Tuesday, May 23, 2017

This Week's MENU. Aslina wine launch, supper at Lily's, Morgenster launch, Lunch at Dynasty, Red Cabbage apple, Aslina Umsasane 2015

Autumn colours in the avenue leading to the manor house at Morgenster

This will be the last MENU in our usual format for several weeks. On Thursday 25th May, , we will be flying to Schipol in the Netherlands and embarking on a rather ambitious road trip through north Europe and Scandinavia. One of those “bucket list” things to do before we become too old and feeble! Although it will be a holiday, a photographer and his camera never find it easy to become inactive, so we’ll be posting short stories of the places we’ll visit in Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway and will be posting on Instagram as well at https://www.instagram.com/fordjohnduncan/ We look forward to showing you some interesting and beautiful places and MENU will resume its normal format in the third week of June
Ntsiki Biyela, originally from KwaZulu Natal, has been the winemaker at Stellekaya for the last 13 years. She was the first South African black woman wine maker. She trained in Viticulture & Oenology at Stellenbosch University and worked stages in Tuscany and Bordeaux. At Stellekaya she produced four star Platter wines and won awards. Her dream was always to make her own wines and this she has now done. Aslina is her tribute to her grandmother (it is her grandmother's name) who was her inspiration and guide as she grew up. She was awarded Woman Winemaker of the year in 2009. It is an exciting venture. She continues as a consultant to Stellekaya. She is involved in many wine industry competitions as a judge i.e. SAA, Diners Club Winemaker of the Year, IWSC and Nederburg Auction. We were invited to the launch of these wines, held at the American Consul General’s residence in Bishopscourt
Mouille Point beachfront has suddenly been populated by several smart looking restaurants, those that should be on Sea Point's promenade but are not (and there is a long history there). We were invited to Lily's to try out the food last week. It is on the corner of a new block that has taken the place of the old Newport Deli. Lily is the name of Paul Kovenski's young daughter. The Kove Collection also owns Pepenero next door and La Belle Bistro and Bakery in the same road, as well as the Alphen and several other Cape Town restaurants. They do not yet have a wine licence, so you do need to Bring Your Own. Phone first though, in case the licence has been granted. Or you can order wine from Pepenero, but you need to run two bills
Earlier this year, in February, we were invited to review the Kyoto Gardens Menu for Two which was obviously a success, because this week we were invited to review the new Winter Special menu. On offer are three courses and a glass of wine for R220 pp. This also includes an appetiser of Edamame beans, not counted as one of the courses. This authentic Japanese restaurant in Kloof Neck Road can be a tad pricey, but they do serve some of the best sea food in Cape Town. This menu is good value and an excellent introduction to authentic Japanese food
We were invited by the owner, Giulio Bertrand, to the unveiling on Friday of the Estate’s new Pieralisi Olive Press and to taste the new season's olive oil. And, of course, we would have the opportunity of tasting the recently released wines. The Olive Press is astounding. We have not seen an installation this big and sophisticated in South Africa. And the wine tasting was pretty special too
We know we talk a lot about Dynasty, our local Chinese restaurant in Main Road Sea Point. We do so because it is very good. Clare, John's daughter had a special birthday this weekend and, on Sunday, we took her there for a treat. John had placed a special order for a whole Peking Duck. We thought you might like to see it
If you are serving a rich meat like Confit Duck, Goose or even Belly of Pork, traditionally it is served with a relish of some sort to help cut the fat. Red Cabbage is traditional with both duck and goose and Lynne made it to go with Duck Confit and duck fat potatoes recently. It is usual to add a red wine vinegar, but she used Balsamic which adds more depth of flavour and some sweetness.  1 Tablespoon should be enough, but it depends on the strength of the Balsamic you use, so do taste and add more if you think it needs it. You do need a sour sweet taste in this cabbage dish. The sour apples help.
1 small red cabbage, cored and roughly shredded - 2 granny smith apples - 2 T butter - 3 crushed juniper berries - 1 to 2 T balsamic vinegar - 1 t sugar - water - salt - freshly ground black pepper
Peel, core and slice the apples. In a pan with a lid, melt the butter and gently fry the apples for a minute or two, then add the cabbage, the juniper berries, the sugar and the balsamic. Simmer on a gentle heat with the lid on for half an hour. Add a little water during cooking if the cabbage looks too dry. Taste and adjust the seasoning

a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot
Made by winemaker Ntsiki Biyela. This classic Bordeaux blend reminded Lynne so much of a great Cape wine called Crescendo from the now defunct winery Cordoba, made by Chris Keet, who now makes his own blend called First Verse. The nose is superb: Incense wood, gunflint, stone, full of violets and cassis. A smooth mouth feel then the berry fruit gathers itself and goes POW on the palate. It is sophisticated with layers of fruit and gentle wood with some necessary tight chalky tannins and on the end hints of tea and more violets. A wine built to last 20 plus years








23rd May 2017
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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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