Moniki Chocolatier – an outing in Tulbagh to remember!

Moniki Chocolatier

Don't expect to find Moniki Chocolatier, on the out­skirts of Tulbagh, eas­ily. In hind­sight, after much mut­ter­ing about the derth of clearly marked signs, I real­ise that the rick­ety, wooden, hand­made sig­nage that changes without warn­ing, from green, to purple as you enter Schoonderzicht Farm, are prob­ably just part of the charm of what was by far my favour­ite stop whilst stay­ing in Tulbagh.

The ride out here is well worth it. From the edge of town the scenery begins to improve as one heads closer to the Witzenberg Mountains, against which Schoonderzicht Farm, the home of Moniki Chocolaterie, rests. The farm is simply gor­geous and one sits on the porch of the 18^th cen­tury gabled farm­house or the garden of the rus­tic Dutch style farm­house over­look­ing a val­ley lined with the Winterhoek Mountains, whilst savour­ing a selec­tion of some of the most dec­ad­ent chocol­ates known to man, made all the more tasty for the view, and the accom­pa­ny­ing cof­fee, tea, port or amarula. And this small pleas­ure came at a nom­inal cost of R25 a head.

Moniki Chocolatier

Think chilli and pinot­age, ani­seed, dutch car­a­mel, ginger and orange, brandy truffles and shiraz with pep­per and salt – just a few of the sample chocol­ates on offer. Moniki com­bines the chocol­ate mak­ing meth­ods of Dutch and Belgian chocol­ati­ers but tries to use local ingredi­ents as much as pos­sible. Moniki's owner is Niki de Wolf, but we were met at the door by Berry Horing, Moniki's other chocol­atier who has been with Niki since the busi­ness began in 2005, when she star­ted by help­ing with the packaging.

This is the home of choco­hol­ics, and you'll be glad to know that you can do a lot more here than simply sample and buy truffles and pralines. You can also head out here for high tea (which I believe includes chocol­ates AND cake), when the elec­tri­city is not off as it was when we arrived, or one can do group truffle-making work­shops, although you'll need to book in advance.

Moniki Chocolatier

The beau­ti­ful 200-year old build­ing right next door to the tast­ing room is also a guest house, and the farm serves as a wed­ding recep­tion venue and a site for pic­nics, and is eas­ily one of the most romantic set­tings I've seen.

As we sat relax­ing and drink­ing in the view out in the garden on slightly damp wooden benches (the weather had been altern­at­ing between spring and winter all morn­ing) with the horses in a pad­dock a little to our left, it felt almost sur­real to have stumbled on a chocolat­erie vir­tu­ally in the middle of the moun­tains, but we were so glad we had.

Contact Details:
Moniki Chocolatier
Schoonderzicht Farm, Tulbagh, Western Cape
Telephone: +27 (0)23 230‑0673 or Cell: +27 (0)72 504‑9592

Useful Links:
Tulbagh Attractions
Things to Do in Tulbagh
Tulbagh Accommodation
Western Cape Accommodation