Supper at the Bombay Brasserie, The Taj, Cape Town

Further to our article Chasing Canapés last week, we were delighted to be invited to have dinner in the Bombay Brasserie by Willem du Toit, Executive Assistant Manager, F&B of The Taj Cape Town

The entrance to The Taj Cape Town is right opposite St George’s Cathedral at the top of town

The enticing menu 

An amuse of chick pea and Gram flour paté topped with a zesty tamarind sauce was served. We also were served a tazza of crisp Indian nibbles

They offer very comfortable and elegant dining

We love drinking beer with warm spicy food and this was John's choice, a local craft stout from Darling Brewers, called Black Mist. Lynne chose a low alcohol lager from Windhoek

Our dinner choices were a Dum "lamb" biryani which comes covered in a pastry lid, and a spiced coconut and green mango "Allepey" prawn curry. We had some plain rice, cooling yoghurt raita and a mango atchar to accompany the dishes

The perfect serving, some prawn curry, some fluffy basmati rice and a tender and well spiced lamb biryani. The food was delicious, expertly cooked and very much to our liking

Our waitress brings us our theatrical dessert 

We did not have room for much more but loved the lime sorbet we were served in these interesting smoking pots. Dry ice makes all the “smoke” billow out of the holes around the pot and keeps the sorbet frozen

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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ABSA Cape Blends at The Cullinan

ABSA Perold Cape Blend Competition

The winners of this competition were announced this week at the Cullinan Hotel and we were able to taste all the top blends. Some of the winners were expected, but there were some surprising new wines on the list as well. To quote: “The winning wines in this year's competition all differ in their blend make-up, highlighting Pinotage's ability to seamlessly integrate with and complement virtually any variety”.

The five winning Cape Blends for 2015, and their components are:

Anura LB Cape Cuvée 2014 (Pinotage, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon)

Idiom Cape Blend 2012 (Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot)

KWV Abraham Perold Tributum 2013 (Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Malbec)

Welbedacht Hat Trick 2007 (Pinotage, Shiraz, Merlot)

Wellington Wines La Cave Cape Blend 2013 (Pinotage, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon)

The other 6 finalists were:

Cloof Wine Estate Inkspot Vin Noir 2011 (Pinotage, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsaut)

Kaapzicht Steytler Vision 2012 (Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot)

Namaqua Wines Cellar Door Pinotage/Malbec 2014

Painted Wolf Peloton Rouge 2011 (Pinotage, Shiraz, Mourvedre, Grenache, Viognier)

Pulpit Rock Louisa Reserve 2012 (Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot)

Romond Vineyards Rebus Cape Cuvée 2011 (Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot)

The judges for this year's competition were Neil Ellis (convenor), Kevin Arnold, Andre van Rensburg, Karl Lambour, Christine Rudman and Samantha de Morne-Hughes (associate).

The line up of finalists before the awards

Sorry Cullinan but this was the worst canapé we had all week. Sticky rice paper rolls with a whisper of salmon and sour overcooked stir fried vegetables

PRO Emil Joubert tasting the wines

Loffie Brandt of sponsor Absa begins the announcements

Great café music from that French style duo from Playing With Fire: Andre van Vuuren, Accordion and Matthew Reid, Clarinet

Lynne with Greg Landman of Country Life and Andre Liebenberg of Romond Winery in the Helderberg

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Presentation of the “Chefs who Share - Young Chefs Award” finalists at the Taj Hotel

"All you need is a spoonful of passion & a dash of creativity to succeed", says young chefs' ambassador, Lentswe Bhengu

To enter this competition, each of the up-and-coming  chefs had to create an innovative canapé which was served, together with a glass of Moët & Chandon Brut Impérial, as a culinary highlight at the "Chefs Who Share" gala evening held last week. The function raised R2 million for charity.  The money was collected from ticket sales and from an auction at the banquet.

Seven young chefs reached the final of this competition. We met them all at The Reserve venue at The Taj Cape Town and tasted those excellent canapés. These seven come from 47 talented and promising young chefs (aged between 18 and 29 and working in positions ranging from demi chef to junior sous chef) invited from the country's 75 top restaurants and each of the seven finalists spent two days in the kitchen of a top chef helping to prepare for the Chefs Who Share banquet. These will be the chefs of the future. The winner, with her pink peppercorn and duck liver paté macaroon with candied apples was Jamie-Lee Saunders (Red Indigo Restaurant@Grootbos)

The event was held in The Member's Bar at The Reserve venue at The Taj

Swiss chef and Swiss International Air Lines brand ambassador, Reto Mathis, who acted as International Patron, being interviewed by Chris von Ulmenstein

Chef Reto Mathis, Danica Helfrich, Head of Swiss International Air Lines South Africa, and Lentswe Bhengu with founders of Chefs Who Share, Barbara Lenhard and Florian Gast, publishers of Opulent Living magazine

Waiting for the canapés to arrive

Lots of wine was poured, donated by Graham Beck

The South African Ambassador of the "Chefs Who Share", Lentswe Bhengu, announcing the chefs and their canapés

Lots of media attending

Executive Assistant Manager, F&B at The Taj Cape Town, Willem du Toit

Barbara Lenhard tells us about the competition and the chefs who have entered. The winner's prize includes a culinary trip to Europe, courtesy of "Chefs Who Share" and flights sponsored by Swiss International Air Lines. The winner will spend several days cooking in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Germany before visiting the Moët & Chandon headquarters in Épernay, in the heart of France’s Champagne region. The prize includes being hosted by the Champagne house overnight and being presented with a VIP tour of the Maison, as well as the opportunity to participate in a workshop with a member of the Moët & Chandon winemaking committee and a resident chef

The event was recorded on film and TV. Sue-Ann Allen and Jon Meinking in attendance

Barbara Lenhard, with Lentswe Bhengu and Tracey Younghusband, describes the competition and the prize

An award goes to each young chef

Judge Tracey Younghusband talking about the competition

and with a canapé prepared by one of the young chefs

The canapés appear for us to taste. This is Germaine Esau's (Makaron @ Majeka House) Canapé entry: ‘Beef in the vines under African skies’

Anand Bhana (Hartford House) Canapé entry: ‘Ocean Adventure’. Smoked salmon with a molecular gastronomy sphere of cucumber and apple juice served on a seaweed crisp. Very innovative and one of our favourites

Ludwig van Biljon (Indochine @ Delaire Graff Estate), Canapé entry: ‘Singaporean Laksa panna cotta’

Edna Visser (The Restaurant at Waterkloof)Canapé entry: ‘The land, the sea & the sky’. A dry digestive style walnut biscuit topped with mayonnaise, a piece of raw scallop and micro greens

Etienne Wessels (Bosman’s Restaurant @ Grande Roche) Canapé entry: ‘Motion of the ocean’ Very innovative puffed wheat and seaweed cracker that melted in the mouth; wrapped around a fresh raw oyster, some calamari and dots of wonderful flavours. It did indeed taste of the sea

The winning macaroon Jamie-Lee Saunders (Red Indigo Restaurant@Grootbos) Canapé entry: ‘Pink peppercorn macaroon with duck liver pâté and candied apples’. We found the pink peppercorns to be rather strong

Marisa Botes (Pierneef à la Motte) Canapé entry: ‘Small & In-between’. A mini Baumkuchen made of micro thin layers of melting pancakes, filled with a butternut crème and topped with beetroot done 3 ways. We voted this our winner

The assembled chefs then received their envelopes telling them which of the top chefs they would be cooking with over the next two days. This is the list:

‘Chefs who share’ Chef Teams 2015

Team 1

Christo Pretorius, Azure at The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa

Virgil Kahn, Indochine at Delaire Graff

Gregory Mutambe, Head Sommelier at The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa

Marisa Botes (Pierneef à la Motte)

Team 2

Malika van Reenen, Signal at Cape Grace

Gregory Czarnecki, Waterkloof Estate Restaurant

Neil Grant, ex-Sommelier Rust en Vrede, owner of Burrata, Bocca and Open Door restaurants

Anand Bhana (Hartford House)

Team 3

Rudi Liebenberg, Planet Restaurant at Belmond Mount Nelson

Marthinus Ferreira, DW Eleven-13

Pearl Oliver, Sommelier, Planet Restaurant at Belmond Mount Nelson

Ludwig van Biljon (Indochine @ Delaire Graff Estate)

Team 4

Michelle Theron, Pierneef à La Motte

Bertus Basson, Overture Restaurant

Manuel Cabello, Head Sommelier, Ellerman House

Etienne Wessels (Bosman’s Restaurant @ Grande Roche)

Team 5

Garth Almazan, Catharina’s at Steenberg

Darren Badenhorst, The Restaurant at Grande Provence

Higgo Jacobs, independent wine consultant

Germaine Esau (Makaron @ Majeka House)

Team 6

Scot Kirton, La Colombe, Silvermist Wine Estate

Chantel Dartnall, Mosaic at The Orient Boutique Hotel

Germain Lehodey, Sommelier at Mosaic at The Orient Boutique Hotel

Jamie-Lee Saunders (Red Indigo Restaurant@Grootbos) – WINNER

Team 7

Chris Erasmus, Foliage

Jürgen Schneider, Springfontein Eats at Springfontein Wine Estate

Hansi Blackadder, Portfolio Manager at Vinovation

Edna Visser (The Restaurant at Waterkloof)

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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