Friday, November 15, 2019

This Week’s MENU. Neethlingshof; Champagne; Eden Project, Padstow, Port Isaac in Cornwall; Wine & Recipe of the Week


We are pretty dedicated omnivores. We eat a wide range of foods and endeavour to enjoy a very balanced diet – within the constraints imposed by frequent meals at events and in restaurants. So it was interesting to be offered a vegan three course meal at a wine estate restaurant last week, a restaurant which does have vegan dishes as part of their portfolio. So that is part of this week’s MENU, along with a Champagne event and more stories about Cornwall. We enjoyed it all and hope that you will enjoy our stories
Gauteng readers can enjoy Wade Bales Cap Classique & Gin Affair at the Southern Sun in Hyde Park Rooftop Terrace Bar, on  Saturday 23rd November from 3-7 pm and Sunday 24th November from 1-5 pm. Book your tickets today at QUICKET TICKETS
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Vintage launch and Vegan lunch at Neethlingshof, Stellenbosch
An invitation to visit Neethlingshof to taste their newly released white wines, some of their current red wines and some barrel samples followed by lunch was quickly accepted. It is rather a long time since we last visited and tasted the wines of winemaker De Wet Viljoen. Read on…

Wine Concepts French Champagne Festival was an even better success this year than in the past. Why? They changed it to a Saturday afternoon affair and it was much appreciated by the guests who came in their droves.  How special to spend an afternoon tasting the top Champagne marques and enjoying some canapes for R500 a person, cheaper than a bottle of a single Champagne marque. Read on…


Mevagissey is only a few miles away from the Eden Project, which is an educational charity.  Inside two massive connected biomes, covered in plastic, are plants that are collected from many diverse climates and environments, including South Africa. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located 5 km from the larger town of St Austell, which you go through to get to Mevagissey. It was started in 1998 and completed in 2001. Its purpose is to demonstrate the importance of plants to people and to promote sustainable use of plant resources. Read on… 
Even though he had visited Cornwall several times, John had never visited Padstow, so Lynne wanted to show it to him. She has spent many happy days there, walking along the cliffs and then finding a good pub to have a good beer with mates and a pasty from the Rock Bakery on the other side of the estuary. Padstow is a very popular town and is well known for having several Rick Stein restaurants. We love his cooking programmes and his recipes have become standards in our home. Read on…

On the MENU this week. Fennel and Pear Salad

It seems that we may be about to enjoy a period of warmer weather, so it is back to eating salads for us. This is something very easy to put together and rather unusual. We think you will like it. If you have a mandolin grater, it makes thinly shaving the fennel very easy. Read on...
which is full of green pepper pyrazines, fig leaves and granadilla on an intense nose. Crisp and round on the attractive palate with some sweetness mid palate, green peppers, lime and guava. We enjoyed this wine so much; it is an excellent example of a good Cape Sauvignon Blanc. It went so well with food too. And the price is affordable. R80 on the farm

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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 our website and ancillary works are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are often 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

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