THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER

4 Shafton Road, Howick

Tel: 033 330 2958 Opening times:

Thursday to Saturday: 9am – 9pm Sunday to Wednesday: 9am – 5pm

IF HAVING your breath taken away affects appetite, The Farmer’s Daughter is in a perfect setting.

A drop at the edge of a short lawn less than a stone’s throw from the dining tables gives way to a swathe of indigenous bush leading down to the waters of the Mgeni River as they recover from the tumbling Howick Falls.

There’s a choice of seating: upstairs and downstairs, with some tables on a veranda that wraps around the doublestorey building.

A cheeky greeting chirp is chalked on to the brick wall: “How’s that view, China?”

And it also speaks in the language of “cool dudes” who may frequent it, such as items suited to bikers with the line that they should have their helmets out for all the coffee in a bottomless cup!

We ordered the identical cheeseburger for lunch, one with chips and the other with a salad.

The salad was worth eating on its own, without mixing mouthfuls with the hearty-looking beef patty. It seemed like an hors d’óeuvre.

For my companion who ordered the chips, they were absolutely fresh and crisp. More of a “slap chips” fan, which days earlier she had devoured on the uMhlanga beachfront, these “compared favourably’’.

We were back for brunch a few days later, not only to escape the mist of the nearby Hilton where we were staying, but also to sit on the veranda of the top storey. We ordered the same dish, eggs benedict: hers with salmon and mine with avo.

Having arrived a bit late, it was important to place our order before noon to qualify for a breakfast meal.

In spite of the challenge of the restaurant being short on waiters on this particular day, deep in the festive season, we managed to place our order in the nick of time and left satisfied after a tasty meal.

Settling the bill at the till at the front door, cakes stored in a vintage cabinet tempted us with dessert but we chose, instead, to swim off the cheeseburger in nearby Midmar Dam while the break in the Midlands mist lasted.