Friday, February 28, 2020

This Week’s MENU. Waffles in Tableview, Bosch Chefs contest, Paella, Bellingham Rosé

Sunday on the Beach

This week, we write about food, eating it and making it; next week, there will be more about wine than food and a story about one of the year’s best entertainment events. We hope you will like the stories

Thank you…to all of you who have responded to our query and told us that you would rather receive MENU by email than check us out on social media. We are repeating the request for the last time this week. The responses we received indicate a manageable number which can be serviced by ordinary email rather than by the expensive mail service we have been using. From next week, the email version will be sent only to those of you who have told us that you wish to receive it.

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Where to find THE BEST waffles in Cape Town? We think we have found them
Now there are "Waffles" and waffles. If you have travelled in Belgium you will know what an iconic dish this is to the Belgians. And it has to be made perfectly. Not a quick self raising flour batter and a quick pour into a blackened pan that hasn't been used for a year or more. They must not be soggy or flat or even too crisp and dry. They have to be light and airy and melt in the mouth. We used to rave about the stall at the Biscuit Mill run by a Belgian, Fernand Durler, but he has returned to Belgium. We have had some very bad ones and, thankfully, some occasional good ones. But not quite there. Read On…

We have a good working relationship with Bosch and were last there for the judging of the Sommelier Awards. This time, they invited us to cover their new competition for #TheNextBoschChef - someone with a passion for cooking and baking who would put their appliances and cooking studios to good use with their culinary skills. The competition was held in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Read On…

Lynne was taught to make Paella in London by a Spaniard but the recipe she used till now is very different from this version of a Seafood Paella.  It is just the weather for something like this and again comes mainly from the store cupboard and the freezer.  She recently bought a packet of mixed seafood at a wholesaler and while this is not a perfect solution, it does work well in dishes like this. We did not have mussels, so there are none in the picture. Read On…


Made by former Bellingham cellarmaster Niel Groenewald (now heading Nederburg) and Woolworths master wine selector Allan Mullins CWM, this wine is rosé perfection. The nose is filled with ripe fresh strawberries, strawberry jelly and strawberry ice cream, with just a hint of vanilla. Read On…



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MENU has appeared nearly every week since March 2003, initially as a free newsletter from our shop, Main Ingredient, and is sent to our subscribers by email. Many of our subscribing readers have followed us from our earliest days and we appreciate your support
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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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