Tuesday, May 17, 2016

A visit to Darling. The Darling Wine Shop and Chicory Cheese Café

Charles, who is a wine negociant and owns the Darling Wine Shop in Darling, must be one of the most hospitable people in the Cape. As we were in the Darling area and we owed him a lunch, we met at his shop and he produced an epic tasting for us of many Darling wines and a couple of others. Then we went off for a good lunch with Charles and his wife Janet at Chicory Cheese Café, taking along some of the tasting bottles to see how they went with food
The shop is right at the top of the Main Street
It carries mostly local wines which they showcase but also other wines from the Cape
Great advertising!
Charles welcomes us with a bottle of his Malbec
Yes, we did taste all of these. Our favourites were the Drie Papenfontein Sauvignon Semillon blend by Charles Back, the Darling Cellars Premium Sauvignon Blanc and the Withington NBC (Nothing but Chardonnay), a steal at R68 and, of course, that Darlington Reserve Malbec made by Charles
Ida  van Tonder runs the shop and is very knowledgeable and helpful about wine
Time to take Charles and Janet to lunch, with a few of the open bottles
Our first time at Chicory Cheese Café restaurant, not far from the shop,just around the corner in Lang Street
A real welcoming country place. They bill themselves as food . coffee. health . deli
It was warm enough to sit out in the garden
The special of the day
You can look at the menu on line on their web site
Catching up
Delicious falafel with all the necessary salads, tzatziki and chilli sauce
That Special of the day
The very generous croque poulet sandwich
Our friendly waitress
Across the back garden is the Petite Hotel. Guests have their breakfast at Chicory Cheese
The owner and chef Anesia Darné
Inside Chicory Cheese Cafe
Things to buy and more places to sit
Back to the Darling Wine shop where they have some good spicy sauces and chillies to sell amongst other things. A great day. Thank you, Charles and Janet
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus


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