Thursday, September 27, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Lunch at Pajamas & Jam, Pinot noir Report, Zeitz MOCAA, Tian of vegetables. Colmant MCC

Spiral. Looking up the 6 storey spiral staircase at the Zeitz MOCAA, like a huge mechanical eye

Spring was here.... and then, typically, it changed its mind. It tucked itself back into its box and let Winter stay with us for a while longer. Last Sunday, on the way through Constantia to a friend's birthday celebration, we passed beautiful spring flowers massed along the edge of the road in the sunshine. For most of this week, including today, when we were at the celebration of the Amorim Cork MCC Awards, it was cold, cloudy and damp. But the weather forecast says that it will clear up tomorrow, so maybe Spring is coming back. But the good news is that our dam levels have reached 70%, which is better than we've had for a couple of years, but we still need to be careful about using water. Enjoy this week's stories…
We were invited to an awards presentation in Somerset West at 3.30 in the afternoon last week and, to make going out there worthwhile, we decided to try out one of the local restaurants for a bite of lunch. Friends who live there, depressingly, told us that this is where restaurants go to die, so we were a bit cautious. Then a friend in our industry said “Try Pajamas and Jam, just off the N2, they are good”. So here we are. Not difficult to find it; just look for the Sikorsky S61 helicopter on top of the building. You take the turning to the right off the N2, just before the bridge (heading for Sir Lowry’s Pass). It is at 32 van Zyl Street, off Fabriek Road…

WineMag invited us to join them at the release of the results of the second annual (2018) Pinot Noir Report, to see the top scorers get their certificates and taste the top wines. The event was held last week at Idiom Wine Estate in Sir Lowry’s Pass high above Somerset West and the Strand
The Zeitz MOCAA is a museum of contemporary African art. It is also, in a way, a sculpture on its own; a reincarnation of the old grain silo in the Cape Town harbour. The silo tubes have been carved out to create new spaces and wonderful shapes which lend themselves to photographic compositions. This makes it an interesting exercise for a photographer, but so do the interactions between visitors, the art works and the building itself. Most of the photographs do not need captions. On Heritage Day this week, the museum was open free to local residents and we decided to take advantage of the offer. There was also a special Cape Malay lunch in the museum restaurant, so we booked for that as well…

We eat a lot of vegetables – because we enjoy them. So, wondering how to cook some good pork sausages differently, Lynne looked in our fridge and came up with this idea. The Americans would call this a tray bake; it rather more resembles a Moroccan tagine or French Tian. The pork bangers we had were plump and full of flavour; buy the best you can get, they will reward you. The vegetables in this were what we had in the fridge; you can make your own choices, but you must use the cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and the herbs. Click here or on the title to see the whole recipe

South African Méthode Cap Classique has been around since Frans Malan made the first Kaapse Vonkel at Simonsig in 1971. Made in the traditional French method, this beautiful rendition is not allowed to be called Champagne, but many of our talented winemakers are able to make superb wines of quality and finesse in this style. We love drinking it; we always try to welcome guests with a bottle of bubbly. It must be served at celebrations, breakfast, lunch, dinner, picnics, with luxurious food like duck paté, smoked salmon and caviar and it goes perfectly with rich desserts. In fact, we don’t need any excuses to pop the cork on a bottle, or two. Today, over lunch at the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for 2018, we tasted the wines awarded the top accolades in South Africa, much more about which next week. The wine that impressed us more than the others, and they are all excellent, is our Wine of the Week…
27th September 2018

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

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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

MENU's Wine of the Week. Colmant Brut Chardonnay Non Vintage MCC

South African Méthode Cap Classique has been around since Frans Malan made the first Kaapse Vonkel at Simonsig in 1971. Made in the traditional French method, this beautiful rendition is not allowed to be called Champagne, but many of our talented winemakers are able to make superb wines of quality and finesse in this style. We love drinking it, we always try to welcome guests with a bottle of bubbly, it must be served at celebrations, breakfast, lunch, dinner, picnics, with luxurious food like duck paté, smoked salmon and caviar and it goes perfectly with rich desserts. In fact, we don’t need any excuses to pop the cork on a bottle, or two. Today, over lunch at the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for 2018, we tasted the wines awarded the top accolades in South Africa, much more about this next week. The wine that impressed us more than the others, and they are all excellent, is our Wine of the Week

Colmant Brut Chardonnay Non Vintage MCC won this year’s Blanc de Blanc Trophy. It is made by Jean-Philippe (JP) Colmant on his farm in Franschhoek from selected chardonnay grapes grown in both Franschhoek and Robertson. He calls it his crème de la crème and we agree. On the nose, it speaks to French Champagne in style, with elegance and restraint, with rich and creamy brioche notes from long maturation and a whiff of cognac richness and complexity. Clean citrus and apple on the nose and palate, it has a good mousse and has long, crisp and dry flavours with a tingle. It is also so good with food. R240 on the farm. It is has twice received five stars in Platter 

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

On the MENU this week. Tian of vegetables topped with Pork Sausages

We eat a lot of vegetables – because we enjoy them. So, wondering how to cook some good pork sausages differently, Lynne looked in our fridge and came up with this idea. The Americans would call this a tray bake; it rather more resembles a Moroccan tagine or French Tian. The pork bangers we had were plump and full of flavour; buy the best you can get, they will reward you. The vegetables in this were what we had in the fridge; you can make your own choices but you must use the cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and the herbs
6 or 8 pork sausages – a cup of ripe cherry tomatoes – 3 courgettes – 5 baby carrots, scraped – a cup of baby potatoes in their skins – three small shallots, halved – 1 leek, sliced – 1 kohlrabi, trimmed & sliced into half moons – 5 or 6 whole cloves of garlic – 5 small sprigs of rosemary and the same of thyme – 3 bay leaves – a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil – sea salt - freshly ground black pepper – half a cup of water
Heat your oven to 180°C. Make sure all the vegetables are in bite-sized pieces and put them into the base of a deep open dish. Add the water and tuck in the herbs and garlic. Season with a little sea salt and then drizzle with olive oil. Put the sausages on the top and put the dish into the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the sausages and check that the vegetables are cooking. Continue cooking until the sausages are cooked. If the vegetables still need a bit more cooking, cover the dish with foil and give it another 10 minutes in the oven. If the dish is dry, add a little more water; you do want a bit of ‘gravy’. Taste the jus and add more salt to the dish if you think it needs it. The sausages will add lots of flavour. Give it a grind of black pepper and serve

Lunch at Pajamas & Jam, Somerset West

We were invited to an awards presentation in Somerset West at 3.30 in the afternoon last week and, to give extra justification for the trip, we decided to try out one of the local restaurants for a bite of lunch. Friends who live there, depressingly, told us that this is where restaurants go to die, so we were a bit cautious. Then a friend in our industry said, "Try Pajamas and Jam, just off the N2, they are good". So here we are. It's not difficult to find it; just look for the scrapped Sikorsky S61 helicopter on top of the building. You take the turning to the right off the N2, just before the bridge (heading for Sir Lowry’s Pass). It is at 32 van Zyl Street, off Fabriek Road
The entrance is quite smart. Inside it’s a huge warehouse connected to another next door
It is enormous. At the front there is a shop with lots of comestibles to buy to take home
The lunch menu. There is also a Morning section for breakfast
NB no licence, so no wine or beer. We had not brought any wine with us
and we were on our way to a wine event, so we chose two of these healthy juices
Menu of the day. Obviously croissants were very popular, as at 12.30 this choice was sold out
And the restaurant is filled with shelves of what the 'antique' trade calls Tut. Next door, there is a scrap metal business and we suspect that much of it ends up here on the shelves. It is mostly metal, like brass or copper, with some glass and other items. Not many items bear prices. Some are reasonable, many are not, but a lot of the prices are ridiculous; many are marked R1750 for something small and not valuable. We suspect that they are not really for sale. (Lynne was in the Antique trade in London in her 20's and used to buy stock for the gallery she worked for - from dealers, markets and from the top auction houses). It is fun to browse while you wait for your food
It is obviously a very popular place for lunch, working or just meeting friends
These old copper geysers and urns are now worth a lot of money
Piles and piles of books, mostly marked "Not for Sale, do not touch"
Love the old walnut piano, but we wouldn’t suggest sitting down to play, you might get stuck....
An old traction engine in a dusty corner, with some plaques from old steam trains
and an old fashioned bike with a basket
Lamps. chandeliers and long tables near a warm round fireplace,
welcome in this huge space on the chilly day we were experiencing
We ordered two of the variations of Quesadillas and were impressed when two arrived on each plate. The wraps were well toasted and the cheese inside had melted nicely
Lynne had chosen the pulled pork with sweet onion jam, mozzarella and cream cheese. Very enjoyable, tender and moist pulled pork with good flavour (So different from the overcooked and dry pulled pork we have had elsewhere in the past). Not a fan of the huge quantity of rather sweet onion jam on both versions. We would also have liked some greenery, like rocket, and perhaps some tomato
These are generous portions
John chose the Bacon and Brie version, which also came with onion jam and cream cheese
We swapped one each, so we had some variety
Just right for soaking up the Pinot noirs we would soon be tasting
Our juices: Lynne chose the Pineapple, mango, orange, ginger and lemon,
John the Grapefruit, orange and ginger
Both were freshly made and came with the pulp in the container
Do not be fooled - these glass chemical flasks had 350ml of juice in each,
so generous for R45. Fresh, unsweetened and very enjoyable
A good selection of cakes to tempt you
Chocolate topped cheesecakes
Luckily we are not tempted to indulge. Lynne bought some Iceland poppies to take home
Our Bill

Heritage Day at the Zeitz MOCAA, The Silo, V&A Waterfront

The Zeitz MOCAA is a museum of contemporary African art. It is also, in a way, a sculpture on its own; a reincarnation of the old grain silo in the Cape Town harbour. The silo tubes have been carved out to create new spaces and wonderful shapes which lend themselves to photographic compositions. This makes it an interesting exercise for a photographer, but so do the interactions between visitors, the art works and the building itself. Most of the photographs can be viewed without captions, but explanations can inform. On Heritage Day this week, the museum was open free of charge to local residents and we decided to take advantage of the offer. There was also a special Cape Malay lunch in the museum restaurant, so we booked for that as well
It was a bit daunting to see the long queue when we arrived at midday, but it was moving fairly quickly. Then a young man came up to us and said we should come with him to the head of the queue. We suspect age and grey hair had something to do with it, but we were grateful, although there were a few protests from younger people in the queue
The entrance to the Zeitz MOCAA Museum
The almost sculptured ceiling was carved out of the silos. The architect who designed this was extremely creative with what must have been a very daunting space
We titled this the Angel of Death - we could not see any information on this installation. Behind, on the left, you can see people climbing the stairs. There are six floors. We took the lift up and walked down from the top
Nice lighting from the roof lights at the top of the stairs. Almost a smile
And, looking up, it is like a huge mechanical metal eye
The circular lifts travel up one of the silos. Only one was working and they are extremely slow
A view of the innovative facetted windows of the hotel section of the building. They remind Lynne of sails full of wind and glimmer in the sunshine
The view from the sculpture terrace on the 5th floor, back towards Table Mountain and “our” mountain, Lions Head. The terrace has glass floors which top the silos below, not great to walk on if you have vertigo. They have applied a pattern to make it less daunting
The view straight down to earth below
And that beautiful snail of a staircase from the top
Finally, into the gallery. The art is intensely political at the moment, and features some art from Zimbabwe and other African countries. The exhibitions change regularly
Lots of light, white space
"Human Nature is a debut solo exhibition that presents an extensive body of ethereal paintings created by Ruby Swinney following her graduate show at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2015". These seemed to be ethereal, spiritual or alien subjects in oil and water on tracing paper and occupied a whole floor
Paint, paper and cardboard make up this cape
Lots of discussions about the paintings and their meanings
and lots of photos were taken
Is this art? Or someone sorting out their handbag? Actually, he was taking a photo from floor level
One of the most memorable pictures of the day, part of the exhibition by Zimbabwean artists entitled "Five Bhobh" (the 50c taxi fare in Zim) – Painting at the End of an Era. Many familiar faces in this Last Supper rendition
Lots of space for large paintings to get attention
Architectural spaces enhance the art
We laughed and enjoyed this wryly amusing painting, but the message is clear; lots of hot air in the politics in Zimbabwe. Apparently Zimbabwean President Mnangagwa is the crocodile disappearing into the calabash, with the armed forces looking on. You probably have to be from Zimbabwe to get all the inferences and references
Some confounded and puzzled; the label told us. It is titled “Sadza”, the Shona name for mieliepap/polenta, often sold as a take away in polystyrene boxes
Two sides of the gallery are connected with balcony walkways
Lovely shapes in the view to the ground floor
A suspended sculpture of a woman, made from old bras, got attention
We stood rapt at this film of the artist painting his face and smiling at the camera. Then he scrapes it all off and begins again
A wall of bottle tops makes a great statement in the small shop. We think this is where John lost the parking ticket while handing out his business card!
A great view of the Pterodactyl or Angel, whatever your own interpretation....
A chat about the art, or a bored husband and a happy wife? Again make your own interpretation, it is all art, all things being equal
This was a very striking exhibit
From another angle
Girls chatting
A view between
Flying out of his egg shell?
Darth Vader or Munch?
Spiral. The 6 storey spiral staircase, like a huge mechanical eye, looking up
and echoes of a cathedral
We loved this fine picture, not taking itself seriously
Selfie time
The photo does not do enough justice to this figure of bling
Pose please and smile now, Mum
A maker of spectacles
This entire piece is made from flattened bottle capsules, and is quite wonderful. The work involved must have taken months if not years. Very impressive. Nice way to recycle too
A place to meet, or wait
Time to see if our table was ready at 2.30; we were hungry
This was the special Heritage Day menu
and the very expensive wine list. Priced for tourists, not for locals
The restaurant is rather industrial and plain on the inside
The service was really bad, we had to get up and ask for a waiter to come and serve us after waiting for a long time
The Vetkoek platter with another dish from the normal menu on another table.
The beer choices are Castle Lite, a beer so "lite" in flavour that it is a bit like making love in a canoe, Windhoek Lager (sold out) or Heineken at R45 a bottle
The Chicken and Prawn curry, topped with a cucumber raita, served on rice with a roti. It had good flavour, was medium hot and reminded us more of those we had in Durban, rather than Cape Malay. Generous with the large prawns
John's Gourmet Boerewors roll with a few chips was rather disappointing, not Gourmet at all. There was a relish table but no signs saying what the sauces on it were, and he is rather conservative with sauces if he doesn’t know what went into them

Our bill. Our friend Pamela was with us and she had the wine by the glass
The photographs were all taken with John's "Mighty Midget" Nikon Coolpix A900 which has a very powerful 4.3-151mm zoom lens (24-840 35mm equivalent) and excellent performance
More than just a "point and shoot"