Pork and Beer at The Hoghouse, Ndabeni

It is always fascinating when a chef changes his style diametrically. We have seen it before; a classically trained French style chef goes to the Far East and is enchanted by the wonderful array of Asian produce and spices. Or a chef realises how negative his impact on our world is and changes to greener, locally sourced foods produced with care and respect. PJ Vadas is one such chef who has changed direction. He is well known and lauded for his excellent, innovative gourmet food when at The Round House and then at Vergelegen, where he has delighted us. His about turn has taken him to barbecue foods and craft beer and, on Wednesday night, we went to see what he is now up to. It is a very positive move

There are two Hoghouses, one in Stellenbosch on Spier and the one we went to in Ndabeni, on the way to Pinelands. It is at 42 Morningside Street and, if you know where Ellie’s or Merrypak are, you know the neighbourhood. You go through security gates where you will be met by Lucky who will show you to parking and you probably do need to book. Phone: 021 810 4545 http://hhbc.co.za/

A brewery needs a lot of space, so the restaurant and Brewery are in a large warehouse building

Outside is the ' train' - it is actually a portable barbecue known as The Hog. Which means they can take barbecue to your special bookings. To quote them re barbecue: "It is a noun, not a verb. You do not BBQ meat; you smoke it until it becomes BBQ. And it is not a meal so much as a meditative process, perched somewhere between science and art"

There are tables downstairs and the bar

Chef PJ Vadas in his kitchen kingdom

You get a view of the brewery from upstairs

They have just been awarded their licence. These are some of the spirits offerings

We shared a table upstairs

And spotted some wine/food friends across the room - the crew from Vergenoegd!

This is a meat eater’s place, they even have a bronzed warthog skull

You can taste all four ales for R32 ....

.... or order a pint or a half pint - in metric of course. This was the Warthog IPA , full of bitter orange flavours with a bit of sweetness, very quaffable and refreshing. Dr Tom Nowicki is the Brewing Director. They currently have five signature ales: an African Pale Ale, Saison, Porter, IPA, and Amber Ale

Firewood is fuel

Beverage Director/Sommelier Joakim Hansi Blackadder brings his talented palate to the creative and quality management at the Brewery"

We moved tables to enable a large group to share one

And so to the food. This was the order of the 3 girls on our table and gave us an idea of portion sizes and what we fancied

Anne and Lynne shared this tray. Top left cauliflower with goats’ cheese, capers, shiitake mushrooms and almonds, buttermilk fried chicken, brisket burnt ends, pickled cucumber and spare ribs. The dishes come in 100g portions, as they do in the USA. You can order more. This was plenty for two hungry lasses, some went home in a doggie bag. We also shared a portion of the moreish chips

John had ordered 200 g of pulled pork so he received two; next time we will know. And a portion of the very best crisp chips, which come with a truffle aioli. The food has lots of flavour, it is tender, the chicken had a great crisp coating

The beverage menu

The Hoghouse Barbecue menu. There is mostly meat, but there are quite a few interesting snacks and side dishes

And some desserts. We did not have any room. Perhaps next time

The bill with service. We will be back

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Subscribe to MENU

Superb pairings at Tracy van Maaren trade wine tasting at Auslese

Why are we telling you about a trade wine show you probably will never be invited to? Because it showcased some really excellent wines and some amazing food pairings by Chef Harald Bresselschmidt at Aubergine and we think you should know about them, as it might give you some constructive ideas and some good wine suggestions. Tracy represents an excellent range of wine farms and, this year, there were a couple of new ones.

The tasting was from 3 to 7

Elsie Pels CWM with her range of fine wine glassware, Signature Crystal from Bohemia. Should you be interested in purchasing some, you can contact her on 076 942 5412 elsie@signaturecrystalglassware.com

It is always great to start with a bubble and John Loubser's Silverthorn range of MCCs is eminently suitable. His Jewel Box, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, was paired with two different oysters

The Genie, a salmon pink rosé MCC made from Shiraz, which has notes of roses and Turkish delight, was matched with superb quality tuna and flaked salt. We could also taste The Green Man, a classic Blanc de Blanc from Chardonnay, fast becoming a favourite of ours

It was a very good turnout of sommeliers, restaurateurs, hoteliers, wine shop owners and wine media

These small Fromage blanc and red pepper tarts were matched with the Eagle’s Nest 2015 Viognier which is full of ripe peaches and butter with hints of wood on the end. The peppers fought a bit with the delicate flavours of the wine

To pair with the spicy and rich Eagle’s Nest Shiraz, air dried slices of springbok sprinkled with dark chocolate and some kale puree. The puree did not excite, the springbok was superb

This was a very clever pairing. Catherine Marshall's Clay Soils 2013 Pinot Noir with a crisp broccoli tempura, earthy creamy mushroom parfait and a saffron sabayon were delightful together - it is a really great Pinot Noir

as is her Sandstone 2015 Pinot Noir, rich with raspberries served with coq au vin on pak choi with a raspberry vinaigrette

Ginny Povall of Botanica Wines is a new addition to Tracy's excellent list of wine farms and this pairing of her Fire Lily straw wine n/v with the pork and prawn dumplings in a sticky sauce was inspired

Her labels are beautiful botanical references. The Arboretum 2014, a four way Bordeaux blend was complemented by the fried ostrich tartare topped with salted capers and good mayonnaise

Vriesenhof showed three of their best red wines. The 2014 Pinot Noir is elegant and always a great food wine. Lynne says they should have a spray of truffle oil at all tastings, it goes so well with these wines. This pairing was a seared duck slice on a polenta cube topped with a red cabbage square. Sadly, cabbage does not do much for Pinot Noir, but it could be removed

And this was Lynne's wine of the week and also her best pairing of the day. The lamb rump had been cooked perfectly and was in tender slices with herb notes, rather like a good Sunday lunch. The wine, the Vriesenhof 2014 Grenache is exciting, wild and free and full of all the right fruit notes to make the lamb even more delicious

You could also taste the 2009 Grenache, lots of concentrated full rich dark fruit flavours, lovely and mature and very different from the younger version

B Vintners (Muscat) de Alexandria has the pure fresh notes of hanepoot grapes, just picked, quite lovely and lively. This is a negociant venture between cousins Gavin Bruwer Slabbert and Bruwer Raats. The pairing with rabbit livers on a flower and herb jelly was inspired. How many times have you had rabbit livers in South Africa? We need more. Iron rich, they come somewhere between chicken livers and lambs liver, very tender

Their Liberté Pinotage was paired with chicken sukiyaki with smoked fish aroma, unusual but good

Bryan MacRobert’s Steen (Chenin's old name in the Cape) is made in the Swartland and has those oxidised, almost sherry, layered flavours one has come to recognise from the new wines in the area. It was paired with beautifully thick slices of Kassler style pork loin on a parsnip puree with tarragon

The Field Blend of dense Shiraz, Mourvedre, Cinsaut and Carignan replicates many a Rhône wine tasted in Southern France. This went with Warthog croquettes, which were quite a tasty mouthful. A winery to watch

Then it was time for the Raats wines, which never fail to impress and excite. Bruwer's 2014 Red Jasper Cab Franc led Bordeaux blend is ripe and ready and went so well with the Beef Brisket with potatoes

But the best match was the cold vichyssoise velouté with prosciutto flakes and pesto. paired with the Old Vine Chenin Blanc which is a superb expression of the grape, this is Bruwer's skill showing. Multilayered flavours of apple and cream, crisp citrus, ginger and floral perfume. Our favourite Chenin of the evening

In the busy prep kitchen which kept turning out food non-stop all evening

Tessa and Hans Hugo having fun

Remington Norman at the Eagle’s Nest counter

Maggie Mostert, chef Harald Bresselschmidt and Hennie Coetzee

Jan Laubser and Anel Grobler with Andrew Chicorimbo

Discussing the wines

Bruwer Raats

Chef Harald with Michael Pownall

Richard Kershaw in deep discussion. His superb Elgin Syrah and Chardonnay are a delight

Jan Boland Coetzee with Chef Harald

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Subscribe to MENU

Classes in culinary arts for kids kick off at The Table Bay

Following the super success of the cooking workshops for kids in 2015, The Table Bay’s Executive Chef Jocelyn Myers-Adams, will be hosting monthly classes in culinary arts for emerging young cooks from April to November 2016. Mini Chefs will get to work side by side with Myers-Adams for two inspiring hours while learning some special tricks of the trade. Each two hour Mini Chefs class is an interactive learning experience that gives children between 5 and 12 years of age the opportunity to develop a life-long love for the culinary arts, whilst celebrating South Africa’s rich culinary heritage. Each month, the children will prepare something different based on a theme which is aligned with the seasons or a special occasion. They will be assisted by Myers-Adams and a dedicated minder, and will get to take home what they have prepared. 

Mini Chefs takes place in The Table Bay’s Atlantic at 12h30 on scheduled Saturdays. The cost is R300 per child.

Mini Chefs dates and themes for 2016:

Saturday, 30th April        Breakfast spoils for mom / Buttermilk and oat crumpets topped with maple syrup, butter and beef sausages

Saturday, 21st May Chicken time / Chicken mayo roosterkoek, Tannie Rose’s pumpkin fritters with cinnamon cream

Saturday, 4th June Traditionally South African / Chicken Breyani, Chef Bobby’s koeksisters                                  

Saturday, 2nd July Warming winter / Tomato beef bredie, our famous hertzoggies

Saturday, 6th August        Easy as pie / Chicken pot pie, Gloria’s apple fritters with vanilla cream

Saturday, 3rd September  What’s in the oven / Banana bread, wild garlic rolls and mosbolletjies                                           

Saturday, 1st October      Oodles of Noodles / Whole wheat spaghetti, rocky road oats

Saturday, 5th November  Foraging garden visit / Special lettuce wraps, Oscar’s chocolate brownies. 

Booking is essential. To book, please email: TableBayDining@suninternational.com or call: 021 406 5988

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Subscribe to MENU

This Week's MENU: Wildekrans, Beaumont, Luddite, Manny's Seafood in Bot River, Benguela Cove, La Vierge, Newton Johnson, Spanakopita, Forrester Meinert FMC

A blue headed agama lizard (bloukop koggelmander) basking in the sun

  In this week’s MENU:

 Relaxing at Wildekrans

 Bottles and seafood in Botrivier

 Hemel and Aarde for lunch and a little wine tasting

 This week’s recipe: Greek Spanakopita Easter pie

 Wine of the Week: Forrester Meinert Chenin

 Coming events

To get the whole story with photographs, please click on the paragraph title, which will lead you there. At the end of each story, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to MENU.

Relaxing at Wildekrans     We had a lovely weekend away re-discovering the Bot River valley. We were invited to come and stay at Wildekrans by owner Amanda Harlow when we met her and farm manager/viticulturist Braam Gericke last year at the Green Wine Awards. They received the Best Farming Practice Award, Leadership in Community Development and for Best Value IPW for their 2015 Sauvignon Blanc. With busy schedules and lots of overseas visitors this year, it took a while before we could take up the invitation, but we had a lovely weekend staying in their cottages Read on to see the farm

Bottles and seafood in Botrivier     As we were in Botrivier, we thought we would visit some of our wine friends in the area. We had just received an email from Beaumont telling us about their new releases and we had been meaning to visit Penny and Niels Verburg at Luddite for ages. Appointments were made during the week and off we set on Saturday morning. Lunch was to be at Manny’s 'on the plein' in Botrivier - a Portuguese restaurant with great sea food, we were told More here, with photos

Off to Hemel and Aarde for lunch and a little wine tasting     We checked out of Wildekrans on Sunday morning and had intended to visit Barton, a farm which we have wanted to visit for a long time, but we have never managed to be there at the right time. They are on the road just outside Botrivier, but we discovered that they are closed on Sundays. So off we went to visit Benguela Cove. They had invited us to their new wine release event a couple of weeks before, but we were unable to attend. So, where better to go on a Sunday morning. Then, still being early for our lunch booking at The Restaurant at Newton Johnson, we made a call at La Vierge. It was an expensive weekend, we bought wine at four farms. The lunch which followed was superb. Read on to see the places and the food

Please drive safely     When we left Wildekrans on Saturday morning, heading for the Hermanus market, we came past one of the worst traffic accidents we have ever seen. Horrendous and shocking. Please do be careful on our roads, you never know when your life may change disastrously. Courtesy and politeness may save lives, dangerous speed and impatience won’t

This week's Recipe     This makes a very large pie for a celebration dinner or party. You can halve the recipe to make a family pie. Please try to use real spinach, it gives the right flavour. You could use Swiss Chard if you like but leave out the thick stems. You will need to cook it first and drain it well then chop it very fine. The secret of this pie is the well drained spinach. If you have any filo left at the end, you can refreeze it safely.

Greek Spanakopita Easter pie

1 to 2 T extra virgin olive oil - 1 large onion - 2 garlic cloves - 825g frozen spinach (NOT creamed), defrosted and drained of all water - 3 T fresh dill, chopped - 1 teaspoon oregano, fresh or dried or a mix of both – 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice - Zest of one lemon - 350g feta, crumbled - 150g ricotta cheese - 6 eggs, lightly beaten - 1 box frozen filo pastry, defrosted - 1 cup of melted butter - salt and freshly ground black pepper - optional: nutmeg

Make sure your spinach is defrosted and well drained, press out any residual moisture, you might like to start this about an hour before you use it

Set your oven to 180 ⁰C. You will need a large round pan or dish approximately 30 cm across and 5 cm deep. Butter it well. Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in some of the olive oil until soft, but not browned. Cool slightly. In a large bowl add the onion mixture and stir in the spinach, dill, oregano, lemon juice and zest. Then add the beaten eggs, and both the cheeses. Mix well so that everything is incorporated. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. You can add a good scraping of nutmeg which goes so well with the spinach, if you like.

Now to assemble the pie. Open your box of filo and roll out the filo. Cover it with a damp but not wet tea towel to prevent it cracking. Remove one sheet and, using a pastry brush, cover it all over one side with melted butter. Lay it in the pan, buttered side up, with the edges hanging over the sides. Do another sheet but lay it at about a 50° angle across the tin so that you have full coverage, and do the same with the next sheets. Do this until you have a layer of five sheets of filo. Carefully pour the spinach mixture into the pan. Now cover the top with another five sheets of buttered filo, laid in a wheel. Then pull up all the ragged edges and lay them on top of the pie in a fairly jumbled loose mess. Take another sheet of buttered filo and rumple it up and put into the centre of the pie, so that you have lots of edges to crisp up. Dot the top of the pie with any remaining melted butter.  Put into the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the filo is nice and crisp and golden on top. Serve in slices, hot or cool

Wine of the week: Forrester Meinert Chenin     

Spinach is not very good with wine, as it can taste a little metallic. However any full ripe wines like a good crisp Chenin Blanc with a little bottle age and some wood work well with this and the cheese. For special occasions we love the zesty and full elegance of the Ken Forrester FMC (Officially Forrester Meinert Chenin, but Ken refers to it as EFF..ing Marvellous Chenin) with its layers of fruit which sing on your palate. Current vintage is 2013 and it sells for R449 a bottle from the farm,  For everyday drinking, have a look at another favourite which has similarities, Ken's Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2015, R110 on the farm.

Food Fact: Do you know what this kitchen implement is for? 

Spear half an onion with it, and cut between the spokes and then across for perfectly cut onion in half the time, and no cut fingers. You can also just make slices.

We are going to be at the Pinotage and Biltong festival, which will take place over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of April on L'Avenir Estate in Stellenbosch. Book your tickets now, they are selling fast. It’s a great festival with some really good Pinotages which will be paired with Joubert and Monty's biltong.

The Wolftrap Steakhouse Championships     During the month of April anyone can vote for their favourite steakhouse, via Facebook and SMS, and stand a chance to win fabulous prizes of The Wolftrap wines.

So please cast YOUR vote, and please spread the news to get the public voting like crazy, via www.facebook.com/SteakHunter and SMS 32845

7th April 2016

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.

If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio

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.

Subscribe to MENU

MENU's Wine of the Week: Forrester Meinert FMC

Spinach is not very good with wine, as it can taste a little metallic. However any full ripe wines like a good crisp Chenin Blanc with a little bottle age and some wood work well with this and the cheese. For special occasions we love the zesty and full elegance of the Ken Forrester FMC (Officially Forrester Meinert Chenin, but Ken refers to it as EFF..ing Marvellous Chenin) with its layers of fruit which sing on your palate. Current vintage is 2013 and it sells for R449 a bottle from the farm,  For everyday drinking, have a look at another favourite which has similarities, Ken's Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2015, R110 on the farm

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Subscribe to MENU

This week's MENU Recipe: Greek Spanakopita Easter pie

This makes a very large pie for a celebration dinner or party. You can halve the recipe to make a family pie. Please try to use real spinach, it gives the right flavour. You could use Swiss Chard if you like but leave out the thick stems. You will need to cook it first and drain it well then chop it very fine. The secret of this pie is the well drained spinach. If you have any filo left at the end, you can refreeze it safely.

Greek Spanakopita Easter pie

1 to 2 T extra virgin olive oil - 1 large onion - 2 garlic cloves - 825g frozen spinach (NOT creamed), defrosted and drained of all water - 3 T fresh dill, chopped - 1 teaspoon oregano, fresh or dried or a mix of both – 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice - Zest of one lemon - 350g feta, crumbled - 150g ricotta cheese - 6 eggs, lightly beaten - 1 box frozen filo pastry, defrosted - 1 cup of melted butter - salt and freshly ground black pepper - optional: nutmeg

Make sure your spinach is defrosted and well drained, press out any residual moisture, you might like to start this about an hour before you use it

Set your oven to 180 ⁰C. You will need a large round pan or dish approximately 30 cm across and 5 cm deep. Butter it well. Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry in some of the olive oil until soft, but not browned. Cool slightly. In a large bowl add the onion mixture and stir in the spinach, dill, oregano, lemon juice and zest. Then add the beaten eggs, and both the cheeses. Mix well so that everything is incorporated. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. You can add a good scraping of nutmeg which goes so well with the spinach, if you like.

Now to assemble the pie. Open your box of filo and roll out the filo. Cover it with a damp but not wet tea towel to prevent it cracking. Remove one sheet and, using a pastry brush, cover it all over one side with melted butter. Lay it in the pan, buttered side up, with the edges hanging over the sides. Do another sheet but lay it at about a 50° angle across the tin so that you have full coverage, and do the same with the next sheets. Do this until you have a layer of five sheets of filo. Carefully pour the spinach mixture into the pan. Now cover the top with another five sheets of buttered filo, laid in a wheel. Then pull up all the ragged edges and lay them on top of the pie in a fairly jumbled loose mess. Take another sheet of buttered filo and rumple it up and put into the centre of the pie, so that you have lots of edges to crisp up. Dot the top of the pie with any remaining melted butter.  Put into the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the filo is nice and crisp and golden on top. Serve in slices, hot or cool

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Subscribe to MENU
Greek Spanakopita Easter pie