Sometimes you just want a meal that feels like a hug. Farro has always been that for me — warm, buttery, gloriously comforting.
I’ve been a fan since they opened in a little corner of a shopping centre in Illovo and have followed them across pop-ups and spaces since. Their most recent move to Gardens, Cape Town, is perhaps their best fit yet.
You’ll find it down a nondescript side street lined with adjoining houses. A lit circular sign — the letter F in Farro’s font — is all that gives away you’re in the right place.
Inside, the restaurant runs across two floors, the lower housing a welcome lounge and bar, its countertop a familiar sight that has travelled with Farro across many moves.
Eloise, one half of the husband-and-wife duo who own and run the place, is mixing a martini behind it. Alex, her husband and the chef, sticks his head out from the kitchen to say hi. We reminisce about the early days. He points to some divots on the bar top — just as he did in the first store, he’s installed it here himself.
This small detail, though, really encompasses what Farro has always been about: two people passionate about hospitality doing whatever needed to be done to bring their vision to life.
Recently, a dispute over a previous tenant’s water bill forced a months-long closure.
Their community of fans, friends, and avid diners contributed to and entered a raffle to raise the funds needed to sort out the issue and reopen. It speaks to who they are as people, and it’s a large part of what makes Farro so special.
The food, of course, is the other part. In Gardens they’ve found their sweet spot: a four-course menu of sheer deliciousness.
It begins with a series of snacks. Alex’s legendary beignets — gloriously spiced potato puffs of pure happiness, a host of thick-cut sweet and tangy pickles with just the right amount of crunch, and a cauliflower velouté — that’s just warm and yummy and exactly what one would want on a chilly Cape Town evening. Home-baked focaccia lands at the table as you sit down. Pace yourself; you’ll want some to lap up the remaining soup.
What follows is a progression of savoury courses which change with market availability but, on my visit (and usually), follow the format of pasta, fish, and meat.
Currently, glorious little scarpinocc comprise the pasta course. The shoe-shaped pasta is stuffed with the deep, earthy flavours of Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut, finished with a generous dusting of Belnori Kilimanjaro cheese — an additional layer of texture and flavour to an already superb dish.
The fish of the day is kabeljou, the tender fillet cooked to perfection and set atop a crispy, multi-layered potato pavé resting in a gorgeously glossy caper cream.
The Wagyu brisket could honestly be eaten with a spoon alone. The slow-cooked meat falls apart at the touch of a fork, bolstered by creamy celeriac and the deep umami of black garlic; it is some seriously solid cooking.
Bringing things to a close is the chocolate cream — a dish that has appeared on the menu in various forms over the years. This version, with its naartjie gel, cocoa nib snap, and supremely creamy milk sorbet, has somehow found viral fame, racking up more than a hundred thousand views on Instagram. If only all those viewers could taste it.
Eight years on, Farro is exactly what I expected it to be: true to its roots, loaded with butter and cream and all things delicious — make no mistake, though, it’s incredibly concise and clever cooking — with no frills or fuss to hide behind. It is all though, served with the kind of warmth that makes you feel like you’re in someone’s home. Perhaps that after all is the beauty of Farro, for wherever they’ve gone, they’ve always managed to make it feel that way.
Wanted
