.: March 2017

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Recipe of the week - Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Lynne made this for Vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil; aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala

2 medium aubergines - 1 T salt – 5 to 6 T oil – 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - 1 T grated fresh ginger - 2 t curry masala - 1 cup of butternut, cut into 2.5 cm cubes - 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced – 700 g fresh tomatoes, finely chopped or 700g tomato passata – 200 ml water - 1 t sugar – salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic, you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala

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MENU's Wine of the week - Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé

It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/

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This Week's MENU. A tourist in your own city, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage at the Wine Concepts, Breakfast at Giulio's Café, Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé, Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Flying off into the sunset

(A bit like our car, which is giving way to a new chariot)

Tourism and the wonderful people who come and visit our city are frequent topics in conversation, but how often do any of us who are Capetonians look at ourselves from a tourist’s viewpoint. Last week, we decided to take the MyCiti bus to Hout Bay with our friends who are visiting from the Netherlands. We also attended a very well organised tasting of South Africa’s signature wines, Chenin blanc and Pinotage and had a lovely breakfast....

Being a tourist in your own city

We decided to take the bus to Hout Bay and behave like tourists this week. We love the MyCiti bus, it has transformed getting round Cape Town and the routes are growing daily. We topped up our cards (you need to buy them beforehand and they are available at various venues in your neighbourhood. Check out the website. We met our friends at a Sea Point bus stop at 10h55. Sadly, the timetable information Lynne was given on the phone by Enquiries was wrong and we missed the first bus by five minutes, but there was another along in 20 minutes. You can check the timetables online too, but we don't find them very user friendly. You can deposit money onto the MyCiti card and use it if you need cash. You can't board the bus without it. They don't take cash

Chenin Blanc and Pinotage shone at the Wine Concepts Celebration

Friday saw us at Wine Concepts’ Chenin Blanc and Pinotage Celebration at the Vineyard Hotel. A chance to taste new and older vintages of both of these South African varietals, to network and to meet and taste the wine of a few (to us) new producers. Chenin Blanc continues on its climb to the top of the local grape varieties. It can do so much, show a huge variety of different styles, it ages superbly and suits our climate, varied as that may be at the moment. The same could be said of Pinotage, although it receives less exposure, less lauding and, sadly, the amount planted seems to be in decline. Pinotage shows its stellar face when it has some age. Lynne concentrated on tasting the Chenins, John cherry picked both varietals. It was impossible to taste them all; there were 88 wines on show

Breakfast at Giulio's Café

Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR at Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be. Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturday 8am - 12.30pm Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm

Wine of the week

Many years ago, back in the 1990's, Villiera used to make a Blanc Fumé - a wooded Sauvignon Blanc. It was a wine Lynne loved, often bought by the case and, at a Villiera function last year, she spoke to Jeff Grier about it. "Oh, glad you liked it!" he said, "we are about to relaunch it." She was delighted a few days ago when a courier arrived with a sample bottle. It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/

Recipe of the week - Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Lynne made this for vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil, aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala

Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic; you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala

28th March 2017

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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.

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Breakfast at Giulio's

Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR for Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be. Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturdays and Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm

The entrance. We were so impressed with Giulio himself; what a polite, friendly and gentle young man. He is making a great success of this Cafe. You can read about him on his web site. https://www.giulios.co.za Service was prompt and efficient

We loved the simple and light decor. The chairs are a little small, but manageable

A table had been reserved for us in the corner

Important to start breakfast with a coffee!

Good crema on the Americanos

The menu

For our vegetarian friends, Shakshuka. From North Africa and the Middle East, it's a nice and spicy tomato and red pepper compote seasoned with onions, garlic, chilli, cumin, paprika topped with two poached eggs

Lynne had intended to have something healthy and then she saw her favourite breakfast on the menu. When she did her round the world trip in 1992 she found this all over the world and if faced with a plate of congee (tasteless rice gruel) or poi (taro porridge with a texture of wallpaper paste), she chose instead pancakes, maple syrup and crisp bacon. This turned out to be a superb choice. The pancakes at Guilio’s were a revelation; they are light as air, fluffy and full of flavour. Why has she never had them this good before?

John had the good Frittata di Giulio, an omelette filled with spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, caramelised onion (no mushrooms) topped with parmesan and a side of a tomato basil Neapolitan sauce

A table full of delicious food

They bake all their own cakes and pastries and there is an impressive selection to tempt you

Loraine chose a Florentine with her espresso, which comes, correctly, with a glass of water, something often missing in South Africa

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Monday, March 27, 2017

Tourists for a day in our own town - a bus ride to Hout Bay

There are two Hout Bay buses, the 109 goes to the Harbour side, the 108 to the Chapman's Peak end. We took the 108, direction Hangberg, to the harbour

It is a lovely trip along the coast road and takes about half an hour. Here we are passing through Camps Bay, also worth a stop

Looking lovely on a weekday morning

Time to chat and enjoy the scenery

Past the tourist spots and the curio vendors on Victoria Road, just beyond Bakoven

We arrive and Lynne points out some of the sights

Mariners Wharf

This has a small collection of shops and restaurants

The creamy white sandy beach stretched before us

A street trader with remarkable bead work

Dunes, a pub restaurant on the beach across the bay, is one of our favourite haunts

Paddle surfing, a fairly new and now very popular sport

The colourful fishing fleet in the harbour

We explored the Pearl shop and bought some presents to take home

Watching the gulls

John remarked: "Well, he is not going to get another ship..."

Hout Bay declared itself a Republic several years ago. It's a rather fun tourist initiative

Inside Mariners Wharf fish shop with a selection of fish under plastic. We were distressed to see that they sell live crayfish, which are now so endangered that they are on the SASSI wwfsassi.co.za/ red list and we are all being asked NOT to buy them. They have a sign prohibiting photography. Perhaps this is why

Salted dried snoek, a local fish

Although feeding the seals in the harbour by hand is not allowed, the tourists love it, so it continues

The seals are tame and beguiling, "Kiss me dammit!"

But they can be very dangerous

Fish head stew anyone?

A huge catch of hake had just been landed at the public fisheries. This is where to buy fish in the harbour, fresh and filleted to your specification. Most of this will end up in the local fish and chip shops today

These ladies are very skilled and have years of experience

The NSRI building; it housess the lifeboats and the Atlantic Boat Club. Above it is Hangberg, which means "hanging on the mountain". It's a local township, where locals (many involved in the fishing industry) have lived for a long time

Gulls waiting for fish scraps

Up on the Hangberg, a luxury home that must have been very threatened by the recent mountain fire which came very close to it

We now begin our walk along the beach, intending to go for a draught beer at Dunes. Sadly, it was so close to lunch time that we passed and moved to our lunch destination. Next time.

It was a beautiful hot day and the hot air and cold sea made lots of mist that came into the bay.

It's a dog's paradise

Mine!

A fishing boat heading out of harbour

Into the mist

This is where we were heading for lunch, the Chapman's Peak Hotel on the other side of the bay

The sea mist creeps up the warm mountainside where it drops welcome moisture

The view behind us, where we had just left. You can see how bad was the fire on the mountain earlier in the year

The tourist cruise boat Nauticat coming in to harbour after a trip to Seal Island. John was involved with sponsoring it in the 90s

We disturbed these gulls on our walk. Young, just fledged kelp gulls, losing their baby plumage and learning the skills of flying

Lovely to watch

The Leopard on the rock at Flora Bay. This sculpture has been on the rock since March 1963, a gift from Ivan Mitford Barberton (a local sculptor). The bronze leopard is in memory of the last leopard sighted in the area in 1930 and a reminder of the wild life that used to roam these mountains

A family enjoying the beach. The sea is a marvellous colour, a range of blues

We arrived at the newly painted Chapman's Peak Hotel at 1, just in time for lunch

A table with a view of the Sentinel mountain

It is very popular with locals and with tourists. They don't take bookings, so come early at the weekend if you want a table

The menu

A bottle of Adi Badenhorst's Secateurs Chenin blanc 2016, served by a lovely lady named Temperance

We ordered one serving to share of one of the specialities of the hotel, Peri Peri chicken livers, which we wanted our friends to taste; we converted them. These tender, hot and spicy livers with a Portuguese slant, are superb

Three of us had the succulent calamari, so well cooked, which comes in a light crisp batter, with lemon, and a side portion of golden crisp chips. One of the best places to eat calamari in Cape Town, as well as other seafood and fresh fish. It is a large portion. You can also have it as a starter

John went big with the combo of Steak in a red wine garlic and chilli sauce with calamari

Dessert was not manageable, but a local speciality, a Kahlua Dom Pedro (Kahlua liqueur blitzed with vanilla ice cream) was enjoyed by Peter. It's a uniquely South African experience and you can vary the alcohol

We had good double espressos

The bill

The sea mist envelopes the Sentinel as we set off to catch the bus home

Chapman's Peak Hotel

The hotel has a deli and wine shop nearly next door

The bus terminus for the 109 back to town

You pass Kronendal, a National Monument in Hout Bay, which houses a very good Thai restaurant, Kitima

and Imizamo Yethu, the huge Hout Bay township which, tragically, had a devastating fire the previous weekend that displaced over 15 000 people, who lost their shack homes. Tragically, three people died. The people of Cape Town came to the rescue with huge aid to help with the loss of all their possessions. Food was provided, and a place to sleep. The City Council is now helping to re-block and rebuild the township so that fire engines and other emergency vehicles can get through in future. The shacks are normally built too closely together

Llandudno beach is another to visit, but go by car. The bus only stops at the top! Take a picnic; there are no shops or restaurants, it is purely residential

A popular view of our glorious Cape Town coastline. It was a lovely day out

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MENU, our weekly email newsletter, started as an advertising medium for Main Ingredient, our specialist retail grocery business. We opened our Sea Point shop in December 2002 because realised that there was a place in South Africa for a grocer catering to people with sophisticated tastes and needs. We moved the shop on line in 2010, but discontinued it in 2015, having decided that it is time to “retire” and concentrate on our writing, photography and tour guiding. MENU has a wide circulation and is read nationally and internationally.

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