Enjoying a cool grey skies September day out and about with our visiting European besties, a decision was taken that an unscheduled breakfast and coffee stop should be had between our visits to the Franschhoek Motor Museum and Babylonstoren. As luck would have it, some signage caught our eye as we were zooming past Simondium along the Franschhoek Road, signage that included the unmistakable logo of Ou Meul Bakkery – purveyors of exactly what we were looking for!

Ou Meul Bakkery (or Old Mill Bakery for those of you not familiar with Afrikaans), is an eatery franchise that spawned a good number of years ago in Riviersonderend, initially specializing in the production of puff pastry pies and sourdough breads. As the years passed by, the bakery business gained traction and popularity, their baked range (and output) exploded, and the business was eventually franchised out with stores and the now ubiquitous logo popping up in pretty much every little ‘along the road’ town, including the likes of Riversdale, Stanford, Botriver, Melkbos, Robertson, and yes, Simondium.

Initially a bakery only, Ou Meul quickly transitioned into becoming a full service eatery, offering a full “sit down” menu (focusing on breakfast and light lunches), complementing their bakery business and sometimes, like in the case of the Simondium branch that we found ourselves in, a full farm stall experience. As you can see from the pictures below, being situated in the charming and historic Groot Drakenstein Handelshuis building, the Ou Meul Farmstall Simondium experience is delightfully rustic, and in this instance ticked all the breakfast boxes that our ravenous pack had in mind.

An unexpected lovely little location worth a stop if a sudden hunger pang ever jumps up and says hello on the old Franschhoek road.

Related Link: Ou Meul Simondium | Ou Meul | Simondium