Arum Restaurant Opens at Boschendal Estate

Arriving at Arum feels less like stepping into a restaurant and more like entering a recalibrated sense of place. Set in the historic werf on Boschendal, one of the Cape’s oldest wine farms, the latest addition from the FYN Group is a deliberate meditation on seasonality, terroir and the elemental forces that shape flavour. It is, unmistakably, a restaurant that has looked to the soul of the farm to find its voice. ‘Arum is our way of honouring the land- its history, its generosity, and its ability to renew itself,’ founder and Executive Chef, Peter Tempelhoff says as we move through the reimagined 1812 Werf building. ‘It’s a restaurant shaped by time, fire, and the rhythms of the farm we call home.’

Arum’s kitchen team, led by Tempelhof and Executive Chef Travis Finch (whose résumé ranges from The Greenhouse in Cape Town to leading kitchens in London and Melbourne), has forged a dialogue with the land that extends beyond the vegetable and herb beds, most notably to an extraordinary nascent mushroom forest at the foot of the Werf’s vegetable gardens. Here, the team has inoculated a stumpery with an array of fungi ‘from maitake and king oysters to blue oysters and shiitakes, in a move that as far as I’m aware, is unprecedented in South African restaurant agriculture.

The menu at Arum moves with seasonal heartbeat. Wood-fired breads - kapokbos and olive focaccia - arrive warm, with farm-churned salted butter. Garden crudités, paired with wild-garlic aioli and salsa verde, work beautifully as a preamble, alongside farm-reared Duroc charcuterie from Boschendal’s own herd. Starters tread a confident line between restraint and generosity: stracciatella cheese with fire-roasted beetroot; rooibos-smoked duck and subtly charred Cape octopus. Mains celebrate estate-reared lamb, pork and grass-fed beef. Ricotta gnudi and pan-roasted kingklip bear the imprint of smoke and fire, handled with a restraint that gives the ingredients their full voice. Desserts continue the conversation with the land. New-season cherries steeped in shiraz are a nod to the surrounding vineyards, while a variety of Dalewood cheese uniquely offered in three degrees of temperature, is a final reflection of the valley’s orchards and pastures. 

The narrative continues in the glass, where Group Sommelier and Service Director Jennifer Hugé, newly named Relais & Châteaux Woman of the Year 2026 — has collaborated with Boschendal’s winemakers to craft an exclusive series of single-varietal wines- Semillon, Alicante Bouschet, Marselan, Cinsault, Mourvèdre- each one a distilled study in minerality and site. At the bar, she turns folklore into mixology: a malva old fashioned is a nod to Boschendal’s claim as the birthplace of the desert, and for sheer mischief, there’s even a malva beer.

The interiors unfold as a journey through the realms of mineral, vegetable, and animal, each rendered with a level of aesthetic fluency that suggests the design team (MR. Studio with architect Jacques Mouton) didn’t so much decorate the space as interpret the farm’s geology and biology. Their vision is expressed through grow-tunnel structures, mohair textiles, vegetable-inspired sculptural fireplaces and a monumental bone-inspired bar- a piece of functional artwork by artist Driaan Claasen. Even the sundial-like basin in the restrooms feels like an affectionate wink at Boschendal’s rhythms of growth and rest.  Most arresting are the glass-fronted, dry-age vitrine- part Damien Hirst provocation, part agricultural truth; and the wall of preserved time- jars of pickles, fruits and ferments from the farm.

Arum is a statement crafted in smoke, soil and thoughtful design - a place where every element feels like an inevitable expression of the land that sustains it. 

Arum at Boschendal Estate is open for lunch and dinner, Wednesday to Sunday. 

Credits

Images: Supplied