingredients, etc.  But for savoury tapas, you’re looking at around R60 to R90 per dish.  For the sweet things, you’re looking at R55/R60 each.  And as far as portion sizes go, you can expect them to be the same as what we had on the night.

For me, as far as tapas go, that’s pretty standard pricing.  But here you’re getting the added bonus of everything literally being the freshest they can possibly be (because of the whole farm-to-table thing of course).

I think this summer tapas menu is going to delight Spier visitors, both old and new.  I certainly have a very good reason to plan a return visit again soon.

Eight scores a kiss4_smudge on the  Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale.

For bookings, contact them on: +27 (21) 809 1188 or at eight@spier.co.za

They are open:

  • Tuesday – Sunday for brunch from 10:00 – 12:00, lunch from 12:00 – 15:00, and tea from 15:00 – 16:30.
  • Thursday – Saturday for dinner from 18:30 – 21:30.
  • And then in December, Eight will be open for dinner from 2nd December 2015, Tuesday to Saturday, and 7 days a week from 22nd December 2015 to 7th January 2016.

xxx

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