From the outset Rust en Vrede, one of the Cape Winelands’ most consistently acclaimed fine dining restaurants for nearly two decades, was about creating a legacy.
The Engelbrecht family owned the estate, but Jannie Engelbrecht wasn’t interested in a restaurant. His son, Jean Engelbrecht, had other plans, and after his father retired, he built one on the 200-year-old property with a vision borrowed from California.
Nearly 20 years ago, Engelbrecht had been to Napa Valley to visit wineries and wandered into the French Laundry. He experienced a revelation about what fine dining could be: serious but not pretentious. “It was fine dining, but it wasn’t as stiff and as formal as the ones I’d been exposed to in Europe,” he says. “And I thought it was something that fitted quite well – food and wine were always very big on the table at home. My mother was big on making sure that I understood food and wine.”
Now, in a beautifully restored 18th-century Cape Dutch cellar, the ambience of the restaurant is serene and grounded with roots in the winelands. Thick whitewash walls, dark timber details, original yellowwood ceilings and a traditional thatched room set the scene for a warm and intimate environment. It’s refined without being formal, with views overlooking the vineyards.
Photographs of the family line some walls, with many featuring Jean’s mother, Ellen. He recalls something she always said: “Remember there are real people living here”. But, as he notes, the history adds weight. “You sit in this old building and together with the wine, people expect the food to be good. [It’s] the whole thing together that makes it special.”
Rust en Vrede’s first chef was David Higgs, who went on to become one of the country’s most high-profile chefs and co-founded Marble. When Higgs came on board, he said there were two things that were non-negotiable: one was a hand-built oven from France (still operating), which, at the time, cost the same as a car. The other was a refusal to compromise on anything: linen, cutlery, the works. Engelbrecht trusted him and signed off on it.
After opening, the two went to Europe to benchmark what the restaurant was doing against the continent’s finest. They came back and started again from scratch. It was the best thing they could have done, says Engelbrecht.
The food leans on contemporary French technique, layered with subtle Brazilian and Italian influences from Fabio Daniel, a Brazilian-born chef with Italian heritage who has been at the restaurant for about 15 years. He started working under Higgs before taking over as head chef.
A former professional basketball player, Daniel creates expressive dishes that balance these influences with a light touch. He is committed to keeping the restaurant’s foundation intact: modern French cuisine, infused with his heritage. Raised in São Paulo — home to one of the largest Japanese communities outside Japan — he draws on East Asian flavours, which carry a thread throughout the menu.
Dinner starts with yellowfin tuna, cured in a ginger salt to create a warm glaze. Underneath that tuna is a South American-inspired ceviche dressing with toasted sesame seed crisps.
The menu says six courses, but it’s interspersed with beautifully presented treats, and while the plates are relatively small and not overly complicated, they maintain nuance. An almost taco-like-shaped fold of vanilla tuile, filled with cauliflower cream and a white wine gel, is so delicate you must hold it lightly. And then comes our favourite, a chevin goat’s cheese mousse moulded into a cherry and coated with a glaze. It’s delicious, light and full of flavour.
The bread course is made with homemade potatoes. In a drawstring bag next to the loaf, a Brazilian-style cheese puff called pão de queijo, made with parmesan and tapioca, is gluten-free with a cheesier taste. It’s served with a sweet honey butter, but with or without it, it’s sublime.
Where my dining partner had rock lobster, I had kingklip, but with the same flavour profile of coconut and lime. The rock lobster had been cooked at 58°C to create the perfect texture, and both dishes were covered with coconut and apricot.
On a pedestal, we are presented with cucumber crystal ― made of cucumber crisps and topped with a yoghurt dressing and basil dust. In another dish, avocado cream and balsamic rolls are nestled between spinach tuiles.
Pinot noir accompanies the roasted baby chicken breast, cured in gin and spiced pear, and served with vegetables. Then comes beef sirloin with mushrooms and a puree of cocoa, followed by a black bean croquette with traditional black bean stew from Brazil called feijoada.
A “pre-dessert” is the caipirinha, based on the Brazilian cocktail of the same name, a liquid of lime and cachaça sorbet encased in white chocolate and topped with popping candy. Dessert is parmesan ice cream and brigadeiro (passionfruit) accompanied by a bottle of Keermont Fleurfontein.
For Daniel, it’s about offering a world-class experience. “I always tell people I have to keep the integrity of the history of the estate. We are a fine dining restaurant; that’s what we wanted to do. But each chef has had his own identity.”
The restaurant only serves dinner, but the estate also runs a more casual lunch option at the tasting room ― called the Winemakers Lunch ― which has been running since the restaurant opened and can now seat more than 200 guests outdoors. The menu began with only two choices: sirloin or salmon. A pepper-crusted fillet was added about seven years ago, but that’s still the entire menu. No starters, no desserts. It’s a big part of their business.
Rust en Vrede was always conceived of as an international destination. When it opened, Engelbrecht had already noticed the growing influx of international tourists to the winelands and it was designed for them from the outset. “If you look now at the number of tourists coming to the winelands and Cape Town, it’s astonishing.”
The estate now operates 12 restaurants across South Africa and Namibia. All of it grew from a single insight: that a winery’s most powerful sales tool is a great table. It’s a great way to sell the wines directly. “For every bottle I sell in my own restaurants, I’ve got to sell three or four bottles outside in the market, so it makes a huge difference.”
The wine programme is one of the most respected in the region and has been awarded the Wine Spectator Best of Award For Excellence for over 13 consecutive years. Rust en Vrede itself was named Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year at the 2026 Luxe Restaurant Awards and earned two stars at the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards.
Next year will mark 50 years that the Engelbrecht family has owned the estate and 20 years since the restaurant opened.
