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Thursday, April 14, 2016

Pork and Beer at The Hoghouse, Ndabeni

It is always fascinating when a chef changes his style diametrically. We have seen it before; a classically trained French style chef goes to the Far East and is enchanted by the wonderful array of Asian produce and spices. Or a chef realises how negative his impact on our world is and changes to greener, locally sourced foods produced with care and respect. PJ Vadas is one such chef who has changed direction. He is well known and lauded for his excellent, innovative gourmet food when at The Round House and then at Vergelegen, where he has delighted us. His about turn has taken him to barbecue foods and craft beer and, on Wednesday night, we went to see what he is now up to. It is a very positive move

There are two Hoghouses, one in Stellenbosch on Spier and the one we went to in Ndabeni, on the way to Pinelands. It is at 42 Morningside Street and, if you know where Ellie’s or Merrypak are, you know the neighbourhood. You go through security gates where you will be met by Lucky who will show you to parking and you probably do need to book. Phone: 021 810 4545 http://hhbc.co.za/

A brewery needs a lot of space, so the restaurant and Brewery are in a large warehouse building

Outside is the ' train' - it is actually a portable barbecue known as The Hog. Which means they can take barbecue to your special bookings. To quote them re barbecue: "It is a noun, not a verb. You do not BBQ meat; you smoke it until it becomes BBQ. And it is not a meal so much as a meditative process, perched somewhere between science and art"

There are tables downstairs and the bar

Chef PJ Vadas in his kitchen kingdom

You get a view of the brewery from upstairs

They have just been awarded their licence. These are some of the spirits offerings

We shared a table upstairs

And spotted some wine/food friends across the room - the crew from Vergenoegd!

This is a meat eater’s place, they even have a bronzed warthog skull

You can taste all four ales for R32 ....

.... or order a pint or a half pint - in metric of course. This was the Warthog IPA , full of bitter orange flavours with a bit of sweetness, very quaffable and refreshing. Dr Tom Nowicki is the Brewing Director. They currently have five signature ales: an African Pale Ale, Saison, Porter, IPA, and Amber Ale

Firewood is fuel

Beverage Director/Sommelier Joakim Hansi Blackadder brings his talented palate to the creative and quality management at the Brewery"

We moved tables to enable a large group to share one

And so to the food. This was the order of the 3 girls on our table and gave us an idea of portion sizes and what we fancied

Anne and Lynne shared this tray. Top left cauliflower with goats’ cheese, capers, shiitake mushrooms and almonds, buttermilk fried chicken, brisket burnt ends, pickled cucumber and spare ribs. The dishes come in 100g portions, as they do in the USA. You can order more. This was plenty for two hungry lasses, some went home in a doggie bag. We also shared a portion of the moreish chips

John had ordered 200 g of pulled pork so he received two; next time we will know. And a portion of the very best crisp chips, which come with a truffle aioli. The food has lots of flavour, it is tender, the chicken had a great crisp coating

The beverage menu

The Hoghouse Barbecue menu. There is mostly meat, but there are quite a few interesting snacks and side dishes

And some desserts. We did not have any room. Perhaps next time

The bill with service. We will be back

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Superb pairings at Tracy van Maaren trade wine tasting at Auslese

Why are we telling you about a trade wine show you probably will never be invited to? Because it showcased some really excellent wines and some amazing food pairings by Chef Harald Bresselschmidt at Aubergine and we think you should know about them, as it might give you some constructive ideas and some good wine suggestions. Tracy represents an excellent range of wine farms and, this year, there were a couple of new ones.

The tasting was from 3 to 7

Elsie Pels CWM with her range of fine wine glassware, Signature Crystal from Bohemia. Should you be interested in purchasing some, you can contact her on 076 942 5412 elsie@signaturecrystalglassware.com

It is always great to start with a bubble and John Loubser's Silverthorn range of MCCs is eminently suitable. His Jewel Box, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, was paired with two different oysters

The Genie, a salmon pink rosé MCC made from Shiraz, which has notes of roses and Turkish delight, was matched with superb quality tuna and flaked salt. We could also taste The Green Man, a classic Blanc de Blanc from Chardonnay, fast becoming a favourite of ours

It was a very good turnout of sommeliers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, wine shop owners and wine media

These small Fromage blanc and red pepper tarts were matched with the Eagle’s Nest 2015 Viognier which is full of ripe peaches and butter with hints of wood on the end. The peppers fought a bit with the delicate flavours of the wine

To pair with the spicy and rich Eagle’s Nest Shiraz, air dried slices of springbok sprinkled with dark chocolate and some kale puree. The puree did not excite, the springbok was superb

This was a very clever pairing. Catherine Marshall's Clay Soils 2013 Pinot Noir with a crisp broccoli tempura, earthy creamy mushroom parfait and a saffron sabayon were delightful together - it is a really great Pinot Noir

as is her Sandstone 2015 Pinot Noir, rich with raspberries served with coq au vin on pak choi with a raspberry vinaigrette

Ginny Povall of Botanica Wines is a new addition to Tracy's excellent list of wine farms and this pairing of her Fire Lily straw wine n/v with the pork and prawn dumplings in a sticky sauce was inspired

Her labels are beautiful botanical references. The Arboretum 2014, a four way Bordeaux blend was complemented by the fried ostrich tartare topped with salted capers and good mayonnaise

Vriesenhof showed three of their best red wines. The 2014 Pinot Noir is elegant and always a great food wine. Lynne says they should have a spray of truffle oil at all tastings, it goes so well with these wines. This pairing was a seared duck slice on a polenta cube topped with a red cabbage square. Sadly, cabbage does not do much for Pinot Noir, but it could be removed

And this was Lynne's wine of the week and also her best pairing of the day. The lamb rump had been cooked perfectly and was in tender slices with herb notes, rather like a good Sunday lunch. The wine, the Vriesenhof 2014 Grenache is exciting, wild and free and full of all the right fruit notes to make the lamb even more delicious

You could also taste the 2009 Grenache, lots of concentrated full rich dark fruit flavours, lovely and mature and very different from the younger version

B Vintners (Muscat) de Alexandria has the pure fresh notes of hanepoot grapes, just picked, quite lovely and lively. This is a negociant venture between cousins Gavin Bruwer Slabbert and Bruwer Raats. The pairing with rabbit livers on a flower and herb jelly was inspired. How many times have you had rabbit livers in South Africa? We need more. Iron rich, they come somewhere between chicken livers and lambs liver, very tender

Their Liberté Pinotage was paired with chicken sukiyaki with smoked fish aroma, unusual but good

Bryan MacRobert’s Steen (Chenin's old name in the Cape) is made in the Swartland and has those oxidised, almost sherry, layered flavours one has come to recognise from the new wines in the area. It was paired with beautifully thick slices of Kassler style pork loin on a parsnip puree with tarragon

The Field Blend of dense Shiraz, Mourvedre, Cinsaut and Carignan replicates many a Rhône wine tasted in Southern France. This went with Warthog croquettes, which were quite a tasty mouthful. A winery to watch

Then it was time for the Raats wines, which never fail to impress and excite. Bruwer's 2014 Red Jasper Cab Franc led Bordeaux blend is ripe and ready and went so well with the Beef Brisket with potatoes

But the best match was the cold vichyssoise velouté with prosciutto flakes and pesto. paired with the Old Vine Chenin Blanc which is a superb expression of the grape, this is Bruwer's skill showing. Multilayered flavours of apple and cream, crisp citrus, ginger and floral perfume. Our favourite Chenin of the evening