Thursday, January 12, 2012

Lunch with Jardine at Jordan Wine Estate



































John guided Anne to a choice of a glass of the Outlier 2009 Sauvignon Blanc with her starter of “Gazpacho salad” with fried stuffed calamari, iced cucumber, croutons and pesto.
The food was absolutely superb and we had a lovely airy inside table, by three open windows where the breeze kept us cool on this 35 degree day. This turned into a really long and relaxed lunch catching up and sitting viewing one of the best views in the Western Cape. John, who also had a glass of the Outlier, started with lime cured yellowtail, late summer pea shoots, green bean and tapenade
and Lynne had the absolutely tender seared calves liver salad with roasted turnip, crispy sage and a marvelously matched prune preserve.
The liver had a lovely smoky flavour. She is still sticking to her resolution of no alcohol in January so she had a Jordan red (shiraz) grape juice with her meal and good tap water. All the food is so beautifully and simply presented and is even more delicious to eat. Anne and John could not resist the double herbed impala with pomme puree, smoked garlic, braised savoy and meaty porcini, accompanied by a glass each of the Prospector Shiraz,
while Lynne was tempted by the salt crust baked fennel, lightly grilled avocado, olive oil, lemon and parmesan with salad leaves and a delicious tapenade - fantastic but rather smothered in oil. All were delicious.
None of us could manage dessert, despite the descriptions being extraordinarily tempting, but we were persuaded to have a tour of the lovely, cool cheese room
where we succumbed to a plate of six very interesting local cheeses, some known to us, some completely new, to share. That came with two glasses of Boplaas Tawny Port.

2 comments:

Cassandrina said...

Excelllent photos though I cannot see how the smaller portions could overcome the need to at least try the deserts.

MENU said...

I guess it depends upon how hungry, or greedy, you are. The portions were not too small and we were well-satisfied! Sharing a cheese platter was more than we needed and we didn't finish it.
John