Media launch of Okamai restaurant at Glenwood Estate, Franschhoek

Evening on the N1 motorway heading to Franschhoek, Stellenbosch mountains in the distance

The newly renovated restaurant building on Glenwood farm

Abigail Donnelly and her colleague Katherine in the Glenwood foyer enjoying a welcoming glass of Morena MCC pink bubbles

The fireplace wall in the new restaurant

Glenwood’s wine ready for tasting at dinner

General Manager and Winemaker DP Burger

Master Chef Kiyomasu Deon Sensei and his assistant preparing our Bento boxes

Getting acquainted while we wait for proceedings to begin

Co-owner Nikki de Havilland giving the welcoming speech

GM and winemaker, DP Burger takes his turn introducing the wines

Traditional hot towels to start the evening

Master Chef Kiyomasu Deon Sensei explains our Bento box and how to eat it

Miso soup with Wakame seaweed started the dinner

Abigail learning how to shlurp the soup politely

It was delicious

The contents of the bento box were, from bottom left: Seared tuna sashimi, eel rice, udon noodle, umaki tuna rolls, chicken shu mai dumplings, deep fried tempura prawns and soya sauce for dipping

Our two waitresses for the evening

Dessert was an egg pancake with cream and chocolate drizzled over it

Owner Alastair Wood ends the evening with a speech

Glenwood owners Alastair Wood and Nikki de Havilland with Master Chef Kiyomasu Deon Sensei

Nikki de Havilland and Alastair Wood

The long road home with our great bus driver who is aptly named Shiraz

Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc 2012

Lunch at Groote Post, near Darling

A drift of spring daisies just inside the farm entrance

Golden and yellow heads on the hillside just before the winery

The wine cellar with two painters balancing on the roof – sprucing up for Spring

Enjoying the great wines In the tasting room

The front view of the manor house restaurant c 1704

The side entrance and gable

A superb collection of old kitchen equipment

The manageress asking us where we would like to sit.

The inside dining room

The walled terrace outside with the pergola, which will soon be covered in vine leaves

A beautiful sash window

The menu, which changes every day

Lynne’s roasted camembert and tomato tart with melt in the mouth pastry R58

Her second light starter of really excellent lean Springbok Carpaccio, with salad leaves, avocado and slices of good pretzel bread. This carpaccio is obtainable from the Darling butcher and is more like a good bresaola than a raw Carpaccio. Its flavour is very concentrated and the texture superb. All this needed was a light sprinkling of balsamic and olive oil. R58

The wines available on the farm, with cellar door prices at the table

John’s lunch, Mascarpone chicken with bean and bacon casserole R120

They have a really good collection of cycads on the farm

Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012

Supper at Societi's new Cookhouse at the Josephine Mill

The historic Josephine Mill in Newlands

Cookhouse logo on a barrel top

The printed menu

and the specials on a blackboard

Juan Botha, newly qualified cabinet maker and part-time waiter,

who looked after us very well

 

The tidy serving area

The inside of the restaurant

The waiters' memo board above the pizza oven

The pizza chefs

A view of the outside terrace

John’s Bruschetta of roast aubergine, tomato and rocket served on paper

Ronnies Cauliflower cheese soufflé – different and a little dry

Lynne's very crispy squid with aoli. Far too much batter, very dry, no garlic in the aioli and the suspect of the evening

Loraine's Burrata  - Local cow’s milk mozzarella with a creamy centre.

John’s hamburger, which he enjoyed, but the so called “crispy” chips were sloppy and coated with paprika to make them look as though they were crisp

Loraine’s main course of parpardelle pasta with dried mushroom, chilli and tomato sauce

Lynne’s main of baked semolina gnocchi in a brown butter sauce with sage leaves. Needed more sage and the butter needed to be brown and nutty. This is a very, very rich dish and, we were told, the most popular dish in the restaurant.

Ronnie had the large portion and regretted it, as it is rather heavy.

The old Mill boiler

Restaurant hams, sausages and salamis hanging in side rooms

Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc 2012