Every restaurant has that one regular customer and Harvest Table Bistro is no exeption.
You know the type. Never makes a reservation. Always complains. Never pays. And somehow thinks the kitchen is self-service.
Ours is Saggeus, the cheeky sentry of the local baboon troop.
At first we thought it was a once-off. But his love for our fresh Village Bakery burger buns soon became legendary. He also developed a taste for eggs, butternut… and carrot cake!
His modus operandi was simple, yet remarkably effective.
He would spend hours lounging on the kitchen roof, waiting patiently for someone to leave the back door open.
Then he’d casually stroll into the kitchen on all fours, grab a six-pack of burger buns from the shelf and head back out again.
If the staff spotted him, he’d run.
If not… he’d simply walk away as if he owned the place.
He never searched around.
Never hesitated.
He knew exactly what he wanted…
…and exactly where to find it.
A six-pack of burger buns tucked under one arm.
Mission accomplished.
Until one memorable day… Someone slammed the back door shut just in time.
Saggeus froze for a split second, hugged his precious buns a little tighter…
…then charged straight through the kitchen, squeezed past the staff, raced through the restaurant and escaped through the front door.
The guests burst into laughter.
The staff never stood a chance
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We got Attila from a well-known storyteller and TV personality: a Boschveld rooster and a few hens.
From day one, Attila was mean-tempered.
He chased anything that moved around the property.
Anything.
His hens eventually stopped laying eggs. Not because they couldn’t.
They simply decided they weren’t prepared to live a dignified life under such stressful conditions.
One afternoon, the chickens were wandering around behind the kitchen. It was a busy day at the restaurant, and our waiters were taking trays loaded with drinks out through the back kitchen door, cutting across the garden and past the swimming pool to the tables.
Tiritose, our Zimbabwean head waiter, was carrying a tray absolutely loaded with drinks when Attila spotted him.
The rooster lifted his head.
Tiri saw him.
And then Attila made a beeline for him.
First Tiri walked a little faster.
Then he jogged.
Then he ran.
Attila accelerated too.
And the best part?
Tiri didn’t spill a single drink.
Not one.
Attila chased him all the way around the swimming pool to his table, apparently satisfied that his point had been made.
Then the rooster simply turned around and marched purposefully back to his hens, feathers puffed out, as if he’d just gone to sort out a little administrative matter.
The garden was packed with restaurant guests that day.
So there was an entire audience watching our head waiter, carrying a tray full of drinks, being chased around the swimming pool by a seriously bad-tempered Boschveld rooster.
Attila’s hens have a story of their own. But I’ll save that one for another day…
Words: Reint Grobler
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Pioneers, ghosts & diamond diggers
If you’ve entered Ceres via Wolseley and Michell’s Pass, you had the privelage of travelling on a beautiful stretch of road of which the ground work was laid by well-known South African road-building pioneers like Jan Mostert (late-1700’s) and Andrew Geddes-Bain (mid-1800’s).
The first access road to Ceres, the old Mostert’s Hoek Pass (1765), was constructed by Jan Mostert, one of the earliest European settlers this side of Tulbagh. The 13km stretch of road was even then still very rugged. Wagons passing through had to be unpacked and dismantled and transported on foot for parts of the way. This road was in use for about 80 years and traces of it can still be seen today.
In 1830, Charles Michell (pictured bottom right) surveyed Mostert’s Hoek Pass with the aim of improving access to Ceres. Michell’s Pass was constructed in the place of the Mostert’s Hoek Pass by Andrew Geddes-Bain (pictured bottom left) in 1846, with the assistance of 240 convicts.
The new pass followed along the bank of the Breede River, all the way to the Warm Bokkeveld. The pass reduced the travel time from Cape Town to Beaufort West from 20 to 12 days, and also made it possible to do the route by horse-drawn vehicle.
It was during World War II that the road was widened and re-surfaced. It withstood the effects of the 1969 earthquake that hit the Tulbagh-Wolseley-Ceres area and destroyed most of the buildings in these towns. The road was rebuilt between 1988 & 1992.
The valley of Ceres, the Koue Bokkeveld and the open plains of the Tanqua Karoo were first inhabited by the San and Khoi, thousands of years ago. The 
San rock painting sites in the area are some of the best preserved in the country.
The first Europeans crossed the Witzenberg Range from the Tulbagh Valley in 1729 and established stock farms in the Bokkeveld. The first plots in Ceres were sold a year after Bains and his team finished Michell’s Pass.
The road through Ceres became the main route to the north when diamonds were discovered in Kimberley in the late 1800’s. Diamond magnate Barney Barnato frequented the town regularly en route to the diamond fields up north.
Today the route is known as the ‘Forgotten Highway’ and is fast developing as a popular tourist attraction. It played a crucial part in not only the development of Ceres, but also many a town between here and Kimberly.
Today three restaurants owned by former newspaper editors and journalists Reint & Karien Grobler proudly line this beautiful stretch of road with its rich road-building heritage.
The couple opened the Tolhuis Bistro (in Michell’s Pass) in 2009 and three years later acquired Winterberg Mountain Inn and Harvest Table Bistro (formerly known as Mill & Oaks). In January 2016 they opened capish!, an Italian-style restaurant with hand-made pasta and wood-fired pizzas.
Winterberg Mountain Inn with its Harvest Table Bistro (between Ceres and Wolseley at the start of Michell’s Pass), stands 
proud on the original foundation of a wheat mill known as the Ceres Mill (see copy of etch by 19th century artists Thinus de Jongh). The mill was believed to have been built by the first European settlers in the late-1700’s. The milling stone of this so called “bakkiesmeul” can still be seen in the inn’s garden and the mill’s cog work has been preserved partially and can be seen inside the bistro.
Tolhuis Bistro serves more traditional dishes, but with a quirky twist and is situated to the back of the old toll house, a national monument.
The toll house used to be the pay point for travellers. The original building was damaged in the earthquake of 1969, but was later restored to its original glory. And if you are lucky, you might encounter the ghost of a young Victorian lady that the Tolhuis team lovingly named Nellie.
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