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All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Wednesday, July 03, 2019

Cheese and Wine Festival at the Mojo Market in Sea Point

Always interesting to find an event in one’s own 'Hood. The Mojo Market in Regent Road was having a wine and cheese festival last weekend, so we decided to drop in on Saturday and see what was going on. No charge, you could go upstairs and taste wine and then come down and browse the food stalls and buy some lunch. There were just a few wine and cheese stands. A good move to get more feet through the door. They have been open for over a year and we are honestly surprised they are still there, knowing the local market as we do. It is not a real market, just a place with permanent stalls selling prepared food, drink and some retail items. Don’t go there looking for fresh produce or gourmet ingredients

When they were converting a row of shops, we honestly thought we were getting a Fruit and Veg Market - which Sea Point really needs. We dropped in when it opened and were not very impressed with the selection of stalls selling their wares and food at the time. This has improved somewhat. Then we visited again, when Baskin & Robbins introduced their 57 varieties of ice cream to SA and had a counter in the centre. And that, sadly, didn’t work. We so miss the Maple Pecan ice cream....

So great to see Simonsig punting two of their MCC bubblies, so we enjoyed a sample of each. Sad to see that no literature about the farms, prices or buying information was allowed on the wine tables. When we asked, we were told that Mojo wanted people to buy the wines at one of the three enormous bars they have below. However, that would only be to drink there. They don’t have an Off Consumption licence or a wine shop that we could see, so it was a missed opportunity for the farms to sell their wines

Iona had three wines, the two Sophies, the Sauvignon Blanc, the delicious Rosé made from Pinot Noir
and their 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, which really impresses

We arrived at 1.30 and it was not very busy but, as the afternoon wore on, it did become busier

Klein River Cheese from Stanford had some of their cheeses for tasting and to purchase

Chopping up bits for tasting took a long time

And a selection of Fairview's La Capra range of wines to try

There is a large area with tables downstairs where you can eat the food you have bought, or drink

Nice to see Wimpie Borman from Groote Post with their red and white Old Man's Blends
(No, he is not underage, he’s married with children)

And more good MCC bubbles, Miss Molly from Môreson in Franschhoek

The table was ably manned by Herman from the tasting room at Môreson

Downstairs, there are four enormous bars. The Mojo bar, the main bar, sells spirits and beers

These make the market look like a nightclub and we wonder who the customers are, as their opening hours are 08h00 to 23h00

They also have live music sometimes and there was a band playing while we were there

Beer

Wine

Quite a few conventional food stands

We were nearly sold a voucher for this stall on line, thinking it was a restaurant

Perhaps it becomes busier later in the day

Ethiopian food looks interesting, certainly something unusual to try one day. They serve rolled up pieces of Injera bread

Their menu

Shwarma and Falafel stall. Something for the vegans here! And lots of different meats on the shwarma cookers

Beer on tap

Biltong stand

Children at tables next to the bar

Fish, we understand

Lynne became excited when she saw Dim Sum but, sadly, not a great selection

This Falafel has moved and there is a fudge and nut stall in front of it, with a hot dog stand behind

Prices

Lynne watching the preparation of wraps on the Mexican stall. It does look interesting and, certainly, the portions were huge; big enough to share.

Peace sign? or should we take this at face (hand) value?

Nice to see what you might be getting

Menu above

John is tempted

We plumped for a Pizza to share and were served by these enthusiastic and friendly staff. The small pizza (Weber?) ovens do have real hot coals beneath the pizza stones and cook quickly. It seemed that they were the most popular stand of the day, we saw lots of pizzas being enjoyed

In it goes

They have a clever production line

And about 8 minutes later our Fig, Brie and Prosciutto Pizza on a lovely thin, crisp base was ready, priced at R125

Our only criticism is that they cook the Prosciutto rather than put it on after the pizza has been cooked

A hot oven does nothing for this delicacy. Perhaps we should ask for it to be added later next time

Christiaan van den Heever of Beyerskloof was very kind and gave us some Synergy to drink with our Pizza; it matched perfectly

We sat upstairs and shared this and tasted a couple of other red wines from Groote Post and Fairview

Ah, information below the remains. You can buy an oven for home use!

Lynne did think this gentleman in the centre at the Beyerskloof stand might be one of our famous local residents
He was supported by several 'companions'. John said he was not Mr CR

And, just setting up as we left, was another cheese farm from Montagu

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The 2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show at the CTICC

Thursday, June 27, 2019

This Week’s MENU. Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, He Sheng Chinese, Delheim Jazz ‘n Fondue. Smoked Haddock Chowder, Leopard’s Leap Grand Vin

A gull and a winter sea

Anyone who pooh-poohs the concept of Global warming needs to take another look at this lovely planet. Europe is experiencing its hottest weather in recorded history, while still only in June, and we are in a cold winter which should give us copious amounts of rain but, apart from a few sporadic wet days, we – here in Sea Point – have had only 60% of the rain we’d had at the same time last year, and that was also a dry year. It is frustrating, we see the dark clouds on the horizon and rain falling on the sea, but nothing reaches land. We are encouraged by the many people we meet who take our water situation seriously, but we should all continue to beat this drum until everyone follows suit

Every year, after the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Competition, comes the Trophy Wine Show, which is held in Cape Town and Johannesburg and, at last, we had a chance to taste the Silver, Gold and Trophy winners, and see why the Trophy wines won their class. If you want to see this year’s results: Click on this link : https://www.trophywineshow.co.za/2019-results/. Of course it is not possible to taste all of the wines. We do try to get around to taste the Trophy wines and there were some really outstanding wines this year, as expected as the bar has been pushed high…

Lunch at He Sheng Chinese restaurant, Sea Point

He Sheng restaurant on Sea Point Main Road near Pick n Pay has been sold since we last visited and has new owners, It has also moved across the road. We haven't been for years because the last time we went the previous owners put so much MSG in the food that we had bad reactions. We read some good reviews on a Facebook page we follow: Restaurants the Good, the Bad and the Nasty and as we love Dim Sum decided to venture forth with a couple of like minded friends, for lunch last Friday…

Jazz and Fondue Sundays at Delheim, Stellenbosch

We were invited to the first of Delheim’s popular Jazz & Fondue events held every Sunday until 25 August and headed off, on one of our rare but lovely sunny winter days, to this farm high in the Stellenbosch foothills. This week, the band was a group who came together while at the South African College of Music at UCT. Held in the cellar tasting room, we were shown to a table in the back corner…

On the MENU this week. Smoked Haddock and Sweet Corn Chowder

MENU’s Wine of the Week, Leopard's Leap Culinaria Collection Grand Vin 2017

We tasted this at the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Public Tasting in Cape Town this week and were so impressed. Leopards Leap won the most fragile trophy, the Riedel Trophy for Best Bordeaux-Style Red Blend for this wine. The trophy is a large Riedel wine glass that has the capacity for a whole bottle of wine...

27th June 2019

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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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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On the MENU this week. Smoked Haddock and Sweet Corn Chowder

We know that we don’t eat enough fish. We love it but, where we live, our only local source is supermarkets, where the fresh fish looks days old and is very unappealing. Ridiculous, one thinks, in a city by the sea. Or from frozen food cabinets and we do tend to pass them by, except for frozen vegetables like peas. The ‘haddock’ (actually smoked hake in South Africa) came from one of those. And now there is a shadow over our fresh fish. Lynne used fresh corn which she took off the cob for this recipe and it does have a different fresh flavour. This is a relatively simple dish to make and it is very satisfying and filling

1 T butter - 2 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped into 2 cm pieces - 1 onion, finely chopped - 500ml milk - 2 medium potatoes cut into small cubes – a good grating of nutmeg - 300g Smoked haddock fillets - 140g fresh or frozen sweet corn - 1 teaspoon of lemon juice - salt and freshly ground black pepper - 1 T chopped parsley

Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Tip in the bacon, then cook until starting to brown. Add the onion, cook until soft, then pour over the milk and stir through the potatoes. Add a grating of nutmet. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes

Add the haddock, then leave to cook gently for another few minutes until you can break it into large chunks. Stir through the sweet corn, then simmer until everything is cooked. Add a good grinding or two of black pepper. Taste and add salt if necessary. Scatter over parsley, if using. Serve with plenty of crusty bread and a good crisp white wine like a Sauvignon Blanc or a white blend of Sauvignon and Semillon

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