The Postcard Cafe

Stellenbosch, is one of my favourite places.  The sites, the sounds, the culture, the vibe, it’s all equally as special and contributes to the beautiful town that it is. Whether you are of an elderly generation and you seek a quiet place to enjoy a Sunday afternoon or perhaps your young aspiring student seeking a caramel vodka shot and a place to squeak some takkie on a Wednesday night. Whatever your demographic, age or agenda Stellenbosch is very much a happening town that caters for just about everyone. Over the last few months I have spent more time in the ‘bosch’ than the average non-Stellenbosch studying student, and thus indulged in some of the local restaurants. Some good, others, not so much. The restaurant up for review today falls into the: “not so much” category. Do allow me to elaborate.

About ten minutes outside of the beauty that is Stellenbosch exists a beautiful little restaurant called The Postcard Café. My girlfriend and I woke up on a Sunday morning feeling particularly hungry and we decided to treat ourselves to something other than the classic ‘Chicken Mayo tramezenni’ from Caltex. On a friend’s recommendation we decided to put our student budgets to the test and try some place different, you know, some place nice. Off we went as we ventured down Merriman road deeper into the beauty of Stellenbosch, away from the 4- way stop streets and busy town life and into the more scenic natural environment. We finally arrived at the Postcard Café and what a beautiful setting it was.

The restaurant is situated on a large piece of land that boasts stunning green pastures and a beautiful mountain backdrop. The setting is enough to grab your attention and make you want to grab a table. That we did, and before I knew it I was sitting at one of the most stunning restaurants I had ever been to. As soon as I managed to get my breathe back my tummy kindly reminded me that I had come to breakfast not because I was looking for a beautiful view but rather because I was in fact starving. My attention now turned to the menu. If I’m honest, the menu itself didn’t really scream excitement and although I was incredibly hungry there was nothing jumping off the page for me. The restaurant and its whole vibe is really modern, the setting is beautiful one would expect the food, or at least the menu to be as well. Sadly, it was not. It was all very plain; the menu was small (which is not necessarily a bad thing) and there was little variety or evidence of a theme. To put it simply; the menu was ‘random’.  But like they say “the proof is in the pudding” and it would be wrong of me to judge a restaurant without tasting what it has to offer first.

For some obscure reason I decided to go with the mixed meat and cheese platter option. The meal not only took forever to make its way to me, but when it did I found myself incredibly disappointed. The cheeses were plonked on the plate haphazardly, while the meats were hidden away underneath them.  The platter itself wasn’t visually appealing in the slightest, so it was already 5 points down in my book. In terms of taste, the platter continued to disappoint as the selections offered weren’t varied and after a while the flavours became tiresome and bland.  Nonetheless I was determined for my eating experience to change so I searched the dessert section of the menu, in the hope that I would find something that could redeem the below par cheese and meat platter I had been struggling my way through for the better part of Sunday morning. Once again, there was nothing jumping off the page but after a while my girlfriend and I decided to share a chocolatey/peanutty kind of a dessert, forgive me I forget what it was called. Basically it was a chocolate peanut square which ,much like my cheese platter was just plonked on the plate with very little effort or care.

My experience at the Postcard Café was a sombre one, although I was surrounded by beautiful views my dining experience was something I could easily forget. It’s a pity though because a restaurant of such beauty in such a place could offer so much more. I cant help but feel that the restaurant is poorly managed and badly run.