Pop up lunch at Mellasat with chef Janet Richardson

Mellasat Pop-up restaurant     It is the season for lunches and, while you can partake of the excellent lunch at Laborie all year round, the Pop-up lunches at Mellasat only happen every month or so and, should you care to drive Paarl, the next one will be on the 15th and 16th of August.  You will need to book (for either lunch or dinner) as these are very popular with the locals. Their address is Mellasat Vineyards, Keerweder Road, Klein Drakenstein, Paarl Contact them on Tel: +27 (0) 21 862 4525 Email: mellasat@mweb.co.za  The cost is R220 for two courses, R295 for 3. A cheese platter costs R70 per person.

Mellasat bills itself as the home of the original white Pinotage, but Steven Richardson’s wife, Janet, used to be the chef at Fraai Uitzicht in Robertson when Axel Spanholz & Mario Motti owned it and some of you might be familiar with her good food. We were invited for lunch this Sunday and, despite the N1 being closed due to a nasty accident which necessitated a detour, we arrived just after 1 o’clock for a good repast with some well matched wines

Welcomed by owner Steve Richardson in their tasting room

The dining room is beyond

There is some interesting artwork in the two rooms

And some homilies

The restaurant is spacious and beginning to fill up

Our menu for lunch

Another Mellasat must

Lynne discusses with Steve what we should drink with our lunch choices

Although we were not tempted to eat any bread, we did taste this nice green olive and almond tapenade

Our Amuse was a tiny bobotie tartlet with guava pickle

The wine list. Dekker’s Valley is the original name of the farm and is the second label of Mellasat

A list of old wines which they have drunk and put to bed

Some more lurk in the cellar

We shared the starter and main courses. This is the Bouillabaisse with a crouton with good rouille. Well matched with Mellasat 2013 Viognier

The other starter was small salmon cakes with fried capers and lemon crème fraiche. This went well with a glass of their 2012 White Pinotage which, if you close your eyes, still tastes like a red wine.

Steve joined the family firm on their farm in Norfolk before coming here to farm grapes in South Africa. He says there is not much difference in farming sugar beet or grapes, it is just that the product's sale is delayed with wine and that costs money.

A guava sorbet was a refreshing interlude before the main course

A main course of Pork done two ways: soft Belly with apple and fennel and a seared fillet with a rather odd balsamic fig chutney. Very good crackling. This was served with a glass of 2012 M, a blend of Shiraz, Cabernet and Pinotage

Perfectly cooked Osso Bucco with a good tomato rich sauce. Beautiful with the Mellasat 2012 Tempranillo/Cabernet Sauvignon, which added something to the dish.

Belgian chocolate torte on a Génoise sponge, Frangelico mascarpone and espresso granita

Liquorice poached pear, brandy cream, toasted walnuts and pear sorbet


Our chef, Janet Richardson, looking a little relieved after service is over, with her smiling husband

Chatting about food and recipe with Janet. They kindly gave us 2 bottles of their wine to take home, a white Pinotage and an M.

Their lovely old farmhouse

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Matthew Gordon launches his winter menu at Harvest, Laborie in Paarl

It seems only a week or two ago that we were enjoying Matthew Gordon’s summer menu at Laborie. This week, we and other media were invited to sample his new Winter Menu and one of our number liked it so much, he took his family there two days later for Sunday lunch. We can heartily recommend it and think it is very good value indeed for the quality and quantity of food that you get. We started with a welcome glass of their MCC sparkling Chardonnay which we seem to consume regularly a) because we like it very, very much and b) because it is also extremely good value. While we were standing around chatting they produced some good canapés: large and tender sweet tempura prawns and tempura slices of avocado, something new and quite interesting, we might try at home.

This was the menu we ate, which is a selection of things available on the new expanded Winter Menu

The table in the small separate dining room with a nice roaring fire

Eamon and Clare McLaughlin of Spill with Kerryan Lancaster, Global Brand Manager of Laborie

Lynne chatting to journalist Neil Pendock

Those moreish tempura prawns and avocado slices

Kerryan tells us about the new menu

Winemaker at Laborie, Kobus van der Merwe

Marketing Director for KWV, Jeff Gradwell, tells us about the wines

and Executive Chef Matthew Gordon explains his menu. All the items on it are sourced locally if at all possible

Making notes and having a glass of one of our favourite bubblies, Laborie’s Blanc de Blanc MCC

Chef Matthew explains the courses

First course with a glass of the KWV Special Collection 2013 Chardonnay, rich and creamy with a hint of wood smoke. The grapes are from Elgin

And what a wow of a first course. Lynne might travel miles to eat this delicious soup again. A rich silky saffron velouté bursting with fish and seafood and some cheeky crisp crab wontons

Perfectly cooked smoked duck breast, a Confit duck leg croquette, more crisp spicy wontons and a berry jus to match this with the soft and gentle Laborie Merlot/Cab blend

Two different vintages (2011 and 2012) of the elegant and complex Laborie Jean Taillefert Shiraz were served with the main course of terrifically tender red wine braised Karoo lamb with a garlic crust

And then with the honeyed, sweet and sticky Pineau de Laborie, a classic steamed lemon pudding, light as a feather with limoncello curd and lemon meringue ice cream and some very unusual mojito jelly (we loved it). A tour de force, on the palate it tasted as if you had just eaten a huge slice of lemon meringue pie!

And when we didn’t think we would or could eat anything else, a good double espresso, a glass of Laborie Alambic Brandy and some homemade Belgian chocolates

Clare Mack with Madge Booth from Good Housekeeping, enjoying the chocolates

Journalist Shanté Hutton of wine.co.za having fun with her camera

Chef Matthew sits down for a chat and a small glass of something with Laborie General Manager Zelda Oelofse-Cornthwaite

Thank heavens we were driven there and back home by one of KWV’s excellent, interesting and service oriented drivers, Nolan Blankenberg

because the road was not pleasant with a lot of heavy, but welcome, winter rain. Thank you all for a super day

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014