Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Restaurant Week lunch at Fyn

Fyn is the top scoring African restaurant in the Top 50 World Restaurants, coming in at No 37. We have been several times before and really love the food that Peter Tempelhoff and his team produce. They title it “A Neoteric Japanese African Experience” and invite one to "Check your assumptions with your coats and join us on a journey of flavour discovery". A chance to go on that journey again came this month in Restaurant Week (which was actually running for the whole of October) which offers very good value special menus, so we decided to splurge and take up that exciting invitation again



Well located in Parliament Street in the centre of Cape Town,
located on top of a building that has great views of Table Mountain and of Church Square below
Paid parking is available in a garage opposite, but must be booked 

The first thing we noticed is that the wooden partition screens
which were there to sensibly separate diners during Covid are gone
and the restaurant gains so much from the spaciousness which has returned

Great to see Chef Patron Peter Tempelhoff, who insisted that we have a picture together

We chatted for a while and he told us that there is something new and exciting
being constructed on the ground floor of the building they are in, which will open soon
They will open a Japanese Ramen restaurant serving different Ramen dishes and some gyozo dumplings
 The restaurant will not require bookings

The open kitchen allows one to see the calm procedure of preparing the excellent food

The menu we were to be served. Fyn does have several different menu options for lunch and dinner
You can click on this link to see them all
They change seasonally. https://fynrestaurant.com/menu/

The wine list is very comprehensive
You can order a selection of wines by the glass or opt to do the wine pairing selected for each menu

See the wine list here

We chose two white wines to take us through the lunch
The 2020 Pilgrim Chenin Blanc from Voor Paardeberg grapes, which they tried as an experiment
Earning 4½ stars in Platter, the wine was matured in older oak which does show on the nose,
with warm summer stone fruit, guava, spice and herbs on the nose;
the palate is woody at first then opens up with apricot, nectarine and peach
The second wine is a favourite and proved to be the most versatile,
as it consistently complimented every course with which it was paired - Newton Johnson 2021 Southend Chardonnay,
grown on cool climate mountain vineyards next door to the farm and awarded five stars in Platter
A hint of smoke from the barrel fermentation and maturation, floral notes, then a hint of the valley's sea mist and kelp
Crisp and lively on the palate with lime and lemon with some tension and minerality

The table setting is simple and elegant

You begin with three canapés, to which you could add a 2g spoonful of white sturgeon caviar for R150

Crisp and light as air rice flour Tempura Dune spinach, foraged by the chefs in Muizenberg,
with fresh daikon radish shavings and a Tentsuya dipping sauce melted in the mouth

Ostrich egg chawanmushi, a lightly set savoury custard that slips down so easily
Finely chopped chives were then sprinkled on the top

A guinea fowl wonton in a tori paitan chicken broth with sea lettuce
The wonton was superb; moist, flavourful and perfectly cooked. We are dumpling fans. The broth was life changing
Chef Peter told us that they take chicken carcasses and cook them for more than 8 hours
to get this thick broth of joyousness;
the epitome of the perfect concentrated chicken flavour. The bones are soft enough to liquidise
One to try at home soon in our Instant pot pressure cooker

General manager Jennifer Hugé gave us a very warm welcome
and said she had something special she wanted us to taste

and, indeed, it was special. Mooiplaas 2011 Bush Vine Chenin Blanc has always been one of the top Chenins
and the 2011 has lasted so well
Hints of incense wood and honey, green herbs with apricot and nectarine on the nose
Those same flavours follow through and are long and deep with some quince on the end

Next the Hokkaido tender milk bun which comes with a burnt caramel sugar
covering a rich concentrated mushroom custard
The combination resembles a crème brulée but is more savoury
The wine sang with this dish

We arrived at 12 and, suddenly, the restaurant started to fill up with lunchtime workers and visitors
The service is impeccable, informed, friendly and prompt. The staff are aware of your every need and want

Sashimi is a cross roads for many; raw fish stops people in their tracks,
we race right across the intersection as we absolutely love it - as long as it is as fresh as it can be
And this line caught game fish sashimi was right in every way
Yellowfin tuna, pink and rosy and so full of the flavours of the deep,
yellowtail, which has to be fresher than fresh, was;
and then something we have never had as sashimi but love when briefly seared,
was the swordfish which is rather bland, but takes on flavour well
The perfect sushi rice came with a curl of nori for you to make your own wrap, so clever
A dot of fiery wasabi, sancho pepper, fresh daikon, Japanese soy, known as Shoyu and Kosho, tiny slices of avocado,
a fermented citrus chilli paste were all there as accompaniments to make this the best possible experience
and the quality of the fish outshone it all

Pouring the Shoya sauce for dipping

There was also a raw Vannemei prawn on the plate


which was just seared for half a minute on the tabletop Shichirin Konro grill

The tiny dipping dish we thought so beautiful with its cherry blossom pattern
After the sashimi you are given a hot hand towel before the next course

And then after all these delights, it was time for the main course. There was a choice
Lynne chose the generous portion of Pan Fried Sea Bream on tender dashi leeks, with a rich sake enoki mushroom sauce,
a crayfish tail and maltase walnuts which added a lovely malty taste and a good crunch to the dish
The fish was seared well and was very moist, flaky and filling

John chose the Iberico Chashu pork, beautifully tender,
with well crisped crackling, hakurei turnips, an apple miso purée which added great contrast and tonkotsu sauce
which translates as pig bone stock, very flavoursome and deep
The fatty rind was well seared too and much enjoyed by Lynne as John doesn't do fat

Sommelier Dan did bring us small tastes of some lovely wines which he thought we would like as pairings with the food
The Vuurberg white blend is led by Chenin and you can taste the peachy viognier and Roussanne on the dry palate
It has wood on the nose, and is complex
The Thorne and Daughters is an interesting novel blend of Syrah and Cinsault
The Kaapzicht Cinsault is complex with long flavours of ripe berry fruit and needs time


The glasses are very good to drink from; they give the wines lots of space to develop and are very elegant too,
with those cobweb thin stems. These almost identical glasses come from Spiegelau and another

Time for dessert which was a Robata (grill) seared slice of ripe pineapple with a good acidity,
in a ginger syrup and dusted with a chilli Shichimi togarashi spice, with a rocher of creamy rice ice cream
with powdered dehydrated yogurt below it

Pouring on the ginger syrup. Luckily, a small portion as we had eaten extremely well

Watching happy Isaac making the perfect sushi rice which requires lots of stirring and fanning, it is an art
and the rice we had was perfect, with separate pearly grains with good flavour from the mirin

We were fascinated by this apparatus that appeared on several tables
and were told it is a bit of kelp in which they ferment a sauce to be served at the table
We must confess that from a distance we thought it might be a dried bull’s penis,
but not sure the Japanese use those...... giggle....

Dan serving a customer with another gem of a sauce

Our bill

And finally... two petit fours: fluffy Yuzu marshmallows and kelp fudge, which we must admit is something we might not ask for again, does good fudge need a beached seaweed flavour?

A tiny Bonsai spekboom on each table
A wonderful experience, we are saving for the next one and for the Ramen bar

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