Lazy Days at Laborie

This Saturday we ventured out to Paarl. I'm a big fan of markets, in fact in the UK I spent almost every Sunday attending everything from Farmers Markets to boot sales. I found out about the Lazy Days Market being held at Laborie via their Facebook page and just had to see it for myself.

It was a pleasant 40 minute drive out to Paarl  from our home in the Northern Suburbs. We were pretty lucky to get parking inside as the drive way was scattered with cars. It was just after 10.30am and the market was already buzzing.  The sun was beating down and hubby and I both wished we had opted for shorts instead of jeans. But all the more reason to explore the clothing in the market.
We had however made one fundamental mistake, we hadn't drawn any cash, other then the lovely lady selling scarves, none of the other traders had hand held terminals. Always the gentlemen, my hubby left me browsing stalls as he trotted over the road to the ATM at the garage (maybe an idea to have one on the premises for the markets?)

Armed with cash we decided refreshments were in order, I opted for a glass of the good stuff from the Laborie wine stand. A glass was R15 with a R20 refundable deposit on the glass. Amazingly enough the lady at the stand recognized us from a previous wine and food pairing we had attended at Laborie back in November. Hubby opted to try one of the German beers available from another stand. We managed to find a cool cotton shirt for hubby, there was only one stand that had any menswear, so he was pretty lucky. No such luck for me, I found the range of ladies clothing a little pricey and all a bit "same old same old"

We nibbled on delicious lamb kebab just R10 and after refilling wine and beer (a bottle was only R45) we headed for the shade to devour the 6 oysters we purchased. R70 for 6. We relaxed on the lawn and listened to the sounds of River Dance being broadcast over some rather large speakers, I wonder if Laborie are considering some live music for the event? Not that the DJ was doing a bad job at all, but live music always has a more festive feel.

Feeling a little cooler we headed for the under cover area of the market. Here we found tons more food stalls, lots of homemade quiche, biltong, and some delicious ostrich droewors, perfect for me and my low fat - heart diet, I had to have some. We were contemplating stocking up on food  at the market and heading for the lawn again versus going to the restaurant for lunch. Sadly  the one thing we would of both enjoyed, the Shawarma's were swamped with flies. For some strange reason there were no candles or nets. An enthusiastic young man was desperately waving his had over the food but he was clearly fighting a losing battle.

We wondered back out into the sunshine, the stalls had suddenly started to empty, it was only 12 O'clock but already some of the exhibitors were packing up. We had browsed all the stores by then and decided to head for the cool of the restaurant. We packed our goodies into the car, I begrudgingly let go of my bottle of wine, promising myself to revisit it later that evening.


As I mentioned earlier, we had visited Laborie prior for wine tasting, but this was our first visit to the restaurant. I had very high expectations and boy I certainly wasn't disappointed. We found a table under the oaks and gratefully sank into our chairs in the shade. We were soon greeted by the amazing Flora, an absolute joy of a women with a smile that lights up her whole face. We ordered water to rehydrate ourselves and a couple of G&T's as you do! Hubby opted for the blue cheese and biltong salad, I decided on the chilled seafood platter. We picked at the fresh, warm olive bread basket, very grateful to have the choice of butter or olive oil and balsamic vinegar with our bread.

Both our lunches were beautifully presented, Hubbys salad boasted huge chunks of blue cheese and biltong and the freshest greens, my fish platter was delicioius, I particularly enjoyed the pickled calamari, again the greens were juicy and fresh, neither of us could finish the large portions. We sipped our gins...

Way too soon, it was time to leave. We called for the bill, which was an extremely reasonable R255 and headed back to our car. Will we go back to Laborie Restaurant? - A resounding Yes - We cant wait ! Maybe next time we will make an evening of it and stay over... We will also be coming back to the Lazy Days Market at some stage, if only for more oysters and wine.

It's still early days for the market, "this was only the second one"  and I'm sure the organisers will re-look the mix of exhibitors. It would be great to have a wider clothing selection and possibly some more gift type items, maybe they would even consider some buskers to add to the Lazy Day feel. As a morning out, I can highly recommend it. See you soon Laborie.