This is one of the best selling wines bought by
the public and it is on very many restaurant wine lists. It is amazing to think
that it has been around for 20 years. On Sunday we were invited to come and
celebrate with a lunch in the Cabrière restaurant with the Von Arnim family and
all the people invited were generously allowed to bring their families so we
had many children, all very well behaved. It was extremely gemütlich. Chef Ryan
Shell produced a lovely informal lunch which lasted until 5, when we all
scattered home as the next winter storm and cold front was about to arrive
A welcome
drink on the terrace in the sunshine. There was snow on the mountains but we
had a lovely sunny afternoon until about 4pm
Owner and
Cellarmaster Achim von Arnim
Achim with his
lovely wife Hildegard
Nathalie Leblond and Monica Elias, publisher of Wine Tourism South Africa and originator of the Klink! Awards
Everyone
looking very relaxed as we await lunch
Journalist Jos
Baker with Achim von Arnim and Alan Mullins of Woolworths Wine
Discussing the
lunch with our helpful waiter
Takuan von
Arnim pouring us some wine
The musicians played a very good range of music during the lunch. From old Jazz to Goema to
pop
Lunch is on
its way says Chef Ryan Shell ...
... serving
freshly baked bread
Supervising
his sous chefs at the pass
The lunch menu
was on a blackboard at the entrance
Views to die
for
A selection of
delicious things that go with the Charcuterie platter. Sweet roasted chilli
peppers, artichokes, good creamy labneh cheese in oil, semi dried tomatoes,
humus, pesto, olive tapenade and pickled mushrooms
The
charcuterie and some absolutely superb crunchy deep fried aubergine slices. We
confess we had four bowls of these as a good Banting substitute for bread. Want
more!
Another view
of the accompaniment showing black olives
They do have
very pleasant and well trained staff
And each table
received several of each so we were not short of food
Dieter Zettler
gives a speech about the von Arnims, Cabrière and the wines
Yes, another
one
John slipped
out mid lunch to take a picture of the view of Franschhoek and mountains beyond
from the restaurant
Lynne and Jos
Baker comparing notes on a restaurant review we have both done, and amusing Achim and Alan
Scrumptious
main course of a deeply flavoured fish broth topped with a portion of Kabeljou,
mussels, prawns and scallops. This was accompanied by a small slice of toast
topped with garlic aioli
Achim, Takuan
and Alan enjoying the wine and the soup
Chef Ryan Shell
with his cheese table. You could help yourself to a good selection of local
cheeses.
Jeanne Zettler with Hildegard von Arnim
Achim with
Chef Ryan Shell when lunch service was over
Lots of Cabrière
Chardonnay Pinot Noir on ice to drink
Achim makes
his speech
The cheese
table
Ian Manley of
Manley Communications with a friend. Many of us wore the house colour red to
the lunch
A lovely
vignette of a dad reading a story to his young daughter, who was so enjoying
it
The house
Bubblies: Pierre Jourdan Rosé, Brut Reserve and Brut
The wickedly
sweet dessert had soft poached pear, marshmallow, baked ginger cake, caramel, nuts,
and lemongrass ice cream
These were gifts for all the guests
Wonderful atmospheric pictures at 5 pm of a storm approaching Franschhoek down the mountain valleys from the North West. This brought more snow on the mountains and very cold weather on Monday
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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