Pieter Malan first fell for the Magaliesberg as a student working at Mount Grace Hotel & Spa. The experience shaped a career that took him across the world, and in March 2026 he returned as Executive Chef. After two years of personal study into the region’s natural ingredients, he has reworked every menu on the property, from high tea to fine dining.
He isn’t back alone. Chef Edwin Theron, who competed alongside Pieter on kykNET’s Kokkedoor, has also joined the kitchen. Edwin went on to graduate cum laude from culinary school and now works closely with Pieter on the hotel’s concept dining.
Cooking from the soil
The mountains around Mount Grace are full of ingredients: Tulbaghia (wild garlic), amadumbe, wild prickly pears, confetti bush, aloe, lavender and imphepho. The team forages them by hand, then turns the soil so the plants can regenerate naturally.
Roughly 80% of the ingredients are indigenous and either foraged or sourced within 60km, including from local producers such as Van Gaalen Cheese in Hartbeespoort and family-run Bambini, known for its ice cream and gelato. Because not everything is available all year, the kitchen preserves and ferments the best of each season to use later, a nostalgic, traditional approach that gives the menus a true sense of place.
The in-house kombucha shows how far this goes. The base is brewed in a glass syphon, where heat in the lower chamber pushes the liquid up into an upper chamber filled with botanicals. The result is a hibiscus kombucha made with hibiscus from the neighbouring farm, local honey, and foraged confetti bush, lavender and aloe. The aloe returns on the Rambling Vine menu as a reduction served with locally sourced tilapia.
“Everything on this menu starts with one question: what does this land give us? We forage, we ferment and we preserve so that we can cook with what is local and true to the Magaliesberg all year round. I want the young chefs in this kitchen to own that story, because they are the ones who will carry it forward,” says Chef Pieter Malan.
Seven courses at Rambling Vine
The new menus celebrate South African food and treasured family recipes, each given a Mount Grace twist. This is most evident at Rambling Vine, where a seven-course tasting menu draws on ingredients and techniques from across the country.
The evening starts in the wine cellar with canapés: a velvety amadumbe soup with wild garlic oil, buchu emulsion and fermented prickly pear, served alongside “The Cigar”, a cold-smoked wild hog coppa mousse with a honey tuille. At the table, the bread service offers dombolo, amagwinya and mosbolletjies, with a candle made from boerewors lard for dipping. Later, sorghum, one of South Africa’s oldest staple grains, appears as a risotto with braised oxtail and as a popcorn topping for crunch.
What really sets the experience apart is who tells the story. Each course and its wine pairing is presented by a member of the culinary team, many of them young cooks trained by Chef Pieter. They explain where each ingredient comes from, how it was prepared and the history behind the dish. It is a team effort rather than a one-chef show, and a way of building skills and confidence in the kitchen.
A fresh look
The food is matched by a refurbishment of all 121 rooms, as well as reception, the lounge, Rambling Vine and the 1852 Heritage Bar. Earthy tones, sage and natural wood echo the gardens and mountains outside, with panelled cream walls, soft furnishings and fireplaces throughout. Rooms sit in freestanding buildings across the gardens, and 26 suites have their own heated pool.
The 1852 Heritage Bar, named for the year the land was first registered as a farm, keeps its old-school charm. In winter, settle in by the fire; in summer, open the doors to the cool mountain breeze, with hearty plates like slow-braised oxtail with a steamed dumpling.
“The refurbishment gave us the chance to look at Mount Grace Hotel & Spa with fresh eyes, and food was always going to be a big part of that. The new look reflects our surroundings, and Chef Pieter’s menus bring those surroundings to the table. We want Mount Grace Hotel & Spa back on the map as a destination for people who love good food,” says General Manager Barend Olivier.