This Boland town has become

The star of the winelands has blossomed into a town of great beauty, packed with restaurants, bars and

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The chefs were out en masse and in buoyant spirits on the evening of 12 August at Bertus Basson's Eike restaurant in Stellenbosch's Dorp Street. Playful ribbing jostled with happy laughter and that “gees” (spirit) that develops when chefs spend an evening together cooking, tossing meat and fish in flames while turning out great dishes with memories to match.

Central Stellenbosch, the second oldest colonial town in the country, is shaped by vintage buildings and ancient trees, but it is what is happening in and under them that is making the difference. In the 25-plus years since I was last there, the town has come alive. Today, Stellies has the feel of a tourist-rich European city, yet with all of the local history that typifies the Boland. If there is a more beautiful, more vital, town in the country, I would like to see it.

Has Stellies, as Taste Stellenbosch's charming chairperson Daniël Kriel insists, finally, truly, come into its own as the Culinary Capital of the entire country? Is Stellenbosch wresting the title from Franschhoek, just over that mountain over there? After four days there, it was hard not to agree with him.

He's onto something, and it's clear he knows it in his very marrow.