Friday, September 11, 2020

This Week’s MENU. We’re back! Food Fanatics, Overture, Restaurant protest, Bellevue tasting, Spring flowers, SeaBreeze, Steenberg

We have been locked down, like most of the rest of the world, since early in March when we were in contact with people who had been exposed to the dreaded virus. We are still being very careful. In that time, there has been almost nothing to report. We have published a couple of stories on Facebook, which some of you will have seen, Lynne has kept a Covid diary of our lock down days on Facebook and she is currently on Day 166. However there has not been enough to warrant an edition of MENU…. until now. Spring is here, the restrictions have been relaxed and we have actually been able to go out, observing Covid protocols, to visit 2 restaurants and have an excursion. So here is our first edition of MENU in about six months. Thank you for your patience and, we hope, your understanding.  We know that this awful epidemic has badly affected so many people around the world, we sincerely hope you have all come through it well. 

Food Fanatics “the French affair” Saturday Pop up lunch from The Homestead

Elaine Rousseau of Food Fanatics caterers works out of her restaurant and functions centre, The Homestead, in Constantia Main Road in Wynberg. It is a very beautiful 200 year old venue with marvellous gardens. Like most restaurants and caterers, they have been hit during the Covid 19 lock down and have been selling food on line for collection or delivery. https://foodfanatics.co.za/ Have a look at their website to see what is on offer. They will be bringing The Homestead Pop-Up experience to your home. Read on at

https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2020/06/food-fanatics-french-affair-saturday.html

Father's Day lunch from Overture

So what is better than going to a top restaurant in Stellenbosch at the moment and sitting miles away from everyone else? Well, how about getting the chef to deliver Sunday lunch to you himself! Lynne ordered from Overture for Father’s Day and Bertus Basson came with the delivery himself. Read on at 

https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2020/06/fathers-day-lunch-from-overture.html

Sea Point restaurants protest against a death sentence from an uncaring Government

Many South African restaurants took part in a protest today. In some areas, they managed to block the streets with tables and chairs to emphasise their distress and their plight. We live and work in Sea Point, where Main Road has, for very many years, been a restaurant hub.  The intention had been to do as other areas had done but it seems that, after pressure from the authorities which would have closed the entire operation, it was decided to protest from the side of the road. Read on at 

https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2020/07/sea-point-restaurants-protest-against.html

Bellevue Reserve Collection Launch

We were invited to take part in this on-line Zoom tasting of Bellevue Wine Reserve Collection Estate wines which took place on Friday 31st July. We have had several invitations to take part in tastings like this, but with no wine. Doing those just makes us feel envious and bereft, so we don't do it. Bellevue got the wines to us in good time and it was extremely enjoyable seeing some of the usual suspects doing the tasting as well. These are the four wines we tasted from Bellevue, which is in the Bottelary area of Stellenbosch, renowned for its Pinotages and Cabernets. Read on at

https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2020/07/bellevue-reserve-collection-launch.html

The Spring Flowers in the West Coast National Park at Postberg

Spring is around the corner and our magnificent spring flowers have begun to bloom up our West Coast. We haven't been for a couple of years and now that we have all the time in the world, we waited for the first sunny and headed off

It took us one hour and 8 minutes, leaving home at 8.30am to get to the gates of Postberg Nature Reserve up the R27. It is 88 kilometres from Cape Town. The road was remarkably free of traffic but, when we got there, there was a small queue. John had Googled the opening time which said 9, but it is actually 10 am. However, getting there before it opened meant that it was less crowded when we got in. If you go for the first time you need to know that once you have got through the gate and paid your entry fee, it is quite a long drive until you get into the actual park where the flowers are. Don’t give up! it does seem longer as you have to drive at 30 Km/h. There are not many flowers on the first stretch but, once you are in the park, they are everywhere. BUT the sun must be shining. They don’t open if it’s cloudy. There are dirt roads, but they are very well maintained. It will not damage your car. There were many SUVs, but we did see a couple of low-slung sports cars. Read on at 

https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-spring-flowers-in-west-coast.html

Seafood supper at Sea Breeze Fish and Shell

During lock down we were restricted to our homes and very few businesses could continue to work. The hospitality industry was hard hit and so was the wine industry. Jordan Wine Estate was the first to come up with a clever idea - buy a voucher now for a meal at a favourite restaurant for use in the future when we would be allowed to go out and they would contribute the same value in wine. We each bought one! Although many have been hard hit in the wallet, many of us wanted to help assist these industries and we were no exception. They have been our business focus for many years and there are many friends we want to support. The Restaurant Rescue, initiated by Alex Dale of Radford Dale, was another project in the same vein and we decided to buy a voucher for the restaurant we would have gone to for my birthday in August, SeaBreeze Fish & Shell in Bree Street, and celebrate later. This is one of the best fish/seafood restaurants in the Cape. Their focus is on sourcing local, sustainable seafood. We also got six bottles of wine from De Grendel as part of the voucher system. The voucher cost R1200 and we think this was extremely good value. Now that we are on Level 2, we may now eat out at restaurant and so we went there last Friday night. The first time we have ventured out to a restaurant at night in nearly 6 months. Read on at

Lunch at Steenberg on a lovely spring day

It was the most beautiful spring day on Tuesday, we even saw temperatures as high as 26º while in the car.  So what to do next? Well, a visit to Steenberg wine estate. They have a really good wine selection and also a very good Bistro restaurant. So we went and were given a very friendly welcome from Dunbar and a table on the terrace under an umbrella. It is always surprising how the weather can change so quickly from Winter to Spring. Read on at

That’s it for now. We hope you’ll like these stories. Tomorrow we’ll be at a favourite wine estate and restaurant and we look forward to a Zoom wine tasting and cooking demo next week and who knows what else



All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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