Dornier Wednesday seafood special

The bright interior of Bodega, Dornier’s restaurant. A new experience for us, as we have always been there in summer when we sat on the terrace with the wonderful mountain view.

We were given a Monis medium sweet sherry as an aperitif to warm us up on arrival, as it was a very dank, cold, wet day. This is the view of the awful weather through one of the restaurant doors to the presently empty terrace.

Wednesday’s special menu for August.. We had come especially to share two Royal platters. We love these specials which make luxury ingredients more affordable. We are pensioners after all.

And the stupendous dish arrives. The crayfish and the langoustine were amazing. Well-cooked in a lovely buttery garlic sauce. The king prawns were less exciting and the polpetti calamari were tender and also in a good sauce. The mussels usually on the plate were not available, so we were given extra calamari. We think the very moist and juicy fish fillets were gurnard as they were neither gamey and dry, nor firm like kingklip. The small herb salad was well dressed and the rice and egg pilaf was the perfect accompaniment, as it soaked up the juices on the plate. 

We drank a bottle of their best white, the Dornier Donatus - a blend of Chenin blanc and Semillon to start and then our budget insisted we switch to the Dornier Cocoa Hill Chenin. Both were perfect foils to the rich seafood.

This is their normal winter menu and good value at R180 for two courses. We saw some of the food on other tables and it certainly looked worth returning for!

Do go and taste this special, we think it is worthwhile offer and bought it. The wine is not ready to drink yet, but it will be in a couple of years. It has lots of fruit, good tannins and great acid structure to support it in the future

We met the Chef, Daniel Kotze, who was sous chef under Chef Neil Norman, who has just moved to a restaurant in Camps Bay. Daniel is waiting for his new tunics

A very pretty window above the door to the kitchen

Wines to taste in the tasting room with some souvenirs, most made locally from recycled things

The roof of the Dornier Winery in front of Bodega restaurant is inspired by the shape of an aeroplane wing, a reference to the Dornier family’s aviation history

The waterfalls on the mountain were huge due to all the rain we have had recently and all the local dams are overtopping

A glade of tall pines on the mountainside hides small buildings

And another, with a telecommunication tower

© John and Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013