Friday Sundowner at Neil Ellis Wines

This Friday sundowner must be one of the best value events in the winelands. We were invited to go there last Friday evening. The next Sundowner will be on the 17th. From 4 till 8, you watch the sun set over Ida’s Valley in Stellenbosch and drink a glass of wine (R25) with a huge charcuterie & cheese platter for two for only R99. Or pay R150 per couple for a platter and a bottle of Aenigma wine. Booking is essential. http://www.neilellis.com

It is a very modern wine cellar on the top of a hill going up towards Hell’s Hoogte (Heights) Pass behind Stellenbosch.

Clean modern lines

The best value Charcuterie platter in town

This young man in the tasting room, Jovan Pietersen, really looked after us

An old basket press, so you know it is a winery

Chatting to Financial Manager Charl Ellis

We enjoyed the refreshing Aenigma 2014 dry White blend of Chardonnay& Sauvignon Blanc very much with our platters. It is floral and full of melon and peach notes, with a good dry finish

The evening was fully booked and guests enjoyed the tables outside as the sun went down

We preferred to sit inside and spent a while taking to Neil Ellis about the farm and the wines. And our Dutch friends Yvonne and Peter were delighted to find that they can buy some of it in the Albert Heijn supermarkets.

A view towards the Simonsberg mountains and the Helshoogte Pass

The platters will continue into the winter as there are good log fires in both rooms

It is a very popular event, especially with the young Stellenbosch crowd

Held between 4 and 8, it’s a lovely way to spend a Friday evening

A Charcuterie and Cheese platter for 2. There is plenty of food and we really liked the quality of the meat and cheese. The candied orange slices were excellent with the cheese

Really enjoying the view, the wine and the food.Thank you Neil Ellis family and staff

Neil Ellis with Rochelle Kotze, marketing manager of Taste of Terroir who invited us

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Imibala Restaurant & Deli, Somerset West

We ate some lovely food this week at a new restaurant/deli in Somerset West called Imibala. The Imibala Trust, a Gaynor Rupert philanthropic initiative started 15 years ago, is a charity that provides scholarships, uniforms and supplementary educational training to children in financial need. They ask donors to give a child R1000 and every penny of this is spent on the child and is accounted for. The Imibala Restaurant and Arts (Pty) Ltd is a company that runs a restaurant, shop and gallery and this company's activities are separate from the activities conducted by the Imibala Trust. It is the income from these businesses that supports the charity by donating funds from time to time and by hosting events for the charity

We were invited by Ian Downie, who is a member of the trust and who runs the restaurant, to join him for a delightful lunch this week with other members of the media

The outside of the Imibala Restaurant and Deli. Imibala means colours in Zulu

Inside the restaurant, the Deli is on one side. They sell local produce and have a link with a company called Terra Madre who make products for the Deli. We saw some very nice looking take home meals and some good pickles and preserves

Comfortable seats, light and airy and lots of outside space for good days

Ian Downie, Restaurant manager par excellence. We know Ian from the International Wine and Food Society

The media table

Everyone was encouraged to order both a starter and a main course. These are prawn and fish cakes with tartar source

The very crisp deep fried calamari were envied by all

The simple country salad for a vegetarian guest was well dressed

Steak, chips and a garlic aioli

A quinoa, corn and cheese salad looked delicious

Lynne had the avo, smoked trout tian, topped with chopped egg and onion and salmon caviar, Very light and fresh, just what she wanted. You can have this as a main course as well.

Thinly sliced lamb on fried aubergine slices

Beer battered fish and chips

A classic steak sandwich, the French bread was lined with toasted cheese

Stuffed chicken with a chick pea salad

John’s main was a springbok shank pie, so enormous even he struggled to finish it

Great pastry

The deli also has a good selection of freshly made cakes and bread and other treats, like fudge

So much to choose from

Pickles, preserves, sauces and biscuits

A selection of desserts was ordered for the table and we all tried them. This was a rose panna cotta topped with Turkish delight, raspberries , pistachio nuts and crisp tuille biscuits

A classic crème brulée

The cheese platter

A Dacquoise: hazelnuts, meringue and cream in layers, served with raspberries and a crème Anglaise

The booze trolley. This can provide almost any drink you desire

Loud applause for chef Nicole Dupper and the restaurant manageress

Catching up and waiting for coffee. A lovely experience, thank you all at Imibala

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

PR-Net Trade’s Tourism and Hospitality exhibition at the Cape Sun

This was held at the Cape Sun this week and we had a chance to listen to a presentation by Enver Duminy, Head of Cape Town Tourism, with his innovative strategy for tourism in our great city. We also met several new tourism people on their stands and did a lot of networking. We hope to visit some of these areas and places soon and write about them

A very friendly Anika de Goede of Hermanuspietersfontein Winery told us all about the new winemaker and the wines and their cottages in Stanford

An old friend, Martina Barth, who represents the Vineyard Hotel and the Oude Werf Hotel in Stellenbosch, with Chantelle Philander and Crystal Hendricks

Brian Berkman, organiser of the event, gets proceedings going

GM of Cape Sun Jacques Moolman making the announcement that Tsogo Sun have agreed to spend R200 million on a complete refurbishment of the Cape Sun. It so needs it

Tony Romer-Lee, head of PMR Hospitality reminisced about Liz McGrath, the recently deceased, well-respected owner of The Collection hotel group for whom he worked for several years

A large audience

Cape Town Tourism CEO, Enver Duminy telling us about his 10 point strategy for publicising our beautiful city

We try to practice many of these strategies when we write about the Cape and what it has to offer

The Cape Whale Coast - destination marketing for the Overstrand: Hangklip, Kleinmond, Hermanus, Stanford & Gansbaai. Joanne Kunz was charming and amusing, and gave us lots of information about an area we know well and visit often. She told us of a beach walk in the Gansbaai area with a marine expert and, as we plan to be there at the end of April, we certainly will get more information on this. We absolutely love beachcombing

We learnt about De Zeekoe Guest Farm, Reserve and venue in Oudtshoorn from Adri, who had us in stitches - a huge personality and very enjoyable. It is on our list of places to visit one day soon

Nice to meet you!

Lynne with the girls from Around About Car Hire

Newmark Hotels’ stand was ably manned by Waleed Taliep and Angelique Engelbrecht. They have the V&A hotel, The Victoria and the Dock House Private Hotel in the V&A Waterfront as well as Motswari Private Game Reserve in Limpopo

The surfer girl from Stoked School of Surf, Claudia Hopkins – should you wish to learn how to surf. They take you to the beach with the best waves on the day of your lesson. And they have weekend surf camps

Brian and the team saying goodbye. It was a good evening. Some of the posher foreign venues were not very forthcoming with information, or welcoming, but the "locals" certainly were full of advice, information and friendliness. Others tables we visited that we can’t wait to contact are the West Coast National Park and the Cape West Coast Way, who offered to plan a road trip. Also Oudtshoorn Tourism, when we do another trip via Calitzdorp, Oudtshoorn and Knysna

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015