Would I recommend La Belle Cafe at the Alphen Hotel in Constantia, Cape Town? Pretty much! The setting outside the bakery-cum-deli is good – we were sitting in front of old Cape Dutch buildings, under the oaks. The waiters were friendly, the wine was the right temperature and the glasses decent. But the winelist was questionable.


We weren’t staying long enough to do justice to a bottle and ‘wines by the glass’ included just two whites and one red from the area. Constantia has a reputation for Sauvignon Blanc, yet the only Sauvignon by the glass was from Durbanville. So perhaps we should have opted for the Uitsig Chardonnay, instead of which we settled for the Buiten Blanc – that very popular white blend which, as we later reminded ourselves, is only partly Constantia in origin.

If you’re only going to offer one Sauvignon Blanc by the glass, why choose something from the other side of town rather than from your own neighbourlhood? Why were there no Constantia Cap Classique bubblies available? Why would a Constantia hotel boycott the wines of Steenberg, Eagles’ Nest and certain other Constantia cellars while making room for wines made over two hours’ drive away?