Food changes at the Vineyard Hotel

The Vineyard Hotel places heavy emphasis on being an environmentally-conscious property and has won numerous awards for its sustainability efforts over the years. While it does support various other ethical meat suppliers, the new partnership with Farmer Angus serves to entrench further this philosophy across all aspects of the hotel's operations.

The Executive Chef at the Vineyard Hotel, Carl van Rooyen, said: "An extensive search for a sustainable and ethical source of beef was carried out, which not only took potential suppliers' farming methods into account, but also included a blind-taste test to ensure that guests would also have the most enjoyable meal. After our investigations, Farmer Angus was an obvious choice as a supplier."

Biodynamic farming techniques

Farmer Angus is based at Spier in Stellenbosch, where he practises biodynamic farming techniques. He is fiercely ethical, allowing his cattle to roam freely, without the use growth hormones or artificial feed.

Van Rooyen continued: "Farmer Angus is a man who is really passionate about conserving the environment. As this resonates so deeply with our principles here at the Vineyard Hotel, we could not be more excited about the future of this partnership. Currently, we are using his beef mince in our burgers in the Garden Lounge and some of his other beef products in selected a la carte dishes in The Square Restaurant. We have also started slowly introducing his free-range eggs into our a la carte menu as well."

The beef used in the burgers has been dry-aged for two weeks and guests can expect the burgers to have a more intense flavour. Waitrons will also give diners the option of enjoying them with no basting, allowing guests to better appreciate the quality of the meat.

Van Rooyen concluded: "We are also using Farmer Angus' Flat Iron steak in the Square Restaurant - a delicious cut from the shoulder area that forms part of the nose-to-tail cooking ethos we are trying to promote. With only 3% of the animal generally used as fillet, sirloin or rump, it is easy to ignore the other available cuts, which generally hold so much more flavour. We are keen to see what guests think of this new cut."