Plaisir de Merle invited us to join them at the launch
of their new Petit Plaisir red, a Shiraz-driven blend, with lunch at The Dining
Room in Woodstock, owned by the talented Karen Dudley. Petit Plaisir means
Small Pleasure, but this is anything but small. It is a lovely, sweet and soft
blend of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and a scant 0.7%
Viognier, which shows its presence despite the small amount. It is easy to
quaff and great with food. We suspect that we will be seeing this on wine lists
all over the country soon.
The Dining Room on Sir Lowry Road in Woodstock is also
a function venue which can be hired. It is open only once a week for dinner.
Contact Karen at her other restaurant The Kitchen, which is almost next door.
This was where Michelle Obama chose to have lunch with her daughters when they
visited Cape Town. A great surprise for Karen and it gained her wonderful
publicity and many more customers who were attracted to her healthy style of
good food
The Petit
Plaisir, which was launched with lunch
But first, a
glass of Plaisir de Merle’s MCC bubbly
The lunch menu. It
was all served ‘family style’, so we could share platters
A long table
to accommodate the crowd
Meeting and
greeting
We get our
first taste of the wine. On the left, next to Lynne, is Barry Nieuwoudt, owner of the Greek
Fisherman, Meloncino and City Grill restaurants in the V&A Waterfront
Karin Dudley
welcomes us to her restaurant
Slices of beef
Carpaccio topped with horseradish, radishes, lentils, rocket , parmesan and
capers
The dish of
the day. Kentucky Fried Quail with a spice dusting and soy. It was crisp on the
outside, beautifully moist inside and had wonderful flavour. We tore into it.
Almost as good
was the fresh seared salmon with a sticky Vietnamese caramel sauce
A mixed salad
for one of the vegetarians at the table
Venerable
journos Neil Pendock and Graham Howe with
Tender roast
pork with crackling, topped with stewed apple sauce, with a selection of
vegetables
A cheese board
with very good local cheeses
And finally as
a parting snack, the duck pancakes. Very moreish. Lovely lunch, Karen, to go with
a lovely wine
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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