A tasting of Constantia wines in the Ellerman House cellar

When we had our wine and food shop, Main Ingredient at the bottom of Kloof Road, we often had the chef and the sommeliers from Ellerman House visit us. We were invited to come and see the fantastic wine cellar but somehow never managed to get there. Finally, last Monday, we could see it when we attended Constantia's trade wine tasting there. What a splendid place for a wine tasting and what great wines they produce in the valley and on the hills of Constantia. Ellerman House is a ultra luxury boutique Hotel on Kloof Road in Bantry Bay.

Different Constantia wineries dotted around the room, plenty of good tasting glasses and some cheese and charcuterie to take the edge off hunger.

All local cheeses

Some new to us, some not

Smoked ham, salami, and an assortment of bread and crackers

Soft cheeses (could have been a little riper)

Different hams and salami

olives, pickles, relishes, chutneys, figs

Discussing wine while tasting with Alan Wickstrom of Klein Constantia. It's one of our favourite things to do

Lovely ladies on the Steenberg table

Gavin Withers having a rest from wine in the small lounge. A good place to decide what wine you fancy having for supper that night

We suspect a wine deal was being struck here

Stuart Botha from Eagle's Nest showing his wines and Restaurateur Neil Grant of Burrata, Open Door and Bocca restaurants tasting wine with the Johann Olivier of Beau Constantia. There were two mystery wines we had to identify as well as several older Constantia wines to taste

A host of awards on this 2013 Groot Constantia Chardonnay

An entire vine on show, but it's a metal sculpture

The double helix wine rack in the temperature controlled glass room

Wines fill both sides and the helix has seven whorls

Below is a limestone cellar filled with treasures; the limestone was imported from Champagne

A great selection, as the guests may request any wine they like and Ellerman prides itself in being able to supply it. Where price is of no object

Rian du Plessis of Pick n Pay in the V&A Waterfront having a happy time, as were we

Oh to be let loose in there...

The marvellous view of Bantry Bay from the hotel as the light fades into dusk

Enjoying a last glass in the garden

Ellerman House sits on the cliff top above the remains of what used to be a botanical garden

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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This week's MENU – Myoga dinner, CAPPA awards at Muratie, MENU goes East, Wine of the Week, Green Pawpaw salad

A tourist junk crossing Hong Kong harbour at sunset

In this week’s MENU:

 Dinner at Myoga

 Cape Port Producers Awards lunch at Muratie

 MENU goes East - Cape Town, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kowloon

 MENU Goes East - Hong Kong, Victoria Peak, Dim Sum

 MENU goes East - Hong Kong, Cheung Chau Island

 Recipe of the week: Green Pawpaw salad from Vietnam

 Wine of the week Chateau Clos des Prince, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2012

 Coming events

To get the whole story with photographs, please click on the paragraph title, which will lead you there. At the end of each story, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to MENU.

After two exciting and, occasionally, restful weeks in Hong Kong and Vietnam, we are back and firmly in the MENU saddle again. We will publish the stories of our Eastern adventure over the next few weeks, starting with Hong Kong and surrounds this week. Next week, we will show you Vinexpo and there will be more about Hong Kong, Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in subsequent weeks, all, of course, interspersed with the events, meals and tastings currently happening.

Dinner at Myoga     A few days before we left for Hong Kong, we were invited by chef Mike Basset to come and sample his new winter menu at Myoga at the Vineyard Hotel. They are doing a 7 course menu for R365 which, as it includes two extra courses and bread, offers tremendous value. Just go very hungry. We opted to do the menu with the wine pairing, which costs R650 per person. It includes some of the top South African wines so, if you like wine, this is for you. We didn't always agree with all the pairings, but taste is subjective. The menu is a showcase of multiple textures, flavours, colours and surprises. It's a tour de force of modern gourmet food. Perhaps one or two of the courses had too many ingredients on the plate, but we really enjoyed the experience. See the food and wine.....

Cape Port Producers Awards lunch at Muratie      Just before our departure, we drove out to Muratie wine estate in Stellenbosch for the CAPPA Awards lunch. The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, 18th May and was a very jolly affair. There are awards for all the different iterations of Port as well as wine made from port varietals. We tasted the ports and drank some of the wine entries with lunch.   The people, the place, the wines and the food.....

Off to Hong Kong for VinExpo and a bit of a holiday there and in Vietnam     We were sent an invitation and media accreditation to attend Vinexpo in Hong Kong back in April and John jokingly sent it to Lynne, saying “shall we go?” We had been considering a trip to Europe this May, so she went on line and checked out the airfare to Hong Kong, never expecting to find it was cheaper to go there than to Europe. Just over R16000 for the two of us return on Emirates. So, on the spur of the moment, we decided to go. John had never been to the East, Lynne has great memories, especially of Hong Kong. "Where else shall we go, having come this far?", we wondered after planning the week in Hong Kong. We looked at China, expensive and everywhere we wanted to go to meant another flight. So we looked in the other directions and went to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay. This week, you will see the beginning of the odyssey which we will spread out over the next few weeks. May and June are not the best months there, as it is hot and very humid, but we loved our trip.

MENU goes East - Cape Town, Dubai, Hong Kong, Kowloon

MENU Goes East - Hong Kong, Victoria Peak, Dim Sum

MENU goes East - Hong Kong, Cheung Chau Island

Wine Competitions     While we were away, there were several wine competition award ceremonies. If you are interested, here are the links to who won what:

Cape Port Awards at Muratie

Winners of Old Mutual Trophy

2016 Shiraz Challenge Winners Announced

Winners of the WineMag.co.za Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report

Wine of the week Château Clos des Prince, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2012     

Lynne tasted this wine at a blind tasting at Vinexpo in Hong Kong. It made her remember why she loves Saint-Émilion. It is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Silky soft, juicy, elegant, with beautiful fruit, full of dark cherries with minerality and toast. Ready to drink now, but it has got the backbone to last too. I know many of us don't get opportunities to taste wines like this but just in case you have access to some, do add this to your list. Tim Atkin gave this vintage 91. Among the higher priced wines from Saint-Émilion

Recipe of the week: Green Pawpaw salad from Vietnam     We had dinner cooked for us in a Vietnamese village on our trip and they got us all involved making this lovely salad. You need a hard green unripe pawpaw

1 unripe pawpaw approx. 500g - 1 carrot - 1 T each of fresh mint, basil and coriander, chopped - 1 T chopped roasted peanuts - some freshly chopped red chilli - 1 T crisp roasted onions

Nuoc cham dressing 2 tbsp rice vinegar - 2 tbsp fish sauce - 1 tbsp lime juice - 2 tbsp sugar - 1/2 cup water - 1 clove garlic, finely chopped - a little freshly chopped red chilli

Peel the pawpaw and then grate it into long thin strands using a mandolin or grater. Put into a bowl. Peel and grate the carrot in the same way, but keep it aside. Cover the pawpaw with boiling water and using a wooden spoon give it a good stir for about a minute or two. It will probably change colour from white to pale green. At the last minute add the carrot, mix in and then immediately drain off all the water, as much as you can. Set aside to cool. Mix up the dressing and stir well till all the sugar is dissolved. Add it to the pawpaw with the herbs and stir well. Sprinkle over the peanuts, crispy onions and the chilli. Serve and enjoy. You can add peeled prawns and or sliced roasted meat.

Events in June     Chardonnay Pinot Noir Celebration at the Vineyard this Friday from 17h00 to 20h00. We hope to see many of you at this annual tasting of some of South Africa’s best Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Cost: R170.00 per person – includes wine glass and snacks. Tickets can be purchased via www.webtickets.co.za, or at any of the Wine Concepts branches or at the door on the evening, subject to availability. There are many interesting things to do this month. See them in our Events Calendar

9th June 2016

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 and standard or Dutch-flavoured Afrikaans.

If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio

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 our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. Our Avast! ^® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned continually for viruses.

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MENU's Recipe of the week: Green Pawpaw salad from Vietnam

We had dinner cooked for us in a Vietnamese village on our trip and they got us all involved making this lovely salad. You need a hard green unripe pawpaw

1 unripe pawpaw approx. 500g - 1 carrot - 1 T each of fresh mint, basil and coriander, chopped - 1 T chopped roasted peanuts - some freshly chopped red chilli - 1 T crisp roasted onions

Nuoc cham dressing 2 tbsp rice vinegar - 2 tbsp fish sauce - 1 tbsp lime juice - 2 tbsp sugar - 1/2 cup water - 1 clove garlic, finely chopped - a little freshly chopped red chilli

Peel the pawpaw and then grate it into long thin strands using a mandolin or grater. Put into a bowl. Peel and grate the carrot in the same way, but keep it aside. Cover the pawpaw with boiling water and using a wooden spoon give it a good stir for about a minute or two. It will probably change colour from white to pale green. At the last minute add the carrot, mix in and then immediately drain off all the water, as much as you can. Set aside to cool. Mix up the dressing and stir well till all the sugar is dissolved. Add it to the pawpaw with the herbs and stir well. Sprinkle over the peanuts, crispy onions and the chilli. Serve and enjoy. You can add peeled prawns and or sliced roasted meat.

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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MENU's Wine of the week Chateau Clos des Prince, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru 2012

This was tasted by Lynne at a blind tasting at Vinexpo in Hong Kong. It made her remember why she loves Saint-Émilion. It is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Silky soft, juicy, elegant with beautiful fruit, full of dark cherries with minerality and toast. Ready to drink now, but it has got the backbone to last too. I know many of us don't get opportunities to taste wines like this, but just in case you have access to some, do add this to your list. Tim Atkin gave this vintage 91. Among the higher priced wines from Saint-Émilion. 

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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MENU goes East - Vinexpo Hong Kong, the evenings

We confess, we are a little in love with Hong Kong. And the evening light is so charming. The last real junk in Hong Kong is now a tourist boat. And how beautiful does it look in front of the new causeway suspension bridge

Floating in the mist, being approached by another ferry

Constant dredging is taking place to enable large ships to enter the bay

Ferries and freighters criss cross the bay at sunset

A summer sunset in the warm, humid May air

Sails go down

On Wednesday night everyone was invited to the BLEND Party, a chance to meet each other and mingle. Drinks were on the house, or on the sponsors

We queued for the best Mojitos we have ever had. A glass full of mint, lime juice, soda and lots of white rum. Note to all Cape Town bartenders: The glass was not filled to the brim with ice. We could actually taste the contents. Stop ripping us off.

Some of the cocktails on offer

Hong Kong sparkles and flashes at night, the buildings seem to compete with their light shows

We headed up from the Convention Centre to Lockhart Road, a six lane highway through the city centre, to find some street food. The traffic never seems to stop

After a very long walk we spot some street food below the walkway

It is very confusing, as you don't know what to buy. We got two sate sticks of pork here and some noodles, two different sorts, far too much

John fancied those German-sausage-looking slices which were cooked in batter. They turned out to be deep fried Spam, as we discovered when we ate them! Not many were eaten

It's a youthful culture. Everyone is smart and neat, but not many wear named labelled fashion - but there are loads of fakes with misspelled names

 Why not look to see what is on the other side of the corner?

The following night, when VinExpo had ended, we ventured out to another Dim Sum restaurant. This one turned out to be in the Michelin guide and well deserved it. It is called Tim Ho Wan and the branch we went to is near Fortress Road, one Metro stop from our hotel. There are other branches around Hong Kong. We thoroughly recommend

Thank you Bruwer, your wines go so well with DIm Sum

The best pork buns we have ever eaten. They are a secret recipe and this restaurants speciality. The outside was like a crisp and light sweet scone. The inside full of sweet and sticky barbeque pork, you can see it in the picture on the table mat below.

And on John's plate. In the middle won ton dumplings with a sauce and spring onions

Beef balls are a must

And so are Har Gow, the perfect steamed crystal prawn dumpling. We had a lovely couple who live in Hong Kong as table neighbours, He spoke perfect English and told us lots about Hong Kong

Getting late so the restaurant is emptying. Our bill again came to under R200 for the two of us with tea and no corkage on the wine

Darn if we had gone next door, we could have had roasted pigeon. You don't see many birds in Asia. We think most of them go in this direction.

And so, we took the metro home

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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