Doolshe Restaurant and Winebar is a new venue out of town, between Joburg and Pretoria, with food genius Lientjie Denton in charge of the menues. DIANE DE BEER was keen to check this latest venture:

Chef/artist/fashion activist Lientjie Denton is a woman who lives life to the full. Meeting her a few decades ago when she opened her first interior shop, Lemon Lounge, in the always-sassy Brooklyn Mall, I knew this woman had exceptional style. That feeling has exploded over the years.

She always seems to make the right move at the right time, usually driven by personal passion and when life runs ahead, she finds a new pad for one of her passions and gets down and dirty.

It was at Lemon Lounge that I first lost my heart to this larger-than-life woman. She knows what she likes, and you knew immediately whether it was your kind of place.

After the shop, which moved and changed over the years, she spent a stint as a magazine journalist focusing especially on arty interiors, and then she opened a restaurant in Cullinan, which has had quite a few revivals and changes. Mainly it’s about moving about. She started in one of those classic mining houses so much a  part of the Cullinan charm, but then decided to be less permanent, left the regular premises and moved her food events around.

A few years ago, her yearning for change reared its head again. Lientjie and her partner Marius discovered the Karoo and, more specifically, Richmond, which is fast becoming a foodie destination and so much more.

So it is all about moving between these two different landscapes, each with its own challenges.

Last week the two of us went on a particular journey where food was the passion that would feature – to my delight. I have always loved her food and as she is constantly experimentingand dreaming about new combinations and flavours (her cookbook is titled Geure (Flavours), I’m always excited to see where and how her cuisine will manifest.

With her latest venture, she is behind the scenes, not necessarily even on the premises, but the vision, the menu and guidance is all Lientjie. The address,  when you Google is K40  on the 512 (Pelindaba Road) opposite the Lion & Safari Park, Broederstroom. From either Pretoria or Joburg it should take less than an hour – and it’s an easy drive.

She was contacted by two friends, who own the property and wanted her to design the menu and get the venue up and running. She quickly got hold of another- old friend, Mart Gresse, who she knew was perfect to run front-of-house, and three young chefs were appointed to do justice to the menu. For Lientjie, it is an ideal setup as these three young graduates are eager to learn.

The menu is seasonal, and even the one we sampled, will already be changed when this goes to print. But, taste rules. While the menu has Italian influences,  she steers clear of any staple items and when there are any, she adds her own interpretation and twists. Currently, she loves playing with fermented flavours, which introduces a strong contemporary slant – something she has always introduced to her menus.

It’s also what intrigues her followers, who don’t want the tried-and-tested but prefer to discover new tastes and ways to experience what could have been familiar recipes.

She describes her food as plant-forward, but world cuisine is the term she feels captures it best. Yet, she adds, and this is important, it is food from here. That’s truly what she does brilliantly. She is her own person, and her food reflects this.

Spending a day in her company also highlights her obsession with food. There’s not a moment that she doesn’t think of something she saw which reminds her of something else and voila, it results in a new recipe. “I make food in my head,” she says. And that’s true, it’s how she travels through her days.

Raisin pickle and Karoo dolmades made with venison are mentioned … and her mind races  off.

The current menu starts with a Doolshe farmhouse breakfast (herby pork sausage, bacon, eggs, fried tomato with parmesan granola, apricot chutney toast and white Miso butter) at R165; smoked trout and scrambled eggs with sour cream chives and dill (R190) or if you want something different ricotta flapjacks, homemade berry compote and whipped cream (R120).

Salads include different varieties, familiar and yet, there’s always a twist. You could share one at the table with a main or have it as a meal. The beef fillet strip and fried caper panzanella with crunchy vegetables and a balsamic dressing is perfect for a hot day.

You also have the option of sandwiches (pastrami with fennel pickle or roast chicken with parmesan granola, and,herb pesto with vegetable chips, all finger-licking good) or perhaps two starters (a sour cream and onion tortilla with white bean paté, parmesan and boerewors with a bite of chilli crumbs and short rib croquettes and blueberry chutney).

Lamb skewers with olive salsa verde and fresh sardine rillettes bruschetta with fennel also caught my fancy.

Mains include from smoked snoek gratin and apricot chutney (R220), pork neck and apple on creamy parmesan mash (R250,) chicken feta and parmesan roulade in saffron, honey and hazelnut sauce served with cous-cous (R250), or lamb chops with Za’atar, roast vegetables, cous-cous and rose harissa yogurt (R310) and a more manageable mushroom and cognac pasta with parmesan. And I need to read no further than the brown-butter spiced blondie and double chocolate ice-cream, priced between R80 and R125, to conclude on a sweet note.

It’s an unusually expansive venue with many different options. You could start with a Sunday morning hike and have a late brunch; you could come for a sunset and cocktails lookabout; or you could have a dinner-a-deux on the verandah on a moonlit night. It’s about the surroundings, the interiors and the ambience, take your pick.

Her new menu is ready to go and includes many new versions in her inimitable style. Sandwiches include for example beef fillet, Japanese barbeque and chlli mayo or a herb and garlic chicken breasts and lemon, black pepper mayo, parmesan and basil sandwich. On the salad platter, there’s the choice of a fragrant chicken and veg salad with a lime, coconut and chilli dressing or a Mediterranean lentil, chickpea, olive And artichoke salad with lemon and garlic mayo.

Mains include bobotie meatballs with brown basmati rice and traditional chutney or an artichoke and spinach  with tomato pesto gnocchi or if fish is your particular favourite brown butter and soy salmon, creamy mash and green beans and fermented carrots.

The name Doolshe already transports you to a different world. Pronounced dool-she, it is a loanword from Italian, meaning sweet. Italy colonized East and North Africa from the late 19^th century into the middle of the last one. During that period, locals borrowed words from their colonisers and adopted them with their own pronunciation – hence Doolshe. And this particular abode with its verandah-styled dining spaces as windows are flung open wide allowing the inside out or closed in chillier times for a more cosy space, certainly embraces its name.

There’s nothing more apt for the ambience, the people, the drink and the food. It’s the sweetest.

Times: Thursdays and Fridays, lunch and dinner; Saturdaya breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Sundays breakfast and lunch.