Justin Bonello fires up in the Red Cederberg

The trick, says Bonello, is to find the right meat: mutton, not lamb. He serves his stew with charred mash. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

By Lin Sampson

23 Sep 2022

Mountains seem unapproachable, but that is changing with Justin Bonello’s new concession in the Cederberg – The Red Cederberg. At Keurbosfontein, the heart of everything is the Waenhuis Kombuis.

I have known Justin Bonello since he was about six years old. He was a blond, highwire kid with the gift of the gab. He could shake your mind with his new ideas.

I used to watch him and think yep, Justin can go two ways, he can either become someone with brilliant skills or he can become a complete flop.

His big plus was that he was always willing to learn from other people and he had a simmering emotional texture that attracted people to him.

He was always an energetic, affectionate person who was humble enough to learn from others. He had curiosity.

Many people reading this article will already be familiar with Justin, his cooking and his entrepreneurial brilliance.

He brings me a box of vegetables from his Neighbourhood Farm project and over a cup of coffee tells me his latest story.

“I was doing some work around leopards and the Cape Leopard Trust asked me to come and do a talk. Afterwards this guy, Johan van der Westhuizen, came up to me and said, “Thank you for what you have done for the trust, would you like to go to my place in the Cederberg for the weekend?”

Johan van der Westhuizen owns a collection of farms in the Cederberg, Keurbosfontein, Bakkrans and Mooiberg.

“I went to Bakkrans. The whole place was set against a backdrop of spectacular rock formations which impart a sense of the primordial, particularly when I realised that right behind the farm was a rock inscribed with ancient art, possibly thousands of years old.”

Stadsaal, Cape Nature, Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve. The Cederberg, right behind the Red Cederberg lodge, houses some of the greatest rock art paintings in the world, some as old as 28,000 years. They are often of the animals that used to roam this area and in some cases still do. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

Personally, I have always found mountains extraordinary. As a child I used to gaze out of the window of the car as we drove through the Karoo and think to myself, what goes on in those mountains? They are so unapproachable. Somehow I could never get a grip on them. It was like being in love with someone you had never met.

However, all that is changing with Justin Bonello’s new concession in the Cederberg – The Red Cederberg. Here you can really smooch the mountains, touchy/feely doesn’t even begin to describe it. It is beyond. And there’s also great food.

Stadsaal. Here you can really touch the mountains. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

The well leached infertile soils are perfect for fynbos and at the beginning of spring there are ericas of all colours, sugarbush proteas and the bright yellow Clanwilliam daisies.

The endemic Clanwilliam cedar which was formerly more numerous is now threatened with survival due to several centuries of exploitative harvesting and frequent fires.

The Stadsaal, full of signatures stretching back hundreds of years. This cavernous dome has been nuanced by thousands of years of rain and wind erosion. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

At this time of year, it is as if the whole mountain is in bud. There is plenty of water; “It still has water rights,” Justin tells me. The farm itself is in a valley and is surrounded by hundreds of fruit trees, peaches, apples, pomegranates.

Justin continues: “When I got home I called Johan and said, ‘What are you doing with the farms?’ and he said, ‘It is too much work for me and my staff are old. So I said, ‘Okay, can I have a concession on it?’

“He agreed.”

Justin calls it a “happy accident” but in his heart of hearts he knows that it was a gift from the gods.

For Johan it was also a gift. It is not easy to find a person fit to run a heritage place that has been in the family for many generations. Van der Westhuizen says, “It is a great sense of comfort to have Justin Bonello, together with his son Dan, fulfilling a custodian role at Keurbosfontein. His respect for our history and his vision for our future will ensure that Keurbosfontein can go forward with optimism.”

Truitjieskraal, Cape Nature, Matjiesrivier Nature Reserve. Most of these caves are accessible with weird jagged openings, and a trail that circles them. These unique rock formations are known all over the world to speleologists. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

No one could be better. Justin loves history and food and is deeply excited about the whole project. He treasures the surroundings, breathing in the ancient intelligence of the atmosphere, in awe at the vintage utensils that are still on the farm, ancient butter churns, old sieves, a rusted ice cream scoop.

“We have a potjie pot that is more than 150 years old. Lin, it is paper thin, used by Johan’s grandmother. There is even an engraving on the top. I have never seen a potjie pot like this in my life. There is a crack in it and it has been pieced together with a piece of wire – reminiscent of the famous Kintsugi china in Japan.

“When I cook a soup or a stew, it is almost sacrosanct, the fact that it has been used through the ages by thousands of people, must add to the taste of the food.

“I use gas for what I call chore cooking; everything else I cook on fire. It is the biggest food trend in the world. The thing that appeals to me is that it is primal.

“Think about the first person who walked the veld after a fire and found a potato that was cooked and it was edible.

“We spent six months renovating. The heart of everything is the kitchen, Waenhuis Kombuis. I’ve got 150 years of stuff from the farm, anything from old shoes, to pots and pans. There are Lion match boxes that are 70 years old with tobacco seeds still in them, old watches, a Sheffield cleaver, which is so beaten on top they were obviously hitting it with a mallet to cut through bone, the old butter making dishes, churns. I am learning all the time.”

Guests and friends in the WaenhuisKombuis, Keurbosfontein, which is Justin’s temple and where guests gather round the fire. Everything, even bread, is cooked on fire. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

There is even a gin bar – Musgrave Gin Bar – and this particular terrain is perfect for collecting garnishes for your gin and tonic. But it is the Copper Black Honey brandy that grabs the real connoisseurs. “It really channels the atmosphere of the mountains and I use it in my cooking to elevate flavours.”

Honey is often used in this region to make wine. I once interviewed an ancient farmer with his hand made wooden implements and he told me how to make wine from honey and a packet of frozen peas from the Spar, an unlikely adjunct.

Hanging lamb in the WaenhuisKombuis Kaggel, Keurbosfontein. (Photo: Skyla Haley)

That night Justin cooks a potjie, a wonderfully fatty mutton, not lamb, stew with charred mash. “The main thing,” he says “is to get the right meat. Mutton is now out of fashion but I know where to find it.”

Mutton comes from an aged sheep and is a rich, slightly gamey cut with bold flavours which mellow and deepen when slow cooked.

There is everything you desire in this Cederberg retreat, places to stay, wonderful food to eat, cooked by Justin and, at this time of year, a vast panorama of spring flowers. DM/TGIFood

Escape with Justin Bonello at Keurbosfontein Red Cederberg

SUBSCRIBE to TGIFood here. Also visit the TGIFood platform, a repository of all of our food writing.

Categories:

TGIFood

Tags:

DM is much better if you are signed in...

TGIFood