We
were invited to lunch at Myoga, (Japanese: Ginger flower) Chef Mike Bassett's
gourmet restaurant, by English friends who were staying at the Vineyard Hotel. It
has been quite a while since we last visited; we looked forward to his always
adventurous food and were not disappointed. He fuses Asian with modern fresh
cuisine in exciting and different combinations. We all had the set four course
lunch which had choices for all. You can see pictures and descriptions of the
food here. We are now invited to sample their new 7 course dinner menu in April
and will also be writing about it in Menu.
We
had the best table in the house in the open French windows, with a view of the
gardens and the mountains beyond. It was a day of all four seasons in one, so
we protected from the wind and showers but enjoyed the sunshine. We started
lunch with a bottle of Steenberg 1682 MCC
Our amuse bouche of a creamy oat and mushroom 'risotto'
The 5 course lunch tasting menu
The current à la carte lunch menu, which does change with the seasons
A beautiful pot ...
... revealed a dish of many mushrooms with shaved
truffle, truffle asparagus glaze, and oblongs of crispy chilli tofu
This
dish of spicy ancho chilli garlic chorizo prawns, mild buffalo wings, blue
cheese spuma, avocado butter, crushed tortilla prawns was much
enjoyed
salmon, pickled daikon, apple atchar, edamame gel
and the three beautiful raw salmon Shiozuke with green edamame
gel, crisp and sour daikon pickle and apple achar. The plating is always
immaculate and proves the point that you eat with your eyes first. This also
had "elements of thai snowball" which was a snowball of creamy
fragrant thai spiced coconut and lemongrass "ice cream" atop the
salmon
Chilled miso tuna, flavoured with wild African
garlic, coconut jalapeno ponzu, on a japanese sesame salad, here being spritzed
with lemon oil
Our palate refresher was a sorbet of lime and
lemongrass with a kick of alcohol
On to the main courses. We shared a bottle of Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Syrah, which went very well with all the varied choices
Lynne’s
choice of the lemongrass ginger boneless lamb loin, crisp coriander sesame
arancini, meltingly tender steamed Korean mini eggplant with labneh was a great
combination. The plate was dusted with ash & asparagus dust
Pancetta wrapped goucho fillets of springbok, with
salted caramel, carrots, broccoli rabé puree, port jus, a crisp pomme Anna,
accompanied by a savoury Tin Roof magnum ice cream on ice was the main enjoyed
by the other three at the table.
Time for dessert. One to rush back for was the
coconut sphere, coconut moelleux, coconut panna cotta, butternut churros, burnt
orange sauce, coconut marshmallow. Any different textures and sensations but
all combined to give one the kiss of a well remembered toasted coconut
marshmallow with warm caramel
The “death of strawberry shortcake” strawberry
bombe, strawberry coulis, white chocolate sponge, vanilla ice cream strawberry
gel, strawberry pastille, soft strawberry fizzer assorted summer berries
arrived under a cloud of spun sugar
And when the warm sauce was poured over it, the
cloud dispersed revealing the dessert below. Rather sweet but wonderful.
We can't wait to try the 7 course dinner menu
©
John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
