Sometimes you find somewhere you would like to
stay for the rest of your life. For Lynne, Tintswalo Atlantic on the Hout Bay coast fits
the bill with its fantastic position, comfort and style. We had been invited to
visit this lovely resort on the edge of the bay earlier this year, but we could
not accept. So it was with a good feeling of anticipation that we visited for lunch
this week, following another invitation
The view from Tintswalo's top entrance
to the Sentinel and Hout Bay harbour
The entrance to Tintswalo is just before
the toll booth on Chapman's Peak Drive, http://www.chapmanspeakdrive.co.za/the-drive/history.html,
one of the most spectacular drives in the world; the road was chiselled out of
the vertical cliff side
You see very little of Tintswalo from the road; it
just looks like a few humble buildings on the shore below. In fact, many people
do not even know it is there. Tintswalo was, sadly, burnt down, for the second
time, in the bad mountain fires last year and has been completely rebuilt again.
They have done a superb job
The road down is very steep with minimal parking space at the bottom,
so you leave your car in the car park at the top and the gatekeeper phones for the
golf cart to come up and fetch you
We were thankful for the very
good brakes on the golf cart
The sun was out and we stood on
the deck over the ocean with a welcoming glass of Krone MCC entitled The Phoenix,
a very appropriate tribute to Tintswalo's recent history. Lynne is chatting to journalist Bianca
Coleman who writes for the Cape Argus. To the left are forager Justin Williams
of First Light Foods and Broadcaster Nigel Pearce of Radio Good Hope
Siya, one of Tintswalo's
excellent staff, served us the Krone
We begin lunch. Lynne is
chatting to Lisa Goosen who is Tintswalo's Chief Executive Officer, Management.
Lisa is the daughter of the owners, Ernest and Gaye Corbett. She told Lynne that
the family began in property development and now own several properties in addition to Tintswalo Atlantic. Manyeleti Game Reserve is home to the luxurious Tintswalo
Safari Lodge and Tintswalo Manor House. Tintswalo Waterfall is within the
Waterfall Equestrian Estate in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs
Executive Chef Guy Clark came to explain his Tribute to Ocean and Ash menu, which echoes the fires and the "infinite
and wet sea" in front of Tintswalo. It will consist of eight courses. But, first, we will be served some bread and then an amuse bouche, neither on the menu
Wines to be served with the
first courses: Klein Constantia's crisp Sauvignon Blanc and Chamonix' elegant wooded
Chardonnay
The salted sourdough bread
baked by chef came wrapped in small parcels tied to this fire burnt branch
It was accompanied by three
different butters: Lemon, Paprika and mustard. We tried them all. Nice dense
bread, good chewy crust and the butters were good: hot mustard, citrus lemon
and spicy paprika
Then, on a plate dusted with
three ashes, the amuse: a tiny morsel of boccarones (gently soused fresh
anchovies) coriander, sea sprouts, wrapped in a seaweed pasta
The official first course
arrived to several gasps around the table
It did look very attractive with the
seafood nestled 'on the rocks', entitled Oyster, Mussel, Marron. The oyster was seasoned with seaweed salt, the mussel with pickled seaweed and the marron with
sautéed seaweed. We tucked in. The marron is a fresh water crayfish native to Western Australia. They are farmed in a dam in the Eastern Cape. While it is a potential danger, as it could become an invasive alien, it is strictly controlled by the producers. Not as sweet
as lobster, but good flavour. Lynne's was a little raw at one end and a bit
overcooked at the other. John's was perfect. The mussels were plump and juicy. The Klein Constantia
Sauvignon Blanc was a great match
The menu for the next three
courses
Second course: Springbok, Snoek and
Pistachio served on an upturned bowl. These were 3 small balls coated in
carbon. Only when you bit into them did you discover what you had. The
Springbok was done in the Tartare style, well flavoured and seasoned with thyme
salt. The pistachio nut mix was the largest ball, "very moreish", said
most around the table, and the smoked snoek was flaked and shredded and tasted
of the sea. The very wooded Chamonix Chardonnay mellowed with the three
different flavour profiles
Chef plating at the pass in his open kitchen
Next, the bowl was flipped,
some wild garlic (African Tulbaghia violacea, not ramsons) was added and then
using a flame thrower - no, sorry, a culinary blow torch - chef set it alight
until it glowed and started to
smoke
Good theatre!
Then, a perforated plate carrying the third course dish was placed on the bowl so that the smoke permeated
the food above. This was entitled Rooibos smoked Kudu, wild garlic smoked Skattie cheese with an ocean water cured egg yolk surrounded by mustard cress. We surmised that the egg had been cooked sous vide. Chef told us it was cured in sea water for 48 hours. Soft tender Kudu, gooey egg, nice cress. And then soft Skattie cheese, which is made by Udderly Delicious Cheese in Darling. The diary describes it as somewhere between an edam and cheddar. To us, a bit more like a cured mozzarella
The next two wines
The fourth course really wowed us
all. The top plate was removed from the bowl and 'Liquid Umami' was poured over the cremated wild garlic from an attractive green teapot. It was truly
a Willie Wonka experience. We were told it has 32 different ingredients. We
could have spent the rest of the day guessing what they were. Lynne's suggestions
were roasted tomato, butternut, carrot, miso, various herbs, dried mushrooms,
parmesan, meat, soy, fish sauce, Katsuobushi tuna flakes; sweet roasted onion, Dashi,
seaweed, all the things that contain natural glutamates such as MSG. Chef did tell
us that there was Spanish Iberico ham fat and rabbit. But what did it taste
like? A thick warm and savoury creamy liquid, the definition of umami, a
concentration of the above flavours blended so well, never over-extracted and
very comforting. Everyone seemed to scrape their bowls clean. This should be
bottled and sold, but it is probably too expensive to make and to market
Served with Miles Mossop's 2014
Saskia. A blend of Chenin blanc, Viognier and, this vintage, some Clairette Blanche. The
sweetness of the Viognier perfectly complemented the Umami and the crisp Chenin
cut through any stickiness
On to the fifth course:
Atlantic line fish, burnt lemon rind, scallop and a seaweed velouté. No line
fish that day, the fish was firm and fresh Kingklip. The scallop was seared
perfectly and met our high expectations of this queen of seafoods. The creamy velouté
brought the two together. The ash plate keeps the theme going nicely. Served
with the Writer's Block Pinotage from Flagstone, a surprisingly good match
We must admit that, at this point, we
were beginning to flag a little and then, surprise! An unannounced and
unnumbered course appeared, making the lunch 11 courses, if you count the bread
and the amuse. A palate cleanser of, we guessed, limoncello and chilli sorbet.
We were completely wrong, there was no chilli, it was just concentrated lemongrass
and mint. It was welcome
Onward to the official sixth course, which was
rich and tender Fynbos rabbit; slow cooked, savoury and unctuous, wrapped in
a fermented goats cheese ash case (like the outside of a camembert)
with a wild sorrel butter and a lovely concentrated port jus. Not so keen on
the goats cheese, which is quite powerful, a bit bitter and rather overwhelmed
the gentle rabbit
The seventh course was a mini poem
of 6 different mushrooms atop a crisp
We were told that they were shimeji, king
oyster, shaggy, shiitake, enoki and truffle pearls. Another rich course, but
brief. This was served with Avondale's La Luna, a classic Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet
Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot; dark and spicy with
notes of morello cherries. Whoever is doing the pairings really knows wines and ably matches them to the food
John was served a beetroot
medley with goats cheese on the same crisp because of his allergy
And finally dessert, the eighth
course
Buchu ice cream, an ash meringue, ocean salt, 55% Valrhona Itakuja chocolate and a green sponge. Valrhona Itakuja is dark Valrhona chocolate, double fermented with passion fruit. Hand churned creamy ice cream, what looked
like a steak of chocolate bark and that small piece of floating ashy meringue
with the green seaweed sponge. This was served with a glass of Klein
Constantia's iconic Vin de Constance. And then coffees to end a long lunch - we
were a little taken aback that it was 5 o'clock
Time for some memory
photographs
and some chat in the fresh air
John caught a brave black oystercatcher, not afraid of being washed off the rock by a wave
We thanked the chef copiously
The lounge is so elegant and
relaxed in its duck egg blue, complemented with soft sandy shades
We saw some of the bedrooms; each has a different theme
All have those wonderful views,
even in the bathroom
More blues. Would you ever get
out of bed? Room service please
A room in Coral shades
Looking back at the bed
A private deck
A look back at the mountains above and the
private terraces of each room. Tintswalo is a dream. One many of our overseas
readers might not be able to resist on their next visits to the Cape
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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