Graciales restaurant in the Peddlar's complex

When last we were invited to the Italian restaurant, Volare, at Peddlars & Co on the Spaanschemat River Road in Constantia, Chef Brad Ball told us that they had plans to open other restaurants in the complex. Just a month ago, they opened Graciales - the name is a blend of Gracias and Sociales and it's a tapas bar. On Friday, having accepted the invitation, we visited. Generously, they set a cab to fetch us and we had a lovely evening with great food

Peddlars by night

Graciales philosophy

Bright tiles and jam jar lights add a touch of difference

No frills on the tables, easy to clean and the cutlery comes in a tin can with paper serviettes

The sign on the wall near the bar

Craft beers on tap, wine specials, winter Glühwein and daily specials

We like the idea of the Peddlars winter specials! Especially if you finish early on a Friday

We started with a Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc, crisp and tropical

The restaurant starts filling up. We had just arrived, at 7 pm

The Tapas menu

With Tapas, you share all the dishes.Our first dish was one of the platters. Apparently it is one of Brad Ball’s specialities and customers insist it that it should be on the menu. Slow cooked lamb, accompanied by aubergine crisps, tzatziki, humus, a tomato relish with hot harissa paste and mini pita breads. You eat any combination you like, but we found everything together to be the best. De-lish-ous.

Next to share were the very tender, deep fried Calamari strips with a lemon mayo and the Asian Beef Tataki - very tender seared beef cut thin with an Asian dressing, black and white sesame seeds, spring onions and hot chillies. Basically a beef Carpaccio with Asian flavours

And finally, (sadly rather fatty) belly of pork and nicely salty edamame beans cooked in their pods. Edamame are green soya beans. We had this with some red wine. Lynne had Beau Constantia Pas de Nom and John Steenberg merlot. Someone needs to render some of that fat out, please

We shared the Petit Fours plate and had it with double espressos. One chocolate truffle and one rose turkish delight each and we halved the gooey mini lemon meringue tart. That meringue went everywhere

They have some superb aged wines in their vinoteque at quite reasonable prices for these vintages 
and these particular wines

Seating for the bar outside has a winter blind to keep out the weather

or you can enjoy bar snacks in the bar

It looks like a great place to meet friends

Cleaned down for the night as we left, having enjoyed our evening very much. The staff were great, especially our waiter, JP van Eeden. We were sad that Chef Brad was not there, but delighted to hear why. He was on his honeymoon!

The cab was waiting to take us home

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Japanese Whisky tasting at Kyoto Garden restaurant

We have tasted Japanese whisky before, at a trade tasting, but we were very excited when we received an invitation to a tutored tasting of Nikka, the first whisky to be produced in Japan. It was held last week in the presence of The Japanese Consulate Head of Mission, His Excellency, Mr Mitsuru Murase, at Kyoto Gardens restaurant at 11 Kloof Nek Road

 In 1918, Masataka Taketsuru, whose family had been making fine sake since 1733, went to visit whisky refineries in Scotland to learn the secret of making Scotch whisky, which had captivated him. He studied at The university of Glasgow, the first Japanese ever to study the art of making whisky. He continued to work in the industry as an apprentice. He married his Scottish wife Jessie Roberta (Rita) and returned to Japan in 1920. In 1934 Masataka established Nikka Whisky, and built its first distillery in Yoichi, Hokkaido, and he eventually became a master blender

No one wants to do a whisky tasting and then drive, so we took the MyCiti Bus. The stop is at the bottom of our road. The trip, with one quick platform change in Adderley Street, took less than half an hour and it was in rush hour traffic

A pleasant street view of the far mountain from outside the restaurant; we arrived quite early

The whiskies laid out for the tasting

Kyoto Garden has whiskies from Suntory, who made the first Japanese whisky in 1924, but we didn't get to taste these

The tasting sheet for the 6 whiskies

Here they are, poured, with an accompanying glass of water to add after the first taste

Taygan Govinden with whisky presenter and writer Bernard Gutman

The amber light of whisky

Japanese beers

The line up. We started with the 2 single malts: Miyagikyo full of caramel, apricots and smoke with a soft vanilla honey perfume, pears and some salt. And the Yoichi NAS - Peat moss, herbaceous with red apple and caramel notes, a hot chilli tingle on the tongue and then toffee with cream. Both extremely pleasant and worth drinking. But not with too much water

The Japanese Consulate Head of Mission is His Excellency, Mr Mitsuru Murase, who gave the opening address

Whisky fundi Hector McBeth, a South African of Scottish descent, took us through the tasting and explained the whiskies to us, and showed us how to taste them, and how the Japanese, who are very fond of Scotch whisky, prefer to drink them. They add water and ice from a glacier, which sings in the glass. Sadly, we found that this seems to soften it a lot and, for us, it takes a lot of the flavour out of the whisky and it loses its alcohol heat, but that is the way they prefer it. The next was the Nikki Pure Malt Black - a blend of malts. Floral peaches and apricots with smoke and expensive wood notes. An oily glycerol mouthful , smoky bacon and tangerine fruit tingle that softens, with water, to peach juice. Then Nikka Coffey Grain, made with corn like a Bourbon had drum and burnt caramel and raisin on the nose, and Christmas pudding and caramel toffee on the palate. With water it turns to caramel milk chocolate like a Curly Whirly with whiffs of smoke

Japanese liqueurs and sake behind the sushi counter

Malu Copeland enjoying the tasting. The fifth whisky was the Nikka Coffey Malt; coconut and lime with herbs on the nose, silky and peaty with vanilla toffee and creamy milk chocolate on the palate . with water lactic caramel cream with a background of grapes and fruit

The final whisky was the Nikka from the Barrel, a blended whisky with 51.4% alcohol. This needed the glacial ice. Its nose was like prunes wrapped in bacon with smoky caramel. On the palate, red hot chilli caramel toffee and more prunes and bacon. With water, softer & more prunes and caramel

The sushi chef, Koshi Koyama, who has been with Scott Wood for 20 years, is a consummate expert at what he does

Saidi and his team in the kitchen, very important people

Some sashimi to cleanse our palates after the tasting, served with a clear sake, which had anise notes, rather like a pastis

and some sushi

The outside of the restaurant

The tasting notes. We enjoyed the tasting very much indeed and urge you all to try Japanese whisky when you have the opportunity. We did not find it to be like Scotch, but it is an excellent product in its own right. The water debate is up to you, it's entirely personal. Disclosure: We both have Scottish ancestry and have become familiar with it throughout our lives

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015