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Gourmet
Foods & Ingredients
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In
this week’s MENU:
Groote
Post Darling
Voorkamer Fest Franschhoek
Uncorked and afterwards Sausages
for sale
DGB trade tasting
Follow this link to see our Main Ingredient blogs, because to tell our
whole story here would take too much space. Click on Bold words in the
text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs, pertinent
websites or more information. Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu
This week’s Product menu: We have had lots of enquiries lately for middle
esastern products like sumac and za’atar and for puy lentils, black beans,
beluga lentils and other pulses. We do
have all of these currently in stock. We surmise many of you are using
Ottolenghi cookbooks! Our online shop shows our range of rare and
exciting products which you are unlikely to find elsewhere in South Africa. See it here
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old Biscuit Mill’s
wonderfully exciting, atmospheric Neighbourgoods Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip: Some visitors
tell us how they struggle to find parking. It’s quite easy if you know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park.
FIESTA TIME
From mid August until about the beginning of December,
it is festival time in the Cape and what wonderful fun our festivals are. We
try to keep you up to date by publishing any information we can find or are
sent on our Events calendar and it is worth checking them out. This week, on
Saturday, there will be the Fork and Cork festival in Wellington, a chance to
go from farm to farm, tasting what they have on offer for the price of one
entry which covers all. Sadly, because we work on Saturdays, we are not able to
be there but hope lots of you go. Wellington is only one hour away and we know
that they have lots of fun planned. Check out their
web site here. And, in
October, Robertson will hold one of its best, Wine on the River, which we will
definitely attend.
Two festivals which we have managed to attend this past
week were the Darling Voorkamerfest on Friday and Franschhoek Uncorked on
Sunday.
GROOTE POST We started
Thursday by taking a bus from the Waterfront to Groote Poste Wine estate where
we were treated to a lunch at their restaurant Hilda’s and enjoyed the hospitable
company of owner Nick Pentz and winemaker Lukas Wentzel. Lunch was a lovely
chance to taste through their wines and then enjoy some of them with lunch. The
day was sunny, some of the spring flowers were out and we really enjoyed
ourselves.
Then, suddenly, it was 5 o’clock and time to get back
into the bus and proceed to Darling for the
VOORKAMERFEST Darling’s
Voorkamerfest celebrated their tenth anniversary and was a first for us. Nick
Pentz of Groote Post invited us to join him at Groote Post for lunch and then
in the town for the Festival. It is very innovative and is there to showcase
the diversity of the area, in every way possible. Yes, there is a festival site
in front of Evita’s Peron where you can buy local produce, taste wine and craft
beers from the area and buy some lovely things to eat. But the purpose of the
festival is very, very clever. You buy a ticket for R195 on Friday and R225 for
Saturday and Sunday and then you stand in a taxi queue (they use the locals)
according to the colour of your tickets. Two local minibus taxis (capacity 14
seated) turn up and in you pile. You are then on a magical mystery tour. Your
ticket entitles you to go to three different venues in private homes and you
only find out who is going to entertain you when you arrive in their voorkamers
(parlours). Our first venue was a classic Darling turn of the 19/20th
century home owned by Ineke Palthe - Theatre Hostess and long time VKF
supporter who lives here. It has a lovely garden with broekie lace and a stoep
and 30 odd people were squeezed into the front room for a performance of two
drummers: Savuka’s Barry van Zyl & Daniel Bloem from Holland presented
NATIVE RHYTHM
Back into the two taxis and off over the railway lines
to the township and a tiny white RDP house where we literally crammed ourselves
into the tiny main room for a very funny comedian Michael Kudakwashe, who
had Lynne in hysterics with his take off of a really thick Scottish accent,
then Cockney, before moving on to other comedy. These performances are not
long, perhaps 10 to 15 minutes, but were really appreciated by the very mixed
audience of locals and tourists.
Our third trip was to a slightly larger and older
house owned by a very house proud and welcoming lady and there we were treated
to a performance of a singer and accompanist. It was a delightful experience,
very real and we will definitely try to attend next year. Then it was back to
the festival grounds. We had time for a local beer and then it was back into
our bus for the drive home which took just an hour down the West Coast road. More details and photographs are here.
FRANSCHHOEK UNCORKED AND AFTERWARDS Sunday
saw us travelling to Franschhoek for Uncorked Festival. We began at Antonij Rupert farm where we tasted
some Terra del Capo and Protea wines and looked at the special offers they had.
Time melts when you are at festival like this and we had time to check into Val d’Or Guesthouse, where we had
found a reasonable special for one night of R750 for two with breakfast. Then
it was off to our lunch booking at Maison. This was the restaurant Lynne most
wanted to return to. We really enjoyed the food there last summer and they have
been closed for a couple of months this winter, so this was our first chance. We
had a really good, if rather expensive, lunch and will return again. We bought
a box of their very good Chenin Blanc which we’d enjoyed with lunch for R45 a
bottle. It does give you pause though when your lunch bill is more than your
accommodation bill! See photos and comments here.
Next, we had been invited by Irene Waller of La Bri to
come and join in one of her vertical tastings of La Bri Shiraz. We arrived in
time at 3.30, but no one else did. It is very disappointing for farms when
people make bookings but simply don’t turn up. There was a lot to see and many
places to visit at Franschhoek Uncorked but, in our ethics, a booking is a
booking. Make a commitment and stick to it. We loved the shiraz tasting, all were good, some vintages more so
than others, and there is a distinct progression in quality from the time Irene
took over the reins. Click here for comments and photos.
We had been invited by manager Jason Ratner to come to
dinner at French Connection that evening and must confess that, after a large
lunch, we did find this a bit of a stretch. We very carefully selected two
courses from the large and tempting menu and were not disappointed at all. Click here to see the pictures of the food and our
comments.
On Monday, after a tiny lie in and a good breakfast at
Val d’Or, we had intended to do some of the Champagne route but we could not
contact any one at Morena, so went on to Stony Brook where we tasted their
excellent MCC made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and then tasted their other
wines. Photos and comments here
Then on to Glenwood to see what was happening there
after the Japanese restaurant closed. They now have the chef from Bon Vivant in
Franschhoek running a bistro there and it is turning out to be a success. We
tasted some wine and then moved on to the village for lunch. See photos here
Then it was back into the village to visit Pasch du Plooy at Dutch East restaurant.
He had invited us to come and see his new butchery which is making quite a
splash in Franschhoek. It was time for lunch so we had a quick meal, a draught
beer each and then it was time to be on our way home. Pasch would not let us
pay for the lunch and also sent us on our way with a package of several of his
products. We had the cheese grillers for dinner that night, the nicely fatty
streaky smoked bacon went into a Spaghetti carbonara the next night and we took
the lamb, beef and pork sausage to our wine club last night, where it was much
appreciated. And we ate his good ham in our lunch sandwiches during the week.
This gives you an indication of what he is doing but he also has fresh meat and
game.
SAUSAGES FOR SALE Just
to let you know that Steve Jeffrey has added an exciting selection of fresh and
very interesting flavoured sausages to his range and is selling these at the
Biscuit Mill on Saturdays. He does cook up some for you to taste so you need to
come and sample them. We tasted the Toulouse and it is very good indeed – lots
of garlic and parsley. And we have a pack of one of each still to sample and
will be reporting back in the next edition of MENU.
DGB Trade Tasting This
was held last Thursday evening and was one of the reasons why we went to bed at
3 on Friday morning. Held this year in the conference facility at the Westin
Cape Town at the Convention Centre, they certainly put on a great tasting. There
was a never ending supply of good canapés and some very interesting wines to
taste. Two from Boschendal particularly impressed Lynne: The 2011 Cecil John
Reserve Shiraz is complex and full of chocolate cherries and spices with the
layers of mulberry raspberries and cherries, white pepper and cinnamon, this is
a wine to treasure. Their Grand Reserve 2011 is a wildly unusual blend of 72%
Petit Verdot and 28% shiraz. Full of Parma violets on the rose it fills your
mouth with fruit and soft tannins and will last well but was so delicious it
might be difficult to keep away from. We also loved John Loubser’s new Steenberg
Sauvignon Blanc sparkler, which is fresh and lively and has a label bound to
jump off the shelf in wine shops. His Black Swan 2012 Sauvignon Blanc is full
of leafy green flavours, elegance and good minerality. Brampton impressed with
the Rosé 2012 which is very French in style and just what we need for summer
lunchtime drinking. We also tasted the Graham Beck impressive range of wines
and bubbles, of which we have many favourites, especially the Brut Zero and
Cuvée Clive. Lourensford’s MCC is spectacularly decorated with medals; we
enjoyed it and would have done so even if the bottle had been less ornate. Some photos here
Recipe Sadly,
perhaps, this has been such a busy week that Lynne has spent very little time
in the kitchen and has not evolved any new recipes. Next week should be more
productive…
Buying from us On Line We have
a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing the
things we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and
wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made gourmet foods. You
can contact us by email or phone, or
through our on line shop. We can send your requirements to you anywhere
in South Africa. Please do not pay
until we have confirmed availability and invoiced you, then you pay and then we
deliver or post. When you make
an eft payment, make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website
to email us your order. Click here to see our OnLine Shop.
There is a huge and rapidly growing variety of
interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape. There are so many interesting things to do in
our world of food and wine that we have made separate list for each month for
which we have information. To see what’s
happening in our world of food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
It needs updating and we’ll do that tomorrow. All the events are listed in date
order and we already have a large number of exciting events to entertain you
right through the year.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot
of enquiries from people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. We plan to visit
their French establishment after Vinexpo. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
Pete Ayub, who makes our very popular Prego sauce, runs evening cooking classes at Sense of Taste, his
catering company in Maitland. We can recommend them very highly, having enjoyed
his seafood course. Check
his programme here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking
classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma
Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir
Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and
Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Wednesday evenings. She trained with
Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here
12th September 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo
tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian or Dutch flavoured
Afrikaans.
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 these newsletters and our
blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus.
Our restaurant reviews are usually 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
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