Bottega Family launches their new Idiom tasting and dining venue at Da Capo, Helderberg

We have known the Bottega family for a long while, We used to sell both their Whalehaven and Idiom wines in our shop, Main Ingredient, and got to know them then as they have a house in Fresnaye and Mrs Valerie Bottega is a keen cook. Last week, we were invited to join other members of the media to see the impressive new mountain venue high up on the slopes of Sir Lowry’s Pass

The Entrance to the new building

On arrival, we were directed to the summer pavilion under the pine trees, where welcome drinks awaited us

Fig and rose geranium cordial

or glasses of Italian Giusti Brut Prosecco

Mr Alberto Bottega welcomed us to Da Capo vineyards. The Bottega Family own Da Capo Vineyards in Sir Lowry's Pass (Wine of Origin Stellenbosch, but they are actually on the far side of Somerset West!) where Idiom wines is situated, and Whalehaven Winery in Hermanus. The road to the venue winds up and up fairly steep mountain roads through countryside, farmland and vineyards until you get to the top. The railway line to Elgin and beyond snakes up the pass just below the farm

The views in every direction are superb. Adamastor sleeps

It was a rather misty day, but you could still see Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak in the distance

We then walked to the lookout deck, where weddings can be held

A quiet sheltered place to have a picnic from the planned deli under the lapa

The Helderberg (Clear mountain)

The tasting room

The new restaurant interior

We learn more about the centre

Local mountain stone was used to build the lower Roman style arches with a modern tower, the top is all modern steel and glass and traditional woodwork

Sculptures by artist Lionel Smit are in many spots around the venue

More stunning vignettes

Architect Thomas Leach explains his vision and his brief

Alberto Bottega's son, Roberto Bottega, promotes the wine portfolio globally and has championed the development of the Idiom Tasting Room & Restaurant with his father

Full view of the centre with a proud Alberto Bottega

Canapés of duck liver paté

Cream cheese, sundried tomato on cheese shortbread

Smoked salmon with salmon caviar

A table laid to illustrate a possible wedding arrangement

And another. They also have a large conference area below the restaurant

Time for lunch - The menu

We take our seats. It is quite a noisy echoing room for conversation with the concrete floor and open rafters. They need to add fabrics and insulation to soften the sound

Wine is poured and the speeches start

At its helm is a 5 star team who have joined from various luxury properties. Hamish Hofmeyr, working closely with the owner Alberto Bottega, son Roberto and daughter Silvana, leads the new venue as General Manager after an eight year stint as GM of The Marine in Hermanus, where he managed two restaurants and the Relais & Châteaux boutique hotel

The amuse bouche arrives

Three crisp panko and spice encrusted prawns on a scrape of avocado purée with dragon fruit squares and a dot or two of light wasabi aioli. It was paired with the rather woody Idiom Viognier, which begins with lovely peach notes

The starter was a little controversial. Not everyone is willing to eat a tartare. This was a chunky Impala tartare, topped with a quail egg yolk. It was on top of a slice of Kudu Carpaccio and under the bed of rocket nested a small sliver of seared warthog. There was also some chestnut  purée on the plate. Served with the Idiom Sangiovese, full of wild berry fruits, plums and rhubarb; an excellent pairing

Huge beams support the ceiling, all joined by accurately cut mortise and tenon joints secured with wooden pegs. Not a nail in sight

Daughter Silvana is the Creative Director and is working on sensory experiences at the venue and the art, sculptures and with perfumer Tammy Fraser developed a Perfume du Vin

Main course was a large portion of beef fillet on smoked mushrooms, fondant potatoes, carrots and a Cabernet jus. This was paired with their Classic Cape Blend

Chef Irwin de Vries has worked at Morukuru’s Athol Place in Johannesburg and Sir Richard Branson’s Ulusaba Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sand Reserve

Dessert was another small challenge, being a Rooibos Tea Panna cotta served with a peach compote and set on an almond sponge. Rooibos is another of those flavours like fresh coriander that challenge the taste buds of almost half of the population. This was served with a small glass of Imperium White Gold, their limited edition Viognier Natural sweet wine

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

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New chef and menu at Mondiall, V&A Waterfront

Patrick Symington is the owner of Mondiall Kitchen and Bar in the Waterfront and he invited us and a few other media people to come and sample the food of his new chef Stephen Mandes, their new Autumn/Winter menu and see their fresh new look. We had a lovely relaxed lunch in this waterside venue with some of the best views in Cape Town

The entrance and front desk on a sunny day

The main restaurant. It has become less industrial, more warm with the wood cladding, bookcases and plants, rugs and fireplaces

Some Champagne riddling boards used as decor. This is the original method of riddling champagne bottles to get the yeast into the neck of the bottle so that it could be removed. Each bottle is turned and raised just a small amount each day

A dividing wall of glass and greenery in the conservatory section

On fine days, the windows slide back to open up the restaurant

The new Autumn/Winter menu, quite varied and concise with a very good varied selection to tempt everyone, including vegetarians and people on gluten free diets. http://www.mondiall.co.za/

We had some lovely wines to accompany lunch

A small sample selection of some of the starters. At the top left, especially if you are Banting or vegetarian - roasted and creamed cauliflower with crisp parmesan tuilles, pesto and sundried tomatoes. Below from the left: A mini version of an almost Waldorf Salad with blue cheese, apple and walnuts on crisp leaves of endive (chicory )[one to return for]; a morsel of the crispy ham hock topped with celeriac remoulade and apple purée - good contrasts; a crisp wonton filled unexpectedly, not with Chinese flavours but with rather plain smoked goats’ cheese and onion; and some classically made shellfish bisque, another favourite

Chef Stephen Mandes, only 28, was chef/proprietor of La Vierge restaurant in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley outside Hermanus for the past year, and winner of ‘Ultimate Braai Master’ Season 3 in 2014 as team Tikka Boys. He started his career at the Cape Grace Hotel, where he worked as Junior Chef de Partie before his appointment as Chef de Partie at the Belmond Mount Nelson, followed by De Grendel Restaurant, where he worked as Junior Sous Chef. In line with the emerging trend of cooking off hot coals, the Mondiall kitchen now boasts two ceramic ‘Green Eggs’

Patrick Symington with PRO Janie van der Spuy and journalist Andrew Donaldson

We were encouraged to order any main course we liked, so there was a wide selection of food that came to the table

Grilled Prawns Peri Peri with polenta chips and a chef's salad. They were in their shells with lots of heads, sweet but messy (as expected), with the spicy but not too hot Peri Peri

Cape Malay Lamb Curry with fragrant rice, sambals and a poppadom

Seared Norwegian Salmon with artichokes, radishes and a chive velouté

The Braised Beef short rib with pickled beetroot, cucumber salad and garlic buttermilk was very popular and reportedly very tender

Grilled Sea Bass, now farmed in Mauritius, served with new potatoes, shaved fennel salad and salsa verde

Dry aged grilled sirloin steak with Béarnaise sauce and parmesan truffle chips

The dessert selection of a blue cheese mousse on a fruit compote accompanied by fruit bread; salted caramel tart; and a mini banana tart tatin with milk ice cream and a maraschino cherry. A delicious lunch

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

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This week’s MENU Food Fanatics, Elgin Cool Wine & Country Food Festival, Lemon herb chicken

Trees silhouetted against the Helderberg

 In this week’s MENU:

 FOOD FANATICS NOW HAVE A VENUE, The Homestead

 A WEEKEND TASTING ELGIN – Day 1

 A WEEKEND TASTING ELGIN – Day 2

 This week's recipe. Lemon and Herb Chicken

 Wine of the week - South Hill Sauvignon blanc 2007

 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.

It has been one of those weeks. The usual busy one, but then the hurdles. Phone line down, Internet, connection abysmal, the door of our wood burning stove off, being repaired just as the cold weather kicks in, and all this while we were trying to book hotels and flights for Hong Kong. We have been invited to attend VINEXPO Hong Kong as media and we are going. This will be our third one; the previous two were in Bordeaux. It is a feast of international wine. And we are fascinated by the growth in the Asian wine market

 So you can expect another of our travelogues while we spend a week in Hong Kong and a week in northern Vietnam. What did we do before the internet and Google? It does make life so much easier. We are now investigating the street food and the best places to find it. Also looking at a tour to Ha Long Bay. Any information and good suggestions will be gratefully received

FOOD FANATICS NOW HAVE A VENUE, The Homestead     Caterers have always been our friends. We get to eat their food on a regular basis. We are happy to recommend those whose food we have enjoyed at functions and relationships have grown over the years. So it was with delight that we attended the opening of Food Fanatics new function venue in an 1820 farmhouse in Constantia Main Road this week. For many years Elaine Rousseau and her crew have been rushing all over the Cape to do functions some times 2 or 3 on one day, now she and the team can do it all from their great new venue. Check out their web site http://foodfanatics.co.za/ if you are interested in using them at the Homestead. Read On

A WEEKEND TASTING ELGIN - COOOL!     We spent the weekend at the Elgin Cool Wine & Country Food Festival and managed to fit in 7 wineries before we ran out of time and steam. It is such a lovely area to visit and here the wines do not conform to any particular style, which is refreshing. You almost never know what you are going to get. From supreme elegance and style to gentle quaffing wines, from well aged whites to stonkingly robust reds, they continue to surprise us. Read on for the first day and the second

This week's recipe. Lemon and Herb Chicken

1 onion, finely chopped - 1 T canola or grape seed oil - 1 T butter - 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped - 4 roughly crushed cloves of garlic - 2 T of finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, whatever you have in the garden or fridge) - grated rind of one lemon - juice of half a lemon - 8 skinless thigh and leg chicken joints - 1 T plain flour - 1 glass of dry white wine - 200ml good chicken stock -salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion gently in the oil and butter till soft and golden, add the celery and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic. This will fill the house with wonderful smells and will soften and cook down. Add less if you must. Continue to fry gently for 4 or 5 minutes. Dust the chicken with the flour and season well. Push the vegetables to the side and briefly brown the chicken flour side down. Then add the herbs, the lemon zest, the lemon juice and the wine and bubble quickly to reduce the wine to half. Add the stock, put on a lid and put into the oven for 40 minutes, checking once to stir, taste and adjust the seasoning and add more lemon juice if you think it needs it.  Add more liquid if necessary. When the chicken is cooked, remove and serve with the jus from the pot. We had this with carrots and courgettes cooked in stock and butter, de-podded broad beans cooked with spring onions and mint and a small baked potato each

Food fact You can cook with corked wine. The chemical TCA (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole) which makes corked wine so musty and unpleasant to drink, disappears when you cook with it. So when that expensive bottle of red or white wine turns out to be ruined, keep it for a good coq au vin or the recipe above

Wine of the week - South Hill Sauvignon blanc 2007     Unless you still have some, sadly this wonderful wine is now unobtainable. We tasted it with winemaker Sean Skibbe this weekend when he gave us a tasting of 10 years of his wines and it was amazing, it has aged so well. Still fresh, fruit driven, lively with green notes and fig leaf pyrazines and wonderfully full and rounded. We then bought a case of the newly released 2015 and are going to put it away for a few years to see what it becomes. We have high hopes. As we keep saying, drink older white wines, they do not suddenly deteriorate in a year, often they get better and better

and three older reds which show how well our wines can last when kept in good cellars

We had supper in front of a roaring fire and treated ourselves with some really good older wines.

The 1987 Nederburg Paarl Cabernet Sauvignon was a total surprise. We all expected it to be interesting when first opened and then to fade quickly. We could not have been more wrong. It was full of smooth dark cassis fruit and elegance and improved in the glass as we drank it. As Peter said, it was up there with some good French Cabernets 

The 1998 Thelema Cabernet also delighted us with its classic cassis fruit and elegance and minty flavours 

The Beaumont Mourvedre 2001 was another surprise, heavy, dark and wild; almost Italian in character, we loved it

 Who says good South African wines don't last? Not us

In Next Week’s MENU
New Idiom venue, Wade Bales’ Wine & Malt Whisky, Old Mutual Trophy Feedback, 96 Winery Road turns 20, !Khwa Ttu, Thali Thali

5th May 2016

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This week's MENU recipe. Lemon and Herb Chicken

1 onion, finely chopped - 1 T canola or grape seed oil - 1 T butter - 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped - 4 roughly crushed cloves of garlic - 2 T of finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, whatever you have in the garden or fridge) - 8 skinless thigh and leg chicken joints - 1 T plain flour - 1 glass of dry white wine - 200ml good chicken stock -salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion gently in the oil and butter till soft and golden, add the celery and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic. This will fill the house with wonderful smells and will soften and cook down. Add less if you must. Continue to fry gently for 4 or 5 minutes. Dust the chicken with the flour and season well. Push the vegetables to the side and briefly brown the chicken flour side down. Then add the herbs and the wine and bubble quickly to reduce the wine to half. Add the stock, put on a lid and put into the oven for 40 minutes, checking once to stir, taste and adjust the seasoning. Add more liquid if necessary. When the chicken is cooked, remove and serve. We had this with carrots and courgettes cooked in stock and butter, de-podded broad beans cooked with spring onions and mint and a small baked potato each

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

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