A day in Kalk Bay with tea at Casa Labia

We couldn't resist taking our current overseas visitors for a day by the sea at Kalk Bay so they could experience some of the magic. After a great lunch we shopped in the high street for a while and the lads went off to see Casa Labia in Muizenberg where we joined them later for a good tea and scones or coffee and “death by chocolate” cake

There was yellowtail on offer and a few black bream but the ladies were waiting patiently for the boats and the customers

A young and cheeky cormorant patrolled the dockside

Quite a character and he has learnt that this gets him fish scraps

Age and experience

Lots of black backed Gulls

and a juvenile

They are experts in filleting fish, but there is a small charge

Someone is going to have a large fish supper

The speed at which they work is breathtaking

How to ensure you get crispy chips at Kalkies. Actually they still come very ‘slap’, but who needs chips? Here lunch for 5 costs less than one meal in a good restaurant.

Enjoying some wine while waiting for the fish and chips and calamari

Today’s menu

It arrives very quickly, is delicious and very fresh

One by one the boats pull in to the dockside. But sadly it has not been a great day for fish, we saw very little come ashore

Waiting for buyers

Snoek drying in the rafters

Tying up

Not a good day, they only caught 5 yellowtail

Negotiating a price

Fresh Black Bream

Yellowtail, some long snoek and the bream

Advertising coming in useful to sell shining Yellowtail

Casa Labia which was the home of the Italian Ambassador and is now a museum and a restaurant. The ongoing roadworks in front means that one has to park a couple of hundred metres along the road, but it's worth the walk

The portico

There were dressing one of the larger rooms for a wedding the following day and a pianist was practicing in the background

It is full of beautiful art and antiques with lots of chandeliers and other glassware from Murano

The boys just managed to finish their slices of the chocolate ganache ‘cake’ with a good cup of black coffee

The girls tacked the warm freshly baked scones with cream and jam and a pot of tea each. Just how we like afternoon tea. And the scones were as light as a feather

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

150319 Main Ingredient's MENU - Wellington Groenberg Talmfees, lunch at Jordan, Oesfees, Cellarbake, Cape Wine, Asparagus tart

Clifton sunset

In this week’s MENU:

 Groenberg Wynstok Talmfees

 Rocking the taste buds at Jordan

 Oesfees at Solms Delta

 Nitida Cellarbake

 Finding South Africa's Best Steakhouse in 2015

 Cape Wine

 Asparagus Tart

 Learn about wine and cooking

We write about our experiences in MENU, not only to entertain you, but to encourage you to visit the places and events that we do. We know you will enjoy them and we try to make each write up as graphic as we can, so you get a good picture of what is on offer at each place, restaurant, wine farm, festival we visit.

To get the whole of our story, please click on “READ ON.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.

At last, we thought, an easy week... and then the lurgy struck. We watched our friend Anne, here from Australia, come down with a nasty bout of coughing, a cold and fever, then Lynne’s goddaughter Nicolette from Holland got it and now Lynne has it. It seems to be avoiding the men in the family, but we suspect that it was brought here from the European winter, as we hear it is laying waste there. We hope you manage to avoid it. Get the flu jab soon, as this might be doing the rounds for a while; it does seem to linger on, and on, and on.

Groenberg Wynstok Talmfees     On Saturday, three of us drove to Wellington for the Groenberg Fees, held on Schalk Burger’s farm, Welbedacht. The main event was always going to be music and the crowds were expected in the late afternoon and evening. When we arrived at 12, the temperature was already at 38°C and we had a rush around the stalls for a quick taste, to see who was there and sample what was on offer. Then we were invited into the cool inner sanctum for a guided tasting of Groenberg wines and that is where we remained for much of the very pleasant afternoon. Read on

Rocking the taste buds at Jordan     Great food is the most important thing you want from a good restaurant. Throw in friendly and efficient staff, a warm welcome and views to charm and relax and you are getting close to perfection. Sunday saw us at one of our favourite restaurants, Jardine at Jordan, for a birthday lunch of one of our visitors. He requested Jardine, as it has also become one of their favourite places when visiting. We had a table right at the front of the deck with those superb views and the lunch did not disappoint. Read on

Two unmissable events this weekend; we will be at both. On Saturday, at Solms Delta in Franschhoek, the Oesfees, the most real harvest festival of them all, where vineyard workers get to mingle with the public, while celebrating the harvest with local traditional food and listening all day to great local music. 10 to 8 Elvis Blue is the headliner. See here for our story about last year’s event.

And on Sunday, on Nitida in Durbanville, Cellarbake: “Celebrate decadence with the Western Cape’s best artisanal bakers showcasing their signature bakes, paired perfectly with Nitida wines and MCCs”, 11am to 6pm. Something different, lots of cakes to sample. Last year’s story shows the sort of delicacies which will be on offer.

Cape Wine is the flagship business showcase of the South African wine industry. Presented every three years at the Cape Town International Convention Centre by Wines of South Africa (WOSA), it is the most successful international wine trade show in the southern hemisphere. It has been almost fully subscribed by exhibitors, six months ahead of the event, which will be held in the CTICC from the 15th to the 17th September. South African wine has seen a huge growth in quality since 1994 and this is our best opportunity to show our wine industry, its products and our beautiful wine country to the world. See details here

Finding South Africa's Best Steakhouse in 2015 – Voting Begins In April!     The Wolftrap Steakhouse Championship is hunting down South Africa's greatest steakhouse again to find our national champion for 2015! The first round is a public voting phase and it starts on the 1st April – this is when anyone can go to www.steakhunter.co.za and vote for their favourite – there are cases of the Wolftrap wine to be won just for voting. You can also vote by texting the name of your favourite steakhouse and where it is situated, with your name, to “32845”.

This week’s recipe is a good supper dish, or it works well as part of a buffet. It is one of Lynne’s standard store cupboard recipes. You can also make individual tartlets.

Asparagus Tart

Pastry: 250g flour (2 cups) - a good pinch of salt – 2 t baking soda – 250 g butter – 1 egg – 125 ml iced water

Put all the dry ingredients with the butter into a food processor and then blitz a few times until it has the texture of breadcrumbs. Add the egg and enough of the water to make a firm dough. You probably won’t need all the water. Wrap in cling film and put into the fridge for 20 minutes to rest. Grease a 23 cm pie dish. Roll out the pastry to fit, leaving some overlapping the edges to be trimmed when cooked. Turn the oven on to 190°C

Filling: 1 tin of asparagus tips (410g) – 60g butter – 125ml cream – 3 T flour – 1 beaten egg – 100g grated cheddar or gruyere cheese – salt and pepper

Drain the asparagus and set aside, but do reserve the liquid. Melt the butter and add the flour and mix well to make a roux. Add the asparagus juice, the cream and then the cheese to make a thick sauce. Season to taste. Stir in the beaten egg, and then fold in the asparagus. Put into the prepared, pastried pie dish and put into the hot oven. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 160°C and bake for another 20 minutes or until setting and the pastry is crisp. Trim off the edges and serve. Optional: You can garnish with toasted caraway seeds and anchovy fillets.

Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken over the UnWined wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here

The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here

In addition to the new Sense of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details here

Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here.

Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her home in Constantia.

George Jardine will be running a series of winter cooking courses and other activities at Jordan. Details here

19th March 2015

Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.

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.

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.

This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. We own our mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.

George Jardine's Cooking courses and other activities

Cooking Courses

George will be hosting various courses throughout Winter. 

8 May   Fish course                                                          R650pp

5 June   Bread baking course                                       R550pp

3 July     Kids cooking course                                        R250pp

7 Aug    Vegetarian dishes                                            R650pp

These are the dates set for bookings.  However, if you would like to make up a group of eight guests, you are welcome to choose the date and subject of your course.  A popular request is choosing a three-course menu from his new book “George Jardine – Cooking with an accent”.  Booking is essential (minimum of 6, maximum of 10 in a group)

A Day with George

Once a month we also offer “A day with George” where he will give a demonstration of some of his favourite dishes, followed by a special lunch, cooked by George.  Afterwards he will join you to chat and answer any questions you have about his dishes.  The cost of the lunch and demo will be R750 per person, including wine with lunch.  These lunches will be held on Fridays starting 29 May, 19 June, 24 July and 21 August.

Quiz Nights

Our popular quiz nights will be held on Tuesday nights.  Make up a team of six players.  R120pp includes the quiz and a main dish.  (These change every week eg Cassoulet, curry or lamb shank)  Drinks available to purchase on the night.  The winners after six rounds will win dinner vouchers to Jordan Restaurant.  Space is limited so book early.  First quiz night starts on Tuesday 5 May at 18h00, and will repeat every few weeks.

Photography Classes with Nicole Palmer

Following her successful photography classes last year, Nicole will be hosting a 2-day course on Monday mornings.  You are welcome to either attend both weeks consecutively (Basic on first Monday and more advanced on second Monday) or just choose one of the days, depending on your skill level.

Dates for these courses are as follows

11 May and 18 May

1 June and 8 June

27 July and 3 August

31 August and 7 September

The cost for the course is R400pp per day, so R800 for both days.  This includes the course and a light lunch, with coffee on arrival.  Course will start at 9am with a 90 minute theory session and after the break, a practical session with Nicole giving you hints and tips to improve your photography skills.  This is followed by lunch.

Wine Clubs, Birthdays and Special events

We will also be available for wine club dinners, wine maker’s dinners or if you would like to plan a special event, be it a birthday, anniversary or anything else.  We can include a cooking demonstration or wine pairing to make your event extra special.   Please enquire for further information.

For any more information regarding the above events or to make a booking, please phone 021 881 3004 or email info@thebakery.co.za

We look forward to seeing you at the Bakery soon.

Kind regards

Louise Starey

The Bakery at Jordan

Stellenbosch Kloof Road

Stellenbosch 7604

Tel: (021) 881 3004

Wellington Groenberg Festival at Welbedacht

Groenberg Wynstok Talmfees

On Saturday, three of us drove to Wellington for the Groenberg Fest held on Schalk Burger’s farm Welbedacht. The main event was always going to be music and the crowds were expected in the late afternoon and evening. When we arrived at 12 the temperature was already at 38 degrees C and we had a quick rush around the stalls to see who was there and what was on offer. Then we got invited into the cool inner sanctum for a guided tasting of wines from the Groenberg area and that is where we remained for much of a very pleasant afternoon

The festival was held on the Welbedacht Cricket Oval. Rugby may be the game that the Burgers are known for, but they are also keen cricketers

We stared with a chat with Tiaan Burger and Hardus van Heerden, their new winemaker, and a tasting of the Welbedacht wines

Tiaan introduced us to their new MCC bubbly named Mon René after his sister. It is 100% chardonnay, and unoaked

There was a talent contest taking place and these two musicians were performing. There was music all day

Nice to see a winemaker from another region enjoying the festival. Dawie Botha of Antonij Rupert was there with his wife

Too hot for shoes? Dawie and his wife were about to go grape stomping

Then on to taste some wines from Linton Park. There was a lucky draw on entry and Lynne won a case of their 2014 De Slange Rivier Shiraz/Merlot blend, which was a nice surprise. It will go to the back of our cellar to rest a while

and we met the owners of Jacaranda farm René and Birgit Reiser. It is very small with only 2.5 hectares of grapes, but they produce four different wines. New vineyards should come on stream soon

Inside for the start of three guided tastings. The first was of some of the reds of the area: 2 Merlots, 2 Shirazes and 2 Bordeaux Blends. We particularly like the Bohemian Shiraz 2010 from Welbedacht warm and smooth with a kick of spice and very silky sweet fruit, ending in white pepper and some nice soft chalky tannins. This still has a few more years. We discovered that they grow all the Boekenhoutskloof shiraz on the farm and this vineyard is next to that one. The Jacaranda Cab/Merlot also impressed with violets and dark chocolates on the nose, soft fruit and a violet crème with cherries on the silky palate

Schalk Burger senior takes us through the tasting

The second tasting was a food and wine pairing and these different canapés had been made to each match one of the wines. The plate was so generous we didn’t need lunch afterwards and some of the pairings were excellent. The Welbedacht Cricket Pitch flagship wine was paired with the Osso bucco tart, filled with rich meat and garlic, both delicious. A surprise was the match between DGB’s RibShack Red and the open wild boar burger with pesto. Yes we admit prejudice, we were not expecting to like the wine as much as we did. It’s a nice, juicy, easy drinking wine and we would order it if we saw it on a menu. It is extremely well priced. On their stand they offered a rack of ribs and a bottle of RibShack for R80. The chocolate tart was awesome but really needed a dessert wine to pair with it.

Nice to see Wayne Rademeyer of Buffalo Ridge Buffala mozzarella, whose farm is across the road. He had a stand at the festival

Then Schalk took us through the third tasting which was The Best of the Best in the area. The 2005 Chenin Blanc from Welbedacht was their first harvest – it has lasted well and the best compliment we can pay it is that we would happily buy it, its unmistakably a Chenin, rich, layered and complex

The Springbok and Western Province rugby culture is very strong at Welbedacht. Schalk senior and Schalk junior are both proud wearers of the green and gold and the blue and white “streeptrui”. The tasting had to be over by 3, so that the Stormers vs Chiefs match could be screened. Schalk jr played, but the Stormers lost

Back out into the very warm afternoon air. The boys were watching rugby

A novel way to play Noughts and Crosses, while the boys are watching rugby

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

A birthday lunch at Jardine

Rocking the taste buds at Jordan

Great food is the most important thing you want from a good restaurant. Throw in friendly and efficient staff, a warm welcome and views to charm and relax and you are getting close to perfection. Sunday saw us at our favourite restaurant Jordan for a birthday lunch of one of our visitors. He requested Jordan as it has also become one of their favourite places when visiting. We had a table right at the front of the deck with those superb views and the lunch did not disappoint. One of the qualifiers for a great restaurant is that the standard remains excellent even when the boss isn't there. George and Louise were at a birthday celebration elsewhere - the food and service were wonderful

Lunch out on the deck is the favourite spot in summer

This is where Banting takes a back seat. Who can resist those freshly made vetkoek, ciabatta rolls and seed loaf with parsley pesto, garlic aioli and olive tapenade? Not us. Vetkoek (trans. Fat cake) is a traditional South African bread made from a plain yeast dough rolled into balls, deep fried and served hot. The origin is probably the Dutch oliebollen, but the early settlers used to deep fry them in fat rendered from the fat tails of sheep. They are often served in the Cape filled with spiced mince, mixing another of our cultures with another - the Cape Malay foods

A feast for the eyes. A starter of salt and sugar cured springbok ‘tartar’ compressed into a block served with nectarines, a prune and a parsnip cream, Chantilly cream quenelles, sunflower seeds, and topped with crisp shavings of parsnip and sunflower sprouts. The tartar was roughly chopped and therefore had good texture. The contrasts between the savoury and sweet, the soft , the crisp and crunch were perfect

Local mackerel is in season in the Cape, so pan fried as a starter was irresistible to some of us. Served on a base of roasted garlic puree, topped with tomatoes and a “cosmopolitan” sauce, with watercress and fried onion, all these textures and flavours enhanced the rich oily fresh fish

Waiting for the main courses to arrive. We drank the Jordan Inspector Peringuey Chenin blanc and glasses of the Prospector Shiraz

Perfectly cooked aged Chalmar beef rump in a salsa verde, with confit tomatoes served with bone marrow dumplings and topped with thin charred aubergine crisps. The beef was meltingly tender. Oh, and a side order of their hand cut crisp chips. Well you can't have steak without chips

Beautifully, symmetrically plated line caught Yellowtail on a charred tomato velouté, with basil aioli and some crisp salt and pepper squid and roasted olives

Lynne chose the lightly salted East coast hake with a herb crust, in an artichoke velouté, topped with very light, fried potato gnocchi and deep fried cauliflower. The fish was beautifully fresh and delicious, but the herb topping was a little too salty

Dessert for the Birthday celebrant was envied by us all, even those who could not manage a dessert. It is a set vanilla panna cotta topped with strawberry compote, sprinkled with summer berries and topped with vanilla ice cream. So pretty too!

The chocoholics could not resist the Valrhona dark chocolate mousse with poached mango, buffalo labneh cheese, honeycomb pieces and a honey and walnut ice cream. The plates were scraped till clean, as usual. Coffee ended a very successful meal

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015