We receive lovely invitations and this week it was one
to attend the first of the Wine and Dine pairing diners that the Mount Nelson
Hotel will be running through the coming year. Click here for the programme. Executive
Chef Rudi Liebenberg and Sommelier Pearl Oliver have teamed up with some of the
world's most talented winemakers, brew masters and whiskey producers to bring
you these delicious gastronomic evenings.
Chef Rudi and Sommelier Pearl Oliver, who invited us,
had matched the seven course menu to compliment the MCC sparkling wines of JP
Colmant in Franschhoek, plus two champagnes from France, the Follet and the
Tribaut, which JP represents in South Africa.
We met Gabi
Palmer, the PR Manager of the Nellie (Cape Town’s fond nickname for our Grande
Dame of hotels at the top of town), for a pre-dinner drink on the terrace
before dinner and enjoyed the lovely summer evening
The garden is
at its best at this time of year and well worth a wander
Canapés of
fresh West Coast oysters with a tomato salsa greeted the guests. These dinners
are extremely good value at R485 per person for a seven course dinner including
the canapés and all the wines
and Jean-Philippe Colmant
and his fiancée Janine greeted us with a glass of his other French Champagne, Tribaut
Guests getting
a refill of this delicious bubbly
We took our
seats in the stately Planet restaurant and JP introduced us to his wines
This was the menu for the evening
JP gets a
guest to do some Sabrage (opening the bottle with a sword as Napoleon’s Hussars
used to do) on a bottle of his bubbly
She was an
expert and didn’t spill a drop. To quote Napoleon : "Champagne! In victory
one deserves it; in defeat one needs it."
The beautiful
central chandelier is a myriad of stars
The scallops
were sweet and perfectly cooked and this dish in particular, really highlighted
the flavours of the Brut Chardonnay
A novel way of
displaying and storing the restaurant’s wine collection
Beautifully
cooked, melt in the mouth salmon confit was another great match with the Brut
Rosé
A palate
cleanser of roasted peach and nectarine sorbet
The duck
sausage was the star of this plate, as the breast although perfectly cooked, was
a little tough, as we so often find with local duck. The cherries were a lovely
counterpoint to the Brut Reserve
The pastry chef
tells us how she came up with the dessert to match the wines
Some
interesting local goat cheeses went very, very well with the Follet Champagne. We
must confess we did not have expectations of a good match, so this was a nice
surprise
This rich
dessert was decadent beyond belief and after so many rich courses some of us
struggled to finish the huge helping of orange flavoured chocolate mousse. Not
John of course. We need the recipe for the chocolate sorbet, it was light but
dense in dark chocolate flavours without being buttery and claggy. Super little
surprises were the paté de fruit – nice intense fruit jellies
It was really
nice to see that some of our readers had decided to come to the dinner
A private
table in the wine cellar
Sommelier
Pearl Oliver, the Mount Nelson’s Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg, JP Colmant and
his fiancé Janine. It was an extremely enjoyable evening
Do investigate the events yet to come, we think you will enjoy them a lot
© John & Lynne
Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
