We all met at
the entrance gate and bought our vouchers to exchange for dishes and drinks. No
one knew why they were called "crowns" and have now been renamed "scoins". Everyone was
wrapped up well as the April weather was a trifle chilly
There were
enormous oysters to taste
Many more wine
farms than before made it easy to enjoy tasting wine. Paardenkloof was a new
label for us. They had very enthusiastic
promoters who did not seem to know much about wine
There were
good incentives to taste bubbly (a feminine point of view!)
and this
bubbly from Domaine des Dieux in the Hemel and Aarde was very good
A new
development this year was a large craft brewery stand with local and imported
beers
Many people
preferred to stick with brands and food they knew
We received a
very warm welcome on the Waterford stand and tasted some lovely wine there
Some farms had
paired their wines with chocolate tastings and even jam
like
Whalehaven
who had
friendly staff to pour for us
The lovely
ladies on the Ken Forrester stand also gave us stunners to taste and drink with
our food...
... as Ken and Allan Forresters’ Restaurant, 96 Winery Road, the first Pop Up restaurant on
Thursday, was our first port of call
Our first taste was the 2 pan fried prawns
with pea purée, mushrooms and apple cured bacon. Good flavours but a small
portion
Next we
chapped to Kit Austin and his mother from Noble Hill whose restaurant, Cosecha, had an
interesting Mexican flavoured menu
This is their
Huevos Rancheros dish, which was one of the 8 vegetarian dishes available at
the festival
Sun International
had a very large stand with different dishes and drinks being prepared on all
four corners
These were some
of the choices you could order
The Pick ‘n
Pay Sponsors’ Chefs’ Theatre had shows you could book for and attend
Andi Foulkes’
Dish Food & Social had Lamb pies to delight
They were very
busy all through the show days and worked incredibly hard
Interesting
Argentine dishes
Dulche de
Leche is condensed milk, often caramelised
and we ate a
plate of paella. But we did wish she wouldn’t have kept stirring
Friendly
smiles and staff and good wine from Paul Francisand Keelyn Gibbons at Morgenster
Next we
stopped at Camissa, the hotel restaurant at the Table Bay
and shared a plate of
the herb coated lamb cutlets,
Sitting down
to eat at this festival is always a treat as mostly you have to stand. We then
learned from a friend that they also had crayfish curry which was not on the
menu, so Lynne went to get some
Justine Drake,
one of the organisers of the festival, seen at the Table Bay stand
And their
sommelier, Byron Krynauw, gave us tastes of the hotel’s own label wines
The lamb
cutlets on a pea puree with a polenta cake
Our next visit
was a treat – the Lindt stand - to which we returned later for a warming cup of hot
chocolate and bought some bars of Lindt chocolates with our remaining scoins
The staff were
making bon bons on the stand and we tasted some. They were delicious
A view of the
tents and marquees
We were
fascinated by the Big Green Egg ceramic cookers, presented by Thomas Hancock, the importer. Somewhere between a Weber
braai and a pizza oven, these charcoal fired babies can get up to 1400°C, if
you know what you are doing. You can do meat and fish, tandoori, pizzas, bread and
other barbecue food. We have twice seen Chef Bertus Basson use one at functions
and tasted the delicious result
Next - to
Azure restaurant at the Twelve Apostles Hotel for a dish of rich char sui glazed
pork belly
This was, at last, a lovely good sized portion. It was also on a
pea puree, obviously the most in fashion accompaniment of the festival, along
with the dreaded polenta (we have never been huge fans of any form of mieliepap
Neil Grant,
owner of Burrata restaurant at the Biscuit Mill, the second Pop-Up restaurant
on Thursday entertained us on his scooter and gave us a very generous helping
of their wonderful burrata mozzarella
Another fairly
minimalist dish we bought turned out to be one tempura prawn for 7 scoins, a
bit expensive
And we so
enjoyed this slice of chocolate cake from Burrata
A good friend
is Shelley Sandell, owner of Tierhoek wines in the Cederberg, who was
showcasing her wines at the festival alongside her sister-in-law Carol Mills,
who had her Limoncello on show
