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In
this week’s MENU:
TWTWTW (aka TW3) Trade Food shows Christian Eedes
Cabernet Sauvignon Awards Muscadel Awards Fine Brandy Fusion Jardine on Jordan
lunch Dining around at
Greek Fisherman, City Grill and Meloncino Old Mutual Trophy
Awards lunch at the Mount Nelson The Wolftrap
Steakhouse Championships 2014 Avgolemono Chicken
This week’s Product menu – One of this week’s naughty delights was the hand cut
chips at George Jardine’s restaurant on Jordan wine estate. The secret of
success with these and with roast potatoes is to use duck or goose fat when cooking
them. See them here.
If you can find it in the supermarket, we don't
usually stock it, just the products you would struggle to find.... Check our online shop to see more details and prices.
TWTWTW (aka
TW3)* Busy? Us? Never! We love filling in our week with
exciting events. And we even managed to have two days off and do things around
the house and some serious gardening. And sleeping.
* Those who are unfamiliar
with 1960s British television might like to know that TW3 refers to a show that
made people like John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett famous, called
That Was The Week That Was, popularly referred to at the time as..... TW3. OK,
we’re ancient!
Trade Food shows We started with a visit on Thursday
morning last week to Hostex at CTICC which, sadly for us, was very much a
non-event this year – too many bed and garden furniture displays. Things were
much more interesting on Tuesday at another trade show, the Food Hospitality
World Africa 2014, featuring more food oriented companies with some of our best
producers like Fynbos Fine foods, Pesto Princess and Indezi cheeses, some of
whom will follow through to the Good Food and Wine Show this weekend. And we could
meet and congratulate Emma Dean, the winner of Masterchef Australia, with her
husband, who was walking through the show. Charming couple. MORE
Christian Eedes
Cabernet Sauvignon Awards presentation took place at Burrata restaurant in the
Biscuit Mill precinct in Woodstock, our old stamping ground. Christian, James
Pietersen, Head Sommelier at Belthazar/Balducci’s, and Roland Peens of the Wine
Cellar hand-picked 60 of the best producers, whom they invite to enter their
Cabernets and these are then tasted and they choose their top ten. It is
definitely not a Talent spotting, come-all competition; they are looking for
wines that display 1st, 2nd and 3rd Growth status. Sponsored by Sanlam Private
Investments, this competition is in its third year and there were two 5 star
wines, six 4½ star wines and two 4 star wines.. MORE
Muscadel Awards Then it was off that evening to Paarl to
the awards dinner for the top Muscadels. It was held at Noop restaurant which
we must admit to having passed by for a few years and this was our first visit.
We were suitably impressed with the food and the company was a lovely selection
of people in the industry who make good Muscadels. There were five awards and
we got to taste all of these wines, including a very exciting KWV 1968
Muscadel. This wine and another featured again at the Old Mutual Trophy awards
this week. MORE
Fine Brandy
Fusion
Friday night saw us at this very
successful show at CTICC (we are thinking of applying for monthly parking
rates). Wow, was this enthusiastically attended by lots of Cape Town’s brandy-loving
folk. We admit to having had a ball, even though we sipped to taste rather than
drank many of the great brandies on offer. They were giving very generous
portions and we do hope everyone was drinking safely and making alternative
arrangements to get home afterwards. South Africa is making great brandies. We
tasted only 10 year olds and older, and one French, Bisquit XO. MORE
Jardine on
Jordan lunch Saturday saw us driving to
Stellenbosch Kloof to visit one of our favourite restaurants for daughter
Clare’s birthday celebration. While we started out with the best intentions,
unfortunately and regrettably Banting went out of the window. We had a superb
lunch, even though we castigated ourselves severely and suffered afterwards for
falling for the carbs, but who can pass up fat crisp hand-cut chips, a
chocolate marquise or a honey and poppy seed soufflé ? Oh, and did we mention
the two warm, freshly baked breads, and hot mini vetkoek? Well, one day off
can’t do too much harm can it? MORE
Tuesday Dining
around at Greek Fisherman, City Grill and Meloncino Have you ever fantasised about having a
starter in one restaurant, mains in another and dessert in a third? Well, it is not usually available but, on
Tuesday, Annette Ashley who handles the marketing for these three restaurants
in the V&A Waterfront, owned by
Peter Protoulis, wanted to show us their scope and what better way than to do
exactly this. We began at the Greek Fisherman and, even though the day was
becoming dank and chill, sat in the open air section with a lovely view of the
waterfront and the mountain, an enormous plate of Meze to share and a good
glass of Simonsig Chenin MORE
Old Mutual
Trophy Awards lunch at the Mount Nelson This was a huge success and we congratulate
to all the winners and the organisers. We love being there and seeing who has
been invited, because that inevitably means that they have won something good,
a gold medal or a trophy. There were some very new faces there this year and
there were some very familiar faces. KWV deservedly took the prestigious Fairbairn
Capital trophy for the most successful producer overall, Adam Mason and
Mulderbosch took the trophy for the best White wine overall and the Miele
Trophy for the best Chardonnay plus the International Judges Trophy. The Trophy
for the best red wine overall and the Trophy for the best Shiraz went to a wine
not many were familiar with, but now will be, Mount Sutherland Super Single
Vineyard Syrah 2010. Daniël de Waal grows this on the slopes of the Sneeuwberg.
Another trophy went to a winery which, honestly, not many people at the awards
had heard of: The trophy for the Discovery of the show went to Baleia Bay
Chardonnay 2013 near St Sebastian Bay and made by Jan-Hendrik Joubert – we
can’t wait to taste these wines. Click here for the full list of Gold Medal and Trophy
winners
The venue was the Planet
restaurant at the Mount Nelson, eminently suitable for such a large host and
they ably and professionally took care of us all. We had a lovely lunch and got
to enjoy some of the wines entered in the completion with our meal. MORE
If you want to taste some of them you can attend the Old Mutual Public
tastings in Cape Town at CTICC on 6th June and in Sandton
Johannesburg on Thurs 12 June. Book at Computicket
The Wolftrap
Steakhouse Championships 2014 announces the top 20 finalists Round
One of Public Voting has already taken place and the 2014 Top 20 Steakhouse
Finalists have emerged from about 140 steakhouse nominations. ‘Round Two’ of
Public Voting is now in action on www.steakhunter.co.za to narrow down the
Top 20 list to the Favourite 5 Steakhouses in South Africa by the end of May,
and they want to encourage you to vote for your favourite nominee. .
In early June the Favourite 5
will be visited by a select group of South Africa’s food experts and chefs to
select this year’s winner, and the 2014 Steakhouse Champion will be announced
on 24th June at the inaugural 2013 Champion Steakhouse: The Local Grill in Parktown
North, Johannesburg
This week’s recipe is for those who
are following the Banting/Noakes regime but want something luxurious. Yes, the
wine has a few carbs, so you can leave it out and substitute chicken stock. But
you do boil off the alcohol and there are only 3 carbohydrate units in 300ml
dry wine.
Avgolemono Chicken
3 Tablespoons of olive oil – 8 chicken
portions (4 legs - you can separate them into thighs and drumsticks - 4
breasts) – the zest and juice of 1½ lemons - 1 teaspoon fresh or dried oregano
– a small sprig rosemary – two sprigs of thyme – 3 sprigs of marjoram - 300 ml
dry white wine - sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – 3 eggs
In a large open cast-iron casserole (that will go into
the oven) heat the oil on the top of the stove and brown the chicken pieces
until golden. Add the herbs, lemon juice, lemon zest and the wine. Season with
salt and pepper. Bring up to the boil, then turn down and let it simmer for 5
minutes. Remove the breast pieces and set aside. Put the dish into the oven and
bake for 35/40 minutes at 180ºC or until the chicken legs are cooked. Slice the
breast pieces into smaller portions, add them to the rest of the chicken and
cook for a further 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through but still
succulent. Drain off the juices from the pan and strain them into a Pyrex
measuring jug – you need 300 ml. Add a little more white wine, verjuice or stock to make up the quantity. Return the
chicken to the oven which is turned right
down to keep it warm, but not to cook further.
Beat the three eggs in a medium Pyrex mixing bowl, add
the chicken juices and put the bowl over a pan of boiling water. Keep whisking
until the sauce turns into a thick lemony custard. Adjust the seasoning, then
pour over the chicken and serve. Wonderful with lots of fresh green vegetables
like spinach, broccoli or kale.
Buying from us On Line We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of
course, doing the things we write about, but making it possible for you to
enjoy rare and wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business and drives
the wheels that enable us to produce MENU possible. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made
gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our on line shop. We can send your requirements
to you anywhere in South Africa. Please do not pay until we have confirmed availability and
invoiced you, then you pay and then we deliver or post. When you make an eft payment,
make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us
your order. Click here to see our OnLine Shop.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape.
There are so
many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have made
separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s
happening in our world of food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of
exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken
over the UnWined
wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking classes in
Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see
more details here.
Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir
Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and
Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Thursday evenings and she has decided to
introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus
on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught
over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team
building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a
professional chef for 25 years. More info
here
29th May 2014
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor
& Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian and standard or Dutch-flavoured
Afrikaans.
Recommendations
of products and outside events are not solicited or
charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs,
recipes and text used in these newsletters and our
blogs are ©John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus.
Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals
and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go
independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed
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