Friday, November 01, 2019

This Week’s MENU. Constantia Quiz, SASSI Trailblazer Awards, The Trade Show 2019, Caroline's White Wine Review, The Spier Café, MENU's UK Adventure: Bath, Bristol to Torquay

Two Twenty First Century Romans at the Roman Baths in Bath, Somerset

A big week in many ways, not least the dreadful economic situation outlined by the Minister of Finance. Amid the gloomy forecasts, we are hanging onto the good things, not least of these being the many wonderful wines we have tasted and the good food that has, sometimes, gone with them. And then, an event which will either bring huge celebration or total misery to many, the Rugby World Cup Final. In this, we are a divided household, with one cheering for the Bokke and the other for the English. One of us will be happy tomorrow afternoon. Go Bokke!

While we were travelling in the UK, we were sent an invitation by Jared Ruttenberg, Travel Writer, Content Creator and Tour Guide, @jaredincpt, to take part in the second annual Constantia Winemakers' Quiz. We were allowed to choose which one of the winemakers we would support and picked Roger Burton of Constantia Royale. It sounded like it might be quite fun. It was to be held early evening at Groot Constantia in their large tasting room...

This year’s SASSI Awards (Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) to chefs and others who promote the use of sustainable fish was held this year at Harbour House restaurant in the V&A Waterfront. The wine on offer was from Spier, gratefully accepted and much enjoyed. We gathered on the top deck where the venue was held and had been closed for the function. The event is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund-SA whose spokeswoman and SASSI programme organiser is Pavitray Pillay…

It certainly is the time of year for Wine Trade shows which we are always happy to attend to taste the new wines on sale. This time it was the Trade show of a group of wine marketers and negociants who call themselves The Trade Show. They are Miranda Rieker, Kirsten Stewart, Michelle Stewart, Bev Murray, Stephen Botha, and Hein de Jager and the tasting was held at Welgemeend in Gardens, an historic Cape Dutch house which is now a museum and which can be hired for functions...

Caroline Rillema's annual wine reviews are must see events. She chooses her best suppliers who are asked to bring one wine - the wine she believes to be the best representative of their compendium. Caroline's White Wine Review was held in the Ballroom at the Table Bay Hotel in the V&A Waterfront and was well attended by wine enthusiasts and professionals... 

Spier Wine Estate, on the R310 Baden Powell Drive outside Stellenbosch, has opened a new family style restaurant on the 1st of October called the Spier Farm Cafe and we were invited with other media to sample the food and the ambience this week. Had it not been raining, we would have sat outside. It will be a really popular place to be when the sun shines…

One of the problems with visiting ancient historic towns in Britain is getting parking near the action. And so we had several tries at getting close to the river and the famous Baths in eponymous Bath. They have a confusing and long one way system too, so its thirsty on petrol. Eventually we got very close and were surprised to find parking beneath Waitrose, just a few minutes away. But how long to leave the car? You have to decide as you go in, not when you come out, and this has caught us out a couple of times. We will just need an hour as we are so close, we thought. We were wrong...

Clyst St George is in the countryside just outside Exeter. Next morning we left Clyst St George and headed to the Devon coast at Budleigh Salterton to visit Lynne's other cousins who live in London and have a holiday home there because their son is a GP in the area...

Risotto is not that difficult to make, it just takes a bit of time standing stirring and watching while it cooks. Lynne had some crayfish stock in our freezer that she had made with the shells when we last had crayfish and it needed using. We always have risotto rice in the house and prawns in the freezer, so this turned out to be a stock cupboard dish. It is delicious and very rewarding. If you don’t make your own stock from shells – prawns or crayfish, you can buy good fish stock at Woolworths. We do not add cheese to a seafood risotto but there are no hard and fast rules. If you want to, you may...

This impressive wine won the Chardonnay Trophy and the Top Scoring Wine Grand Prix Award – in other words the best wine on show at the 2019 Michelangelo Awards. We tasted it at the public tasting at the Cullinan hotel this week and were so impressed. The 2015 Groot Constantia Chardonnay was judged as the Best in the World at the Chardonnay Du Monde Competition...


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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
Posted by MENU at 5:48 pm 0 comments

MENU's UK Adventure 11. From Clyst St George to Budleigh Salterton and Torquay in Devon

Clyst St George is in the countryside just outside Exeter


Next morning, we left Clyst St George and headed to the Devon coast at Budleigh Salterton
to visit Lynne's other cousins who live in London and have a holiday home there because their son is a GP in the area

The world sometimes seems much smaller than we think
When Gordon and Margaret Ross were looking to buy their apartment in this block they were chatting to the developer
Somehow South Africa came up and one of them mentioned that they had a cousin in Cape Town called Lynne
"So do I!" said the other! And, yes, they were talking about this Lynne
A weird coincidence, or synchronicity. One cousin comes from Lynne's mother's family
and the other from Lynne's father's family and they had never met nor knew about each other

The Ross cousins, Gordon and Margaret. Gordon, at 82, still plays squash twice a week

We walked down the hill to the high street to their favourite Italian restaurant
Called Marco's Italian, we thoroughly recommend it. They have a Facebook page
If you are in the area, do try it. We had one of the best meals on our trip

John spotted that the local wine merchant has a good selection of wine,
including this excellent South African Cabernet Merlot from Vergelegen in the window

Gordon knows his wine and ordered a bottle of excellent Montepulciano d'Abruzzo which went so well with the food

John’s starter of tomato bruschetta with balsamic vinegar and rocket

Lynne had two starters instead of a one and a main. The squid was tender, crisply covered in batter
and the garlic dipping sauce was so good that she could have buried her face in it!
It made her realise how important garlic is to our diet, and we had not had much on this trip

Gordon had the excellent Moules Marinière

Lynne’s second starter was fresh local Scallops dressed with bacon - absolutely phenomenal

The three main courses were Veal Limone and Veal Marsala served with polenta, all very authentic and much enjoyed

Only in Britain! Everyone seems to have a much loved dog, or two
Wherever we went we saw them walking with their owners
Water is left out for them everywhere, and many hotels and BnBs are happy to accommodate them as guests
while the owners are on holiday. They sit silently in restaurants and are so obedient
They are kept on the lead and we don’t remember ever having to watch our step in the street

The sun came out and the beach looked very tempting but we had to head off to our next AirBnB in Torquay

which is known as the Queen of the English Riviera and indeed it does remind one of the coasts of the South
- France and the Cape!

However it was on a wet afternoon that we arrived at our accommodation for the next three nights
It was an annex of this large house, set high on Braddon Hill above the city, easy to get to and with plenty of parking

Our separate apartment had its own terrace outside, overlooking the garden, with a small sea view
And we did have sunny days on which we sat out and enjoyed a sundowner or a meal there

A large comfortable lounge with the well-equipped kitchen on one wall

A good bed is so important and so are bedside lamps
Here they were both provided, but so many places forget that people want to read in bed
(We carry head torches in case that happens). And it has a good bathroom next door

Down to the beach the next morning for a walk. We met lots of these carrion crows (Corvus corone)

Thatcher’s Rock seen from Meadfoot beach
The sea is Mediterranean blue and the beach is covered in small pretty stones
We were beginning to wind down and feel we were now on holiday rather than travelling
And that was the plan for this part of the trip

Yachts in the bay

and people Supping (Stand up paddling on a surf board) with their dog

Blow up canoes

We met these two dogs first, then their owners
 The young black dog was so enthusiastic and wanted to play with the puppy,
but he was a bit large. However, dogs do not see size and the brown puppy was so happy to play
We chatted to his owner, a Yoga teacher, who was trying to do puppy training on the beach

Lovely to see happy, bouncy dogs

in and out of the water

John caught a bee on some local flower on our walk

and the next day we went to another beach called Anstey’s Cove,
which has a steep path down to the water and a café that serves welcome beers when you arrive
The climb back up gives you good exercise points on your FitBit!
After our walk, we drove the short distance to Babbacombe, walked along the front
and then headed for Hanbury's famous Fish shop where we bought fish and chip takeaways to enjoy back at our AirBnB

and, the next day, Lynne wanted to revisit Cockington a lovely unspoiled village on the edge of Torquay,
which has a lovely walk down through the woods alongside the stream to the sea front
We did it nearly there and then back to Cockington. So we deserved some refreshment

Picture book thatched cottages

Beautiful gardens, one with this unusual rose

and something we were seeking!

We were so lucky; unbeknownst to us, we were the last customers admitted

They brought the menu, but we knew exactly what we wanted

The Weaver's Cottage Cream Tea, with coffee for John and Green Tea for Lynne. Scrumptious. Decadent, Fattening
Who cares? Clotted cream and scones with home made strawberry jam is a thing of beauty
The big debate is do you put the jam on first or the cream. We tried it both ways and prefer the jam on top,
which apparently is not done in Devon. Tough. The scones were warm from the oven and light as a feather

A view from the sea front

An hotel in Torquay worth coming to?

Another Devon beach, but we couldn’t see how to get down there. There have been bad rock falls on these cliffs
Next day, we were off to Cornwall for a week’s holiday by the sea

Next: From Torquay to Plymouth, then to Mevagissey in Cornwall


Posted by MENU at 3:58 pm 0 comments

On the MENU this week. Prawn and Asparagus Risotto

Risotto is not that difficult to make, it just takes a bit of time standing stirring and watching while it cooks. Lynne had some crayfish stock in our freezer that she had made with the shells when we last had crayfish and it needed using. We always have risotto rice in the house and prawns in the freezer, so this turned out to be a stock cupboard dish. It is delicious and very rewarding. If you don’t make your own stock from shells – prawns or crayfish, you can buy good fish stock at Woolworths. We do not add cheese to a seafood risotto but there are no hard and fast rules. If you want to, you may

1 T olive oil – 1 T butter - 1 small onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped - 300 g risotto rice - 100 ml dry white wine – 3 sprigs of fresh thyme - 1 litre of fish or seafood stock - 200 g peeled prawns - 125 g asparagus tips, cut into bite-sized pieces - zest of 1 lemon – salt and white pepper to taste – a few drops of Tabasco

In a separate pan, heat your fish stock to a simmer and have a ladle ready

 Melt the oil and butter in a large pan and gently fry the onion and the garlic for a few moments until it is transparent, but not browning. Add the rice and stir it in until it all becomes transparent and coated in the oil. Turn up the heat and add the wine and then reduce it by half. Then slowly begin to add one ladle of stock to the pot at a time. Stir it in and then wait for it to be absorbed into the rice. When you see bubbles on the top of the rice, add another ladle of stock. Repeat and continue until the rice is cooked. It must not be mushy, but is should be creamy, not dry.  The rice needs to have a little "bite” but that doesn’t mean it should still be chalky inside. Near the end of the cooking, stir in the prawns and cook for a minute for two, then add the asparagus, and give that a minute or two. Then add the zest of lemon, season to taste and then add a few drops of Tabasco if you want a little zing of heat. Serve with a simple salad and some good crisp Sauvignon Blanc
Posted by MENU at 3:49 pm 0 comments

MENU’s Wine of the Week is Groot Constantia 2018 Chardonnay

This impressive wine won the Chardonnay Trophy and the Top Scoring Wine Grand Prix Award – in other words the best wine on show at the 2019 Michelangelo Awards. We tasted it at the public tasting at the Cullinan hotel this week and were so impressed. The 2015 Groot Constantia Chardonnay was judged as the Best in the World at the Chardonnay Du Monde Competition

There is a hint of wood smoke on the nose, then that classic buttery Chardonnay style comes to the fore. Would it show as well on the palate you wonder? Would it just! Round, full and buttery, with crisp minerality and a little chalk. Lemon, lime flavours linger, with a nutty edge. One wants to drink this with food immediately. Right at the end, wood hints but just as a buffer. It shows meticulous attention to detail by the winemaker Boela Gerber. Another sip, just another sip.... Fill up the glass…

Posted by MENU at 3:46 pm 0 comments
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