A female sunbird on a salvia at Fresh Woods
Eating at Keenwa (The restaurant uses Quinoa’s phonetic spelling, as South Africans are not familiar with its pronunciation.) Talk about eating outside of our experience! We had no idea what to expect when we were invited to try this Peruvian restaurant at 50 Waterkant Street in town. Lynne has cooked Quinoa once and obviously did not get it right, because we really didn’t like the rather crunchy grain that resulted. Now we know how, we can try again. What do we know about this long thin country on the other side of South America? That it has a huge range of climates (23 of the worlds 24) and topography which starts at the sea, crosses a dry desert and ends in the Andes, an ancient history of Mayan culture. We did know that many of the foods we love to eat, like potatoes, sweet corn, peppers, avocado and squash originate there. We had been told by someone that this is not authentic Peruvian food but the owner German de la Melena, assured us that it is. It is not haut cuisine, just humble food which the locals love to eat out and at home. He has a couple of recipes his mum makes and they were delicious. This charming man is a widely travelled international model who lived in Europe for several years before settling in what he calls Paradise - Cape Town. (We agree.) His chef Fabricio Durand is from Cuzco in Peru and he certainly can cook. We started with two Pisco sours – Pisco is their local firewater made from grapes and German imports it for his restaurant. We absolutely loved these, enough to try to make a local version the next evening at home, but without the Pisco. They are expensive as cocktails go at R50 each, but are really worth trying, and we are not normally cocktail drinkers. were told this is what the locals like to eat; there is a strong background of Asian food from its large Asian population – e.g. Nobuyuki 'Nobu' Matsuhisa and their former President, Alberto Fujimori.
Not knowing what food to order, we placed ourselves completely in German’s hands and said “bring us what you think we should try”. And boy, did they! We had six starters and five main courses before we admitted defeat at the final fall with one dessert. Luckily these were small portions of the food and we shared them all. The first dish was a fire seared piece of fillet on a skewer, tender and full of flavour, served with boiled new potatoes, a corn and pepper salsa and a creamy spicy sauce – worth returning for, all on its own. Then came a platter with four different starters: a cubed tuna ceviche, a Tiradito sliced fish in lime juice topped with crisp deep fried sweet potato chips, quinoa topped with cheese and a salad, sweet potato and baby corn salad and mashed potato with limes and avocado. Then a Trio de Causas (three salads on one platter) consisting of beetroot & tomato; tuna and egg in a spinach sauce; and chicken mayonnaise with turmeric. Most of these dishes were lovely and fresh, covered in shredded vegetable and sweet potato and there are good vegetarian options. Nothing is searingly hot.
Our main courses were shredded chicken and mayonnaise (Aji de Gallina), Sliced rare beef with a gooseberry sauce; rather dry ostrich fillets with fried banana, huge unpeeled prawns on potato & butternut mash, and a rather strange speciality: a Chinese stir fry with beef in soy accompanied by chips and rice! We
German twisted our arm with his favourite dessert and it was wonderful. Crisp yeast batter fritters, deep fried containing pieces of sweet potato and butternut, accompanied by a really dark delicious cane sugar syrup. You are not allowed to use cutlery, you push the crisp batter down into the syrup and then eat messily with your fingers. Go try them.
We must make mention of our very special waiter, Cristian Patarroyo Buitrago from Colombia who is here for a short stay after university, where he graduated as a chemical engineer. He was absolutely wonderful, helpful and great entertainment.
The restaurant is lovely at night with pale blue walls and a couple which are chocolate brown, but with candlelight on the tables it has a very romantic atmosphere and all the customers, us included, were having a lot of fun. Pics of the restaurant and dishes are here. Cooking Quinoa German tells us you must boil it till the grain gets soft and milky and begins to get ‘wings’. Then you drain it quickly and wash with cold water to cool it down. If it cools slowly it gets sticky and is not nice to eat. It is used mainly in salads.
Breakfast at Wimpy We just have to mention this seriously good value offer from a place where we don’t often eat. Lynne discovered it at the Wimpy in Long Beach Mall (but it is in all their stores), when she really needed some protein after a heavy night out. They are doing a breakfast which consists of two very fresh fried eggs, two rashers of bacon, a grilled tomato, two slices of rather flattened bread (we think they are ‘toasting’ in the sandwich press rather than under a grill) and a portion of chips. She could have done without the sad chips but, at R19.95, we feel they are really coming to the party in a recession. Lots and lots of people, including many pensioners, were taking advantage of this special. If you want to add a sausage at R5.99 and/or baked beans at R4 you can and a cup of coffee or tea is R10.95. Put this into context: most sandwiches sold elsewhere now cost approximately R24 each.
Glorious flowering Elgin Everything blooms in the fruitful vale of Elgin as we discovered this last weekend when we went to the Elgin Open Gardens weekend. Great news for those of you who want to go, it continues this coming weekend. Sadly, the weather when we left Cape Town on Sunday morning was a full-on North Westerly storm and the motorway was not fun, but when we got there the weather, although cloudy, remained dry for the day, if a little chilly. Better weather is promised for this weekend. The roses growing everywhere are quite, quite amazing. From huge hedges to pergolas to individual beds and standards, we could not stop gasping at the glorious show of both old and new style roses. Don’t forget to smell the roses as some of the older varieties have sensational perfumes. We started at Fresh Woods, a garden we have delighted in before, where the show of different plants, both rare and local, and planted landscapes is amazing. Out came our cameras and we snapped away like crazy – you will be seeing lots of the results. Lynne’s favourite was seeing the very rare tulip tree from the USA in full bloom and because there were low flowering branches, she was able to see the ‘tulip’ flowers in detail. She has only ever seen this tree in Kew and the flowers there were high in the canopy. They have a lovely Japanese Acer garden being established and this has rather inspired us. Next we were off to Eikenhof for a bite of lunch – gammon and salad or quiche and salad and the most divine apple tart swimming in honey. Their formal gardens have a very English flavour – we just missed the bluebells - and is at its peak at the moment. There was an exhibition of stunning, detailed botanical art and it is selling very well. Don’t miss the birds everywhere and the bees building their nest in an oak tree. Then we went down to the opposite end of the valley to see the lovely water gardens at Lorraine, where we bought some real (organic) farm butter and some of the best fresh apple juice either of us have tasted. On to the nursery at Keurbos for a look at the plants and their very wild garden and then it was time to join our hosts for the weekend, the very hospitable Paul and Nicky Wallace of Elgin Vintners, at their house for a delicious dinner and probably far too much good wine, including Paul’s extremely dark and delicious licorice and mulberry Black Dog Malbec. Next morning, we were shown their farm from the bank of their hill top dam and John took lots of photos of their local blue cranes, our national bird. We then visited their friends at Duncan’s roses and picked up two pale cream climbing roses to put around our front door. Then on to our friends the Gowers on their farm, the Wallace’s friend Andrea Semple of Topiary Creations, who makes super décor items out of leaves and branches and then on to the Elgin Vintners tasting room for a tasting of the wines. We tasted a lovely typical Elgin sauvignon blanc, crisp and clean with good fig leaf and gooseberry notes, followed by the very rich and lightly wooded Viognier. Then the summery merlot rosé and their fruity and silky Cabernet. The night before we arrived, they had just been awarded the SAA prize for their Shiraz, which is soft and velvety and absolutely deserving of the award. We bought some of the Cabernet and the Shiraz to take home before it all sells out, as it will. It was quite a “weekend” (our weekends are Sunday and Monday - we work on Saturday).
Attempting a Pisco Sour We had very small limes which gave us just about 200ml of juice. Lynne made the sugar syrup by combining 4 T sugar with 50g water and stirring them together till the sugar melted, then boiled the syrup for 5 minutes. Boil quite hard but do not stir. If it starts to colour (you do NOT want caramel), remove it from the heat immediately and start again. We made the cocktail in the small blender container which comes with our stick blender. You can use a liquidizer or just whisk the egg white till stiff and add it to the other ingredients. This makes enough for two, served in whisky tumblers. You can add different alcohols like rum or whiskey if you like, but they give a different flavour.
Sour recipe
1 egg white, juice of 8 limes, 100ml sugar syrup, 2 tots of Cane Spirit or Vodka or Grappa
Blend the egg white till light and fluffy and just getting to peaks, add some of the sugar syrup and blend quickly, then add the lime juice and the alcohol. Taste and add more syrup to your taste if it is too sour.
Our diary for the next week is becoming hectic. We will be at the KWV’s launch of Doctor Charles and re-launch of Roodeberg tomorrow lunchtime, then off to the Vineyard for a dinner celebrating iconic Methode Cap Classique Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel’s 40th birthday. Friday and Saturday will see us at Long Beach and Biscuit Mill markets and we will be at Backsberg on Sunday for a friend’s special birthday. Monday will find us at Buitenverwachting for their trade wine tasting and on Tuesday we will be at the launch of the Platter Wine Guide for 2012. Some of you sometimes mention that you don’t know how we fit it in; sometimes, we don’t! Our E-marketing Listeners to Cape Talk on Monday morning may have heard us talking to Aden Thomas and a very clever man named Pavlo Phitidis in the Entrepreneurs SA slot about our need to improve our web-based activities. We need to create a better website and set up a proper online shop which will make it easier for you to order our special products, but we don’t have the expertise we need. Several people have contacted us and we are weighing up options, but this gives us an opportunity to spread the net a little wider. If you have any ideas or, more importantly, expertise we can use, please contact us by replying to this mail. The Eat In DSTV Food Network Produce Awards aim to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding, independent South African producers for putting South Africa on the international food map with their integrity, care for the environment, passion and innovation. Of course, an outlet is a vital connection between the producers and public, which is why the awards also recognise the stores, shops and market for their vital role in the process. If you think that the bread from your local bakery or fresh veggies from your Saturday morning market is worthy of some praise, now's your chance to speak up! We are very proud of being winners in a few previous years. Nominate your favourite producer, product or outlet in this year's Eat In DSTV Food Network Produce Awards. Read more about it and submit your nomination at http://www.eat-in.co.za/Awards/Nominations Our products.
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. So, please have a look at our Product List and see what you need. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our website. We can send your requirements to you anywhere in South Africa. Our market activities You will find us at Long Beach Mall this Friday, 4th November from 09h00 to 16h00. Our other date at Long Beach for November is Friday, 18th November. We will be at The Place at Cavendish on Fridays 11th and 25th November. We will be at the Old Biscuit Mill’s brilliant, exciting and atmospheric Neighbourgoods Market, as always, this Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. The Neighbourgoods market has been rearranged. The tables have been arranged at right angles to the way we are all used to, with all the aisles running straight down from the entrance, in order to improve the flow of visitors through the market. Lynne will be wearing a gold plastic crown in order to help you find us. There is a huge variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape. To help you choose an event to visit, we have taken our list of Interesting Food and Wine Events online. All the events are listed in date order and we already have exciting events to entertain you through into the new year. Click here to access the list. You will need to be connected to the internet. Many of the specials in our list of restaurant special offers are continuing through summer and we have been told that there will be some new summer menus soon. Click here to access it. These Specials have been sent to us by the restaurants or their PR agencies. We have not personally tried all of them and their listing here should not always be taken as a recommendation from ourselves. If they don’t update us, we can’t be responsible for any inaccuracies in the list. When we have tried it, we’ve put in our observations. We have cut out the flowery adjectives etc. we’ve been sent, to give you the essentials. Click on the name to access the relevant website. All communication should be with the individual restaurants.
2nd November 2011
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 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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