Blanko - The Alphen Boutique Hotel

Had a lovely time with friends and the food was delicious. We celebrated a Bachelorette perfect spot and will definitely be coming back to Blanco

The service was great, we were treated very well, Great location. Food wasn’t bad and we didn’t have to wait very long. I did enjoy my day as a whole. There’s a few photo spots which was the peak of my day.

Lovely setting and great decor. A tranquil lounge and bar area to meet up before your dinner..<br/ <br/ The prices are a little steep for an average weekend night out but if you're used to paying R220 for a Sole or Lamb Shank you should be OK. The butternut ravioli is really great value for money at R95. The Grilled Calamari starter was full of flavour some extra bread to snap up the remaining sauce is a good idea. The caprese salad (a steep R85) is probably the best starter on the menu so if you're going for two courses you can get away for less than R200 with a caprese salad to set things off and butternut ravioli as your main.<br/ <br/ The entire experience is somewhat ruined a little by the corkage policy a rather expensive (and extensive) wine menu results in a hefty R65 corkage fee and what makes matters worse, if you happen to bring a wine they sell; you won't be allowed to open it corkage or not. To give some context, a bottle of Rupert Rothschild Classique is about R160 on the shelf Blanko sets you back a cool R340 per bottle.<br/ <br/ Overall, next time I go I'll check the wine list and ensure the bottle I bring doesn't clash with their menu; and I'll definitely go for the Caprese and Ravioli combo all in all I'll be in for about R230 per person.

We booked a private room for 12 people for a long lunch for a birthday celebration. They asked us to choose a set menu up front huge choice to choose from). Had some pre lunch snacks and bubbly on the verandah outside then proceeded inside for the main event. I did not have very high expectations, the wheels can so easily  fall off with large groups. Thankfully I was wrong! Everyone concurred that their food choices were OUTSTANDING. There is a great wine selection that complimented our food. Feature of the event has to be the service! WOW I have not had such seamless attentive service for years! Dorothy was in charge of us was never flustered and didn 't get any selection mixed up! I just loved her style. The management allowed us to 'settle ' in for the afternoon and we only stumbled out at 8 pm after a truly memorable party. Not cheap but excellent value for money. I highly recommend Blanko!

We spent an intimate, cozy night at Banko, after checking ourselves into Alphen for the weekend. I was hoping to sit by the fireplace, bur unfortunately it wasn't working. However, the staff were quick to bring me a little heater of my own to keep me warm next to the ice cold window.<br/ <br/ Modern decor meets old fashioned farmhouse in this recently renovated restaurant. We felt it didn't work particularly well in such an antique establishment, but each to their own. <br/ <br/ After browsing through the menu, we immediately decided to make use of the winter special R260 for a three course meal. We started off with potato gnocchi and calamari. Both dishes were fantastic, but the clear winner was the gnocchi, which was delicious! Mains consisted of beef fillet and mushroom risotto. The risotto was delicious and we'd definitely recommend giving it a taste! However, the fillet was terrible tough meat, a very very tiny portion, completely not worth the price, tasteless potatoes and overpowering onions completely ruined the dish. It was a disaster. Fortunately, a meal that had otherwise turned sour was saved by two lovely desserts Nutella creme brûlée and an oozy, gooey chocolate fondant. Both perfectly executed, both absolutely delicious and very satisfying.<br/ <br/ We enjoyed our meal over a bottle of Rustenberg Shiraz, which was well suited to the food and the rainy winter's night. The staff were friendly and helpful. Apart from the fillet, the food was great, but nothing to cry home about. The restaurant was relatively empty on our night there, but I think it would feel very overcrowded if it was full, given the small room and the tables stacked very much on top of each other. <br/ <br/ An enjoyable night, but we wouldn't have cried home if we had missed it.