The perfect weekend away and only a few miles from home

We were spoilt rotten on Sunday night by Lidia Nobrega, who invited us to come and stay at the Chapman’s Peak Hotel, which her family has owned for many years. Many of us have lovely memories of the old hotel, which is still there, and the great calamari they serve on the terrace,

but they have built on a super modern addition

and the rooms are very tasteful and cleanly luxurious, all with wonderful views across Hout Bay beach and bay towards the Sentinel and the harbour

Glass doors to the balcony completely block off any traffic noise and you sleep in great comfort

First, we treated ourselves to a great dinner on the terrace

Fiery hot Peri peri chicken livers and calamari & chorizo were our starters,

followed by 5 fat sardines with very crisp chips for John

and prawns and calamari

and a salad for Lynne

The food is freshly cooked and has always been of a very high standard

We ordered a bottle of Adi Badenhorst’s lovely rich, fruity and crisp Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2011, very reasonably priced at R99,

and then opened a very special bottle of Cape Point Semillon 2006 which we had brought with us in case Lidia appeared

This wine just gets better and better in its fullness of flavour, depth and elegance. We had the rest the following night and it was possibly even better. As we were not going far, we were tempted by the chocolate tart 

and the crème brulée

before tottering off to bed for a reasonably early night

The dinner bill came to R530

including a contribution for our excellent waiter Jethro

Breakfast in the dining room the next morning was a sumptuous spread of everything you could possibly want

you can order a full English breakfast or variations - which is freshly cooked for you. If the weather is great, you can have it on the terrace. John stuck to his usual fruit and muesli, Lynne had a cheese omelette

and neither of us could resist the freshly baked Belgian croissants with our good black coffees

Many of you will remember them; we sold them frozen, ready-to-bake from our shop. If you want to spoil your partner, book here for a very special night away. Lidia gave us a tour of one the two amazing penthouse suites on the top floor

and took us to see the superb swimming pool built into the rocks above the road

We then had a short walk on the beach, after which it was home and back to mounds of work for us

©John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor&Bacchus 2012

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Flying with Seagulls

Before putting our Dutch friends on the plane on Saturday night, they treated us to dinner at La Mouette, who have just introduced their very reasonably priced Autumn six course menu. The portion sizes are, thankfully, not gargantuan but you do feel you have had a substantial meal at the end of the evening. Chef Henry Vigar has, you will be delighted to know, left the truffle and cheese croquettes on the menu as the first course; these come with a bowl of smoked tomato aioli. Next was a rather chewy round ravioli filled with butternut and covered with a brown butter and crisply fried sage leaves, which much complimented the dish. Then came a fresh piece of roasted yellowtail on a chickpea, tomato and spinach ragout. Do whole chickpeas go with fish? The jury is out on that one.

The next course was a Confit shoulder of beef – tender and gentle; the beef was almost like something out of a stew and, surprisingly for us as we are not usually fans, the sweet corn polenta was soft and smooth with distinct notes of corn rather than the hard rubber-like starch you get in other restaurants. A tomato gremolata and pea shoots accompanied it.

Then appeared a tiny treasure, a warm and airily light choux pastry doughnut with lemon curd and filled with coffee Chantilly cream. Served on a Chinese spoon, it was far too little – we all wanted a bowlful of them.

Dessert was a gooey Chocolate orange macaroon, a chocolate financier, an orange puree, a very good marmalade ice cream with some lovely crusty scrapings of what tasted like Ovaltine around it and Cointreau syrup.

This menu costs a very reasonable R165 per person and R330 if you have the wine pairings they suggest with each course. We had a bottle of Springfield Life from Stone, and took a very special bottle from our cellar of Cordoba Merlot Cabernet 2002. Sadly the Cordoba wine estate is no longer in production, but Christopher Keet, who made the wines, is now producing under his own name.

La Mouette also has a 7 course Gourmand menu on offer at R395, R560 with the wine pairings.

Expressions of Elgin, Lamberts Bay & Cederberg at the Taj hotel’s Mint restaurant

Our first course of poached pears and gorgonzola, walnuts and candid beetroot puree was served with Iona Viognier 09. The next course was truly magnificent and very delicious. We don’t often eat chicken at restaurants but this Elgin free range chicken cooked en Papillote was served on a wild mushroom and truffle risotto and had been perfectly cooked: crisp skin on the outside and falling off the bone. We had two wines paired with the lovely dish and there was much debate about which of them best matched. We voted for the Thelema Sutherland Viognier Roussanne 09 but the Radford Dale Freedom Pinot Noir 2010 was a very, very close second. The next course was Beef fillet poached in red wine on a rather sweet smoked potato puree with vanilla infused baby vegetables and a port wine jus. Well matched with Cederberg’s Shiraz 2008 but a rather large helping after the chicken. The vanilla was intended as a component in the baby vegetables, but a little too much had leached into the meat and the potato puree, which rather overpowered the other flavours.

Dessert was a tiny apple mousse tart with strawberry compote, very good cardamom ice cream with ginger and this was paired with the South Hill Rosé which picked up the strawberry well. You can try these dishes on the Mint Restaurant menu for the whole month of April, paired with the same wines.

The next Expressions of ... Greater Simonsberg, Stellenbosch Valley and Bottelary Hills will be held on Thursday, 26th April with guest chef Christiaan Campbell of Delaire Graff, so be sure to book soon; these dinners are becoming very popular. And remember the Taj also has free regional wine tastings on from 5 to 8 pm on Wednesday evenings in the hotel lobby.

General Manager Michael Pownall with Jacquie Henderson of Iona
Dave Nel pouring the wonderful Radford Dale noble late harvest  

 Mint Restaurant

 James Borland with Jacquie and Rob Henderson

 Mr & Mrs Niall O'Regan

 Jan Laubscher (Spit or Swallow) and Nicky Wallace (Elgin Vintners)