Abbiocco Italian Restaurant and Deli
Where: Burnedale Farm Centre, Umhlali
Open: Wednesday to Sunday 9am to 4pm
Call: 071 362 1011
IT’S brave opening anything in the middle of a pandemic, but owners Coenie Kruger and Johan Hurter have relocated from Riebeek Kasteel in the Cape to do just that. And they’re bringing their own charming brand of authentic Italian cooking to Salt Rock in their latest venture, a little deli and eatery called Abbiocco.
You sit in a small verandah restaurant off the deli and kitchen in Burnedale, an old farmhouse that is home to coffee and decor shops, farm stalls and spa treatments. It’s rustic yet smart, open yet cosy and intimate, and feels like it could come straight out of any village setting in Tuscany.
Service is friendly and owner-driven; here you feel like you might become one of the extended family.
The deli contains not only their own cooking for home meals, but a range of some of South Africa’s best olive oils, pastas, pasta sauces, and many sweet treats.
Loosely translated, abbiocco means a “fit of drowsiness” or a “desire to have a nap”, usually after having eaten too well. Only the Italians could have a word specifically for that wonderful soporific effect of a great meal. All that was needed was a hammock strung up between the palm trees.
The menu is simple and chalked up on a blackboard, containing a few pastas, a flatbread option, a soup and an antipasti platter. It will change regularly depending on seasonal availability of ingredients and the chef’s imagination. It might be a limited menu, but everything on it inspired.
We looked no further than sharing the antipasti platter (R170), which was a feast in itself, more than enough for the three of us to share.
Lovely crisp and cheesy artichoke arancini balls were dipped in a spicy aubergine dip. There was poached salmon with mussels in a lemon butter, vitello tonnato made with succulent slices of rare roast beef, a delicious caramelised onion and brie cheese tart, and meatballs in a tomato sauce better than mamma could have made. It was all mopped up with hunks of rustic sour dough bread. A feast indeed. Already the eyelids were getting heavy.
The carrot and chorizo soup, served with a cheese and tomato toastie, sounded like real comfort food, as did the flatbread topped with Parma ham, artichokes and all good things Italian. But we all opted to try the homemade pasta.
Unfortunately the option with mussels and leeks and white wine had already been devoured by the time our orders went in. Instead, a friend tried the tagliatelle with bacon and cauliflower in a cream sauce (R135) which might sound humble, but was inspired, the cauliflower nice and crisp, and all dusted in a generous sprinkling of Parmesan.
Another friend went for the large pasta shells stuffed with artichokes and fennel, and gratinated in the oven (R145), another inspired dish.
My open lasagne (R145) with beef short rib and a rich tomato sauce too was enjoyable. It had a freshness that your traditional baked lasagne in all its cheesy glory will never have.
We finished the wine over languid conversation contemplating dessert ‒ a baked lemon cheesecake (R60) and a selection of ice-creams (R40). The lemon cheesecake had a burst of tangy lemon flavour, and the mixed berry ice cream was everything you would expect of Italian gelato.
My dark chocolate and orange ice-cream was magnificent, more like a frozen chocolate mousse. Beyond rich, this is not one recommended by the Heart Foundation.
We finished up with excellent coffees, and after a leisurely trip on the old road back to Durban, a little late afternoon snooze was called for.
Food: 4 ½
Service: 3 ½
Ambience: 4 ½