A friend and I recently went to Maze and were not very impressed at all. Firstly, after sitting down outside on the deck, his chair broke with him landing up on his backside. To say that other diners were mortified is an understatement. They duly fetched another chair, but did not make much of a fuss about the matter. He also confessed that he thought their response was perhaps not adequate and being the type of person who can afford to frequent the hotel and the restaurant I don't think he will be frequenting either in the future.
Anyway, moving onto the food, which I have to say was average at best. Sure, you are paying for the view and being in the waterfront, but at least put some really quality food on the plate. We both opted for steak and chips and I just thought to myself, surely you can get better than this. We were in Franschhoek a couple of weeks later at The French Connection and again dined on steak and chips which as he remarked, was far better. He also remarked that the chair did not break and he felt the service was better. Pretty unbelievable when you have something which is so hyped up, yet fails to deliver. It seems to becoming a trait with Gordon and Maze if comments on their gala dinner recently are anything to go by. So for us, save your pennies and go elsewhere, get a better view and pay less for better quality food.
What a wonderful sight on arrival. The last time I visited this estate was about 20 years ago and it looked nothing like this.
It really looks a picture and we duly sat outside and enjoyed a wonderful glass of chilled Creation vigonier (Platter does not rate this wine, but we enjoy it) on a warm summers evening. Looking at the wine list, it really offers something for all with an obvious bent to the Rust en Vrede wines, but an excellent selection all round. 
On being seated in the restaurant we received a friendly hello and smile from David and his team in their open kitchen, which is always a good start to the evening, but we would expect no less from the number one restaurant in the country. The Service was to prove really top class for the rest of the evening with the waitress being knowledgeable about the food, the sommelier being superb and very engaging allowing for some good hearted banter. The sommelier really did add something special when announcing the next course and its wine pairing - it wasn't just his knowledge of the wines, but the manner in which he delivers it. It felt as if the dining experience was a very personal one with David stopping by as well. No wonder they won the top service award in the country as well!
We decided on the six course tasting menu with pairings, with very high expectations. We were not disappointed as the food was very good. Each course was very tasty, but what stood out for all of us was the pairing of the wines which we thought was exceptional. We have found that in other top notch restaurants the pairings are fair to average due to various factors, cost being amongst the foremost of them, but at Rust en Vrede they have it spot on. My favourite dish of the evening was the fillet of beef with all its accompaniments (see photo above) while my wife enjoyed her desert the most (see photo below).
As an overall impression we thought the restaurant was very very good and certainly worth the money spent. If I had one complaint it may be that I would have liked bigger portions of food as I am not sure that most men will feel full after completing the six courses. Rust en Vrede carries a "highly rated must visit" recommendation and certainly makes it into our top ten!
