Thursday, September 04, 2025

Lamb shanks and guitars at the Swartberg Hotel, Prince Albert

Our second concert was to be at the famous Swartberg Hotel and included a three course dinner
before the concert to be held at 8 to 9 pm

At 6 pm we arrived for dinner

Recommendations for diners not attending the concert

Very warm and well lit dining room

This young lady was very helpful all evening showing Lynne to our table
We did move, as the table we'd been allocated had the chair back facing the very cold window
but that was not a problem for them 


The menu for that evening's music ticket holders. We ordered a small carafe of white wine and one of red from the menu

They were both from Fairview's very reasonably priced La Capra range, priced at R75 each

Very thin slices of delicious smoked ostrich carpaccio topped with Parmesan cheese shavings,
micro greens and some very thinly sliced preserved figs. No sign of the truffle oil
Served with bread rolls. Could have been a tad more generous?

John opted for the thick Biltong soup and said it was enjoyable, if a bit salty, but that is the nature of Biltong

We both opted for the lamb shank but misread the menu and expected mash and peas
but were served mashed semi food processor chopped fresh peas which were not good. It needed potatoes
The balsamic beetroot was fine, but an odd vegetable with lamb
The lamb shank was huge but dry and they had forgotten to put on the "Full bodied red wine sauce advertised
We asked and a small jug was brought which did add flavour to a very strange dish


The desert of Poached pears with
maple flavoured cream  was underwhelming
No sign of maple flavours in either the light cream from a canister or the one pear's juice
Some of the serving staff have a lot of attitude and were unhelpful

The concert was held in a venue room next to the restaurant

Titled  "Breakfast in Cape Town, Lunch in New York, Dinner in Prince Albert
with Nick Turner on acoustic guitar and Schalk Joubert on electric guitar

Nick and Schalk share a deep musical history, from Sons of Trout and Mikanic to countless award-winning productions
In 2004 Nick moved to New York City with his band Mikanic
During his stay in the Big Apple he collaborated with a some of the best in the business,
most notably Bakhiti Kumalo and Tony Cedras (of Paul Simon fame), Zolani Mahola (Freshly Ground)
and Nathi Gcabashe (Hugh Masekela Band)
The band played and sold out many of New York City’s legendary venues
including Lincoln Centre, CBGB’s, Joe’s Pub, The Knitting Factory and Symphony Space

Vocals by Nick Turner and very good guitar playing from both

Schalk Joubert playing the electric guitar. We did not recognise many of the songs they sang and played
most written by Nick Turner who was once part of Mike and the Mechanics in the USA
Some jazz and ranging from rock, reggae, and afro-pop to ghoema, hip-hop, and jazz




All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

No comments: