Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Breakfast at Café ExtraBlatt, Green Point

Waking up early on Winter mornings is difficult; you want to sleep longer, but you have to address the day. We like a lie-in at least once a week and we realised that we could then go out and have someone else cook us breakfast. Café ExtraBlatt in Main Road, Green Point was our choice this week
They turned out to be very popular because of the Breakfast buffet which is available every Saturday morning. On Sundays, they have brunch for R139.90 from 09h00 to 14h00.
It is very spacious, and there are more tables on the verandah. Lots of people were celebrating birthdays, and there was a large group doing a baby shower. We suspect, as they are right opposite the Cape Town Stadium where many walking running and cycle races are started, that they get lots of customers after the races have finished
They have a chef making the eggs to order and several tables for the Buffet food. Service was quite friendly and reasonably efficient
You can have a healthy start,
even have a salad
Croissants and rolls
Cold meats
and cheeses
and help yourself to the ingredients of a more conventional cooked breakfast
We know that we could never do the buffet breakfast justice, so we usually order off the menu
For our German friends and those who love German food, we found this on the normal menu. A place to go if you are missing German food. Even Currywurst..
We ordered two black coffees and they come with a tiny biscuit
Lynne went for the Eggs Benedict. They get zero points for presentation. However, the flavours were good and that meant that, for taste, it scored higher. Two slices of white toast (you can order brown) or pay extra for a different bread) some spam ham, and two poached eggs, one perfectly done, the other overcooked and very small. The Hollandaise was good and coated the eggs well. The flick of salad was a token. Lynne enjoyed it.
John ordered the German Farmer’s breakfast. A turned-over omelette containing fried potato and onions, with bacon, German mustard, some gherkin slices and a similar flick of salad. This came with good sourdough bread, which John had with some marmalade (R6.90 surcharge) afterwards, with another coffee

Our bill. Quite reasonable
Posted by MENU at 6:45 pm 0 comments

"The Perfect Share" offering at Den Anker

Den Anker in the V&A Waterfront has a winter special which runs until the end of September, which you might like to try. They invited us to sample it this week. A nice touch is that R10 from each meal is donated to the Elundini School in Dunoon
It was another of those lovely Champagne winter days in the Cape. After a really welcome and long rainy period, it was nice to enjoy a bit of sunshine and warmth
The restaurant was preparing for the Belgium vs Brazil match that evening, so the bunting was being strung up (Belgium won, so we presume that their beer sales were commensurate with the excitement)
We were shown to a lovely table by the window
with one of the best views in town
It was interesting to watch this boat accompanying a diver who was working in the harbour
They brought us rolls and butter
We decided to go for the steak special. Lynne is not the greatest fan of mussels although those at Den Anker are really special. We were served this 600g Sirloin on the bone, which was very well seasoned. It came with a large portion of their excellent, thin and crisp French fries (frites in Belgium) and four different sauces. Mustard sauce, creamy mushroom, pepper sauce and some mayonnaise for the frites (which is how they serve them in Belgium)
We also had the Den Anker Belgian draught house beer - Anker Brew - with our meal. After the bone and the fat is cut off the sirloin, it was a tad small for sharing, You might just want one all to yourself! They flame cook the meat on the grill, so the outside is seared well, and the inside is quite rare. Perhaps a rump might go further? Our favourite sauce was definitely the pepper sauce, but the others are also very good. Do go and sample the special for yourselves. If you don't want beer, you can choose a glass of Jordan's Chameleon white or red wine
Posted by MENU at 6:42 pm 0 comments

Thursday, July 05, 2018

This Week’s MENU. The Food Barn; Taste of Tyger Valley; Iberian Exploit 15. Return to Porto and Cape Town; Sweet Corn Pudding; Benguela Cove Sauvignon blanc

The Ponte Luis I, designed by Gustave Eiffel, connects Porto on the North Bank of the Douro River to Vila
Nova de Gaia on the South Bank. Trains run on the upper span; pedestrians, buses and cars use the lower
Trust the politicians….to take advantage of a situation and mess it up. We’ve had some wonderfully rainy days in the last two weeks, not nearly enough to start talking about everything being fine; the dams are, on average, at about 41.6% of capacity and we need at least another two months of the sort of rain we have just seen to allow us to stop being ultra-careful. But now we hear them starting to talk about easing restrictions, wanting us to feel good about them, as if they had anything to do with a natural phenomenon! Still, it has been good to see the pond filling up. Winter is here in no small measure. The mountains and uplands are covered in snow and Instagram is full of photographs of people playing in it, making snowmen and doing all the silly things we do when a rare occurrence happens. It was strange to see a picture in this morning’s paper of a bemused lion standing in a snow spattered landscape. We hope that the snow will add a good level to the water in the dams when it melts… We think you’ll enjoy this week’s articles

Pensioners' lunch at The Food Barn    
The Food Barn in Noordhoek is running some winter special so we went with friends to sample the Pensioners Lunch last Friday; very good value at R175 for two courses with a carafe of wine. They do have other specials (not only for pensioners) so check out their website to see what is on offer. We had a great time despite it being one of the wettest days last week. See our whole story here…

The Taste of Tyger Valley Wine Show    
Saturday saw us at Tyger Valley Shopping Centre at their wine festival. Lots of different farms, some we have never heard of before, others whom you don't often see at festivals and some favourites. Montpellier in Tulbagh ….

MENU's Iberian Exploit 15. Return to Porto and home to Cape Town     
It was time to leave Madrid and head back to Portugal. We left early in the morning of May 6th, as we had several hours drive ahead of us. At lunchtime, we stopped in the small town of Ciudad Rodrigo near the border which is the last stop at which we could buy petrol in Spain, where it is much cheaper than in Portugal and we were after some lunch. Well, we got the petrol....

Lynne cooked Belly of Pork last weekend and decided that we needed to try it with a new starch. She had some sweet corn cobs and thought that turning them into a savoury pudding might just be a great idea. Click here for the recipe she used
MENU’s Wine of the Week. Benguela Cove Sauvignon blanc 2017   
This newly released 2017 Sauvignon Blanc knocked Lynne's socks off. It has a little Semillon added, which just marries perfectly and adds depth, smoothness and richness. So attractively perfumed on the nose with elderflowers, white pepper and fig leaves. On the palate it is smooth as silk with zingy citrus and lime acids, and long flavours. To quaff or pair with good food

5th July 2018

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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. 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. 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


Posted by MENU at 10:30 pm 0 comments

This Week’s MENU Recipe. Sweet Corn Pudding

Lynne cooked a Belly of Pork this weekend and decided that we needed to try this with a new starch. She had some sweet corn cobs and thought turning them into a savoury pudding might just be a great idea

Here is the recipe she used. It makes enough for four generous servings. You could double up for a dinner party or a braai. Just cut off the kernels from the cobs or use frozen corn. If you have very sweet corn on the cob, you might want to lessen the sugar. But not all corn is sweet and this needs some sweetness.  Use a sharp cheese, like cheddar. If you want this a bit spicy add a couple of bottled Jalapeno chillies, diced.

2 medium eggs - 125 ml milk – 30 ml melted butter– ½ t salt and ½ t pepper – a dash or two of Tabasco chilli sauce – 40 ml brown sugar – 60 ml flour – 250g fresh or frozen sweet corn kernels – a cup of diced fresh red pepper - 125 ml breadcrumbs – 65 ml grated cheese
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Grease an oven proof casserole. Whisk the eggs, milk and melted butter together in a large mixing bowl. Add the seasoning and the Tabasco. Stir in the sugar and stir till dissolved. Sift in the flour slowly, making sure it is all incorporated with no lumps. Stir in the sweet corn and the red pepper and then pour the mixture into your casserole. Mix the breadcrumbs with the cheese and sprinkle over the corn mixture. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until you have a nice golden brown and crisp topping
Posted by MENU at 9:50 pm 0 comments

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Benguela Cove Sauvignon blanc 2017


This newly released 2017 Sauvignon Blanc knocked Lynne's socks off
It has a little Semillon added, which just marries perfectly and adds depth, smoothness and richness. So attractively perfumed on the nose with elderflowers, white pepper and fig leaves. On the palate it is smooth as silk with zingy citrus and lime acids, and long flavours. To quaff or pair with good food

Posted by MENU at 8:27 pm 0 comments

The Taste of Tyger Valley Wine Show

Saturday saw as at Tyger Valley Shopping Centre at their wine festival. Lots of different farms, some we have never heard of before, others whom you don't often see at festivals and some favourites
Montpellier in Tulbagh had an MCC Brut Rosé bubbly made from Pinot Noir which is where John began. Typical Pinot flavours, lots of mousse, crisp fruit acids and very fizzy ferment. Three years on the lees
  Danèl Morkel, their Marketing Manager was showing their wines
Some of the others available for tasting or buying on the day. We tasted the Chenin and the Sauvignon blanc which is crisp with good minerality (from Elim grapes) but needs time
 Our old friends Peter and Yvonne Bayly from Calitzdorp ith their ports which we really enjoy. Peter had made up a jug of White Port and Tonic; this is such a good aperitif or thirst quencher, we can see it becoming very popular. We bought a couple of bottles to serve to our friends
Le Pommier was originally an apple farm, hence the name of this farm high on Helshoogte Pass in Stellenbosch. Known for the restaurant and Lodge, their wines are made by Zorgvliet
Lynne really liked their Cabernet Franc Rosé which sells for a rather steep R85. They have already released their 2018 Sauvignon blanc; it's very early and we much preferred the 2017, a Platter 4 star
Orange River Cellars winery from the Northern Cape were there showing a range their wine, many of which are sweet dessert wines and Port. They have 850 growers
 Monique van der Merwe 
was on the Imbuko stand. They are in Wellington, where they grow and they also buy in wines from others. They have several ranges and they make Alcopops. Lynne tasted their Van Zijl wines and loved the salty Sauvignon Blanc full and round with lots of minerality, which accounts for the salt which one associated more with the Durbanville area. So reasonable at R55 a bottle, she bought a case. And the Shiraz Mourvedre is spicy, smooth, full of fruit with licorice and more of that salt, Yum oh! as Rick Stein says, so she had to have a case of that too. A new discovery for us
 Chris Noboza and Neil Ferndale on the Glenwood stand selling lots of wine
 Michelle Waldeck on the Benguela Cove stand in Bot Rivier
 with Marketing Manager Samarie Smith 
Their newly released 2017 Sauvignon Blanc knocked Lynne's socks off.  It has a little Semillon added, which just marries perfectly and adds depth, smoothness and richness. So attractively perfumed on the nose with elderflowers, white pepper and fig leaves. On the palate it is smooth as silk with zingy citrus and lime acids, and long flavours.  To quaff or pair with good food. It is our wine of the week.
  Bronwynne Mooney on the Morgenster stand which also had their olive oils and olives to taste
 Regina and Marie-Luise Zeitvogel were showing their three gins made by Rolf Zeitvogel at the Triple Three Estate Distillery which is on Blaauwklippen Wine Farm. They were offering three different gin cocktails from their three flavoured gins. Lynne chose the citrus and it is very good indeed
These were the wines we tasted at the show. We can never taste everything and we don't try to
Posted by MENU at 7:11 pm 0 comments
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