Classic cars and interesting conversations at Greenways

Over a delicious but boney piece of elf with Basil Rubin at Mowbray Golf Club, the Sunbeam-Talbot Venezia coupe Superleggera came up. I have little interest in cars. I drive a zooty Mini Cooper and wish I had a Rolls but that’s where it ends. Had my mouth not been full of bones I doubt Basil could have told me the story without interruption. There was something of the energy around his tale of a woman who kept the car in a garage at Greenways Hotel covered with Vaseline that began to intrigue… but let me take a step back.

JP Fluckiger and I had a reservation at Au Jardin for Thursday, March 9. When we arrived, nudging past a bride and groom standing beneath an ivy doorway, we almost had the throng of guests leap to their feet in congratulations. How modern we have become. Despite the obvious, I wouldn’t accept the restaurant didn’t have the reservation I made and insisted that we join the wedding party for dinner. After some heated words with management, which ended with them offering us a place in their Courtyard restaurant and a complimentary bottle of wine, we left to eat elsewhere. I was piqued.

After driving about a bit wondering where to eat, I remembered Greenways Hotel, where I’d had meetings in the past but never dined. The grand house has a Herbert Baker feel about it, like a little Groote Schuur. The wood-paneled restaurant/dining room Ashton’s is an intimate space and I felt self conscious having only one other diner there when we arrived. I was immediately impressed by the music – Diana Krall’s smoky jazz and Max’s top-notch service both on the patio where we had our drinks and in the dining room. Feeling perfectly Colonial I put on a posh accent and toyed with the idea of playing croquet on the manicured lawns.

JP began with the green-bean soup with garlic croutons (R25). It was a vibrant fresh green and delivered its promise. He especially liked that it wasn’t pureed completely. My smoked salmon with potato rosti with fennel cream cheese (R42) was undercooked and I missed the experience of the crisp rosti and the silky salmon. He had the grilled beef fillet with peppercorns served with rocket mash and a port reduction, but wished there was more sauce (R79) while my Kingklip (R72), served with Med potatoes and fennel butter was delicious. My Amarula Cheesecake (R33) was more like a pannacotta than a cheesecake while his Tiramisu (without finger biscuits) seemed more like mousse.

Odette Herbert’s mother lived at Greenways for many years. She is still sore that the new owners wouldn’t allow her to have a pool-side wake for her mum when she died five years ago. Basil Rubin suggested I call her. Her father had imported two limited edition left-hand drive Superleggera’s – one silver aluminum and the other green. Basil bought one for his granddaughter’s 21st but as she preferred something easier to handle, it went to a Dutch car enthusiast in Joberg. The green one, kept in the Greenways garage jacked up to protect the tires, and covered in Vaseline to save the carriage, is now being restored by Alvin Barkhuizen who says renewed interest in the cars has investors from around the world searching for the hundred or so manufactured in the late fifties.

A visit to Greenways is bound to begin interesting conversations. I even had their PR man ring me to say that the night I dined was between one chef leaving and another beginning.

Ashton’s Restaurant at Greenways Hotel, 1 Torquey Avenue, Claremont/Bishopscourt. 021-761-1792.