Friday, November 03, 2023

Lunch at Marthinus Ferreira's Jordan restaurant

A family friend from the UK has been visiting us and she wanted to visit Stellenbosch
So we took her to one of our favourite wine farms, Jordan, for a taste of their Cap Classique
and then lunch in their restaurant, run by talented Chef Marthinus Ferreira

At the tasting room, enjoying the crisp, zesty and very fine Cap Classique Blanc de Blancs

Lynne and Angela exploring the overseas wine purchase options for Angela

One of the best views from a Stellenbosch restaurant

The open kitchen shows busy chefs and the service was superb

Lunch offers only the three course menu and we thoroughly recommend it
It changes regularly as the dishes are fresh and seasonal

The freshly baked pot bread with caraway seed was as light as air, glazed in honey with rosemary
To dip it into is whipped, burnt lavender butter and in the center a soupçon green of mint oil, delicious
A treat was the spinach leaf and rocket salad with toasted corn and seeds, bean sprouts and parmesan cheese
in a miso dressing, topped with rice paper crisps
A lovely way to prepare one's palate for the lunch

and yet more unexpected excitement with sweet and smoked olives made on the farm
Then three amuse bouches - one of each for each of us
Baby cucumbers topped with fruit salad,
a chardonnay poached pear slice en brochette
topped with a blue cheese mayo and celeriac chiffonade and grated pecan nuts,
a 'biltong' salad on crisp tempura nori seaweed, with horseradish cream,
salt baked beetroot, soy and honey glaze, topped with bonita flakes
and all in miniature

Our waiter explaining the dishes for us
We ordered one of our favourite Jordan wines to drink with the meal, The Outlier Sauvignon blanc

The starter of Marinated Tuna Crudo, which we all ordered, was superb
the textures and umami flavours wake up the palate, the slices of tender tuna were thin and fresh
Topped with shaved fried artichoke, caramelized onions, nasturtium leaves,
a dab of salmon caviar and a green salsa verde 


The main course of tender Kuruman Sirloin beef on burnt onions, celeriac purée,
kimchi, potato pavé, broccoli, and a rich and sticky bone marrow and beef jus

The Confit Lamb Shoulder is served two ways:
a slice of crisp sous vide belly and a small shredded lamb cake
It is accompanied by pomme purée filled with ratatouille, grilled courgettes and rich lam jus
Perfection

For John, the only dish without mushrooms, they are in most of the meat sauces, was the Sous Vide Hake
Stewed peppers, chickpeas, tomatoes, olives and crushed potatoes made a fine saucy blanket beneath the fresh Hake

Time for dessert after a bit of a pause
The fresh Strawberry shortcake was delicate and refreshing
A yogurt mousse rippled with strawberry purée, with a strawberry compote went perfectly with the basil sorbet
- strawberries and basil are a match made in heaven -
Small squares of matcha pecan blondies added great flavour and good texture
as did the sprinkling of baby basil leaves and edible pansies

The "Not a Black Forest" dessert - almond mousse, stewed cherries, miso ganache, chocolate and ice cream
It was much appreciated

Is this a cash crop of winter wheat in the middle of the vineyards?

The Spring vineyards are so green and verdant at the moment

A vineyard waiting to be planted and a huge gum tree

and, when we thought it was all over and coffee was ordered, these two plates of fancies appeared
On the left, macarons and one of our favourite canelli and, on the right, pillowy marshmallows and very good orange jellies

A tiny sparrow after crumbs on the deck
We hope to be back to taste more of Marthinus's excellent summer dishes

As our English guest insisted on picking up the bill, we cannot comment on the amount paid,
but it was not a sponsored meal

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Posted by MENU at 5:28 pm 0 comments

Groote Post launches Pinch of Salt Chardonnay at Zeitz MOCAA

An invitation to taste a new wine from Groote Post, still under wraps
to be released and first tasted at the Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary African Art) in the V&A Waterfront

The cut-out silo sections remind John of those droopy "ghost" masks, a bit Munchian
Standing beneath them is rather like being in a cathedral
Seeing people walking high above on the glass ceiling is a bit chilling

A welcoming glass of Cap Classique made by Groote Post's winemaker Lukas Wentzel

and the new Groote Post wine is revealed as a 2023 Chardonnay entitled A Pinch of Salt
Grown high on their hills facing the sea, on unirrigated dryland vineyard planted in 2014,
they always knew that this was going to be something special
They tried planting chardonnay before but the inferior clones did not produce well
This vineyard has superior Chardonnay clones. It is harvested over a 2 to 3 week period
50% is fermented in stainless tanks, 30% in French oak barrels and 20% in amphora
and it rests on the lees for 6 months
Winemaker Lukas told us that the vines bake in sun and salty sea winds
and the vineyard produces a really unique style of Chardonnay
It has a classic Chardonnay nose, rather restrained and quite French in style with soft wood, lovely richness and minerality
Golden fruit on the palate with wood just in the background,
long flavours of quince, lime marmalade, ripe white peach and nectarine
It does not taste of salt but there is definite minerality on the palate

Brothers Johan and At Wegner of GetWine pose for a picture

Television rugby commentator, retired Springbok lock Kobus Wiese and his wife Belinda with Nick Pentz

At Wegner, Nick Pentz, Johan Wegner

Peter Pentz tells us all about the wine
He was the mover and shaker responsible for the matching shirts the Groote Post team was wearing for the day
Great approval from us as they raised the tone so well 

Nick Pentz and winemaker Lukas Wentzel

Nick Pentz

The audience, dying to try the wine

"How do they walk on platforms?", asks John. "Not sure", says Lynne; that fashion has passed her by, several times.... 


Winemaker Lukas Wentzel

Sue Proudfoot and Michael Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts

Lukas telling us how he made the wine

Ta Da! we get to taste it for the first time, and it will definitely not be the last, the wine is gorgeous
Its Sauvignon blanc counterpart, SeaSalter, is one of our favourites

Peter Pentz, Lukas Wentzel, Nick Pentz

Tiny arancini rice balls

Bobotie spring rolls need to catch on more, so much nicer than filled with hard, stringy vegetables
They came with a spicy tomato dip

Lukas and admirers

Tiney salmon maki rolls tipped with mayo and salmon caviar

The Siris sales team with Lukas Wentzel
Izak Nieuwoudt, Dan Perrins, Mike Erasmus, Lukas, Terence van der Walt, Joshua Meisinger and Clark Truter

Some crisp tacos, presented with a friendly smile

Filled with pulled pork

High wire window cleaners!

Rise and Shine! There is a long climb to the top

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Posted by MENU at 4:42 pm 0 comments

Restaurant Week Mexican supper at Hacienda

Restaurant Week in Cape Town (this time it is about 5 weeks, ended on November 5th)
It always draws us to try a new restaurant
We had good reports from Clare, our daughter, and others, so made our booking
The concept is modern Mexican food from the Baja California coastal area of Mexico
The lunch hours finished at 6 pm and they do have a Happy Hour from 4.30 to 5.30
when Margaritas are half price, so we booked for an early supper at 5
Lynne hadn't had a good Margarita for years and it's one of the few cocktails she enjoys, along with a really dry Martini
It is on Loop Street and is part of the Heritage Square block

A large bar shows that they do a lot of bar work

We were shown through to one of the two restaurant rooms

and a table with good window light

This is their current special menu, almost identical to the Restaurant Week Menu, with Totopos added

Place setting

That Margarita, with the rim half dusted with salt and chilli and a good, long, cold Heineken draught for John

The Totopos consists of three small crisp nachos,
in startling colours of carbon black, flaming red and verdant green and three sauces to dip into

The red adobo sauce,
the green Salsa Verde which is herbal and creamy and, thank heavens, not tasting too much of fresh coriander,
the brown is a Pasta de Frijol - spicy black bean sauce, familiar and the most enjoyable for us
We kept them on the table throughout the meal to see how they went with the various dishes that followed

Then came their Mother sauce, a Mole which, on that night, was 464 days old
Pronounced molay, it is "a sauce which is alive" like bread made by the sourdough method
We know and have cooked Mole as a central Mexican sauce
which often contains dark chocolate and Ancho chillies and is served with chicken
This is different and served with a vegetarian version made with carrot and cumin in the centre
It comes with soft tortillas in those rainbow colours

The next course was Kabeljou (a local fish, aka rock cod) Ceviche
with Leche de Tigre, Avocado Crema, Salmon roe spheres, and Pico de Gallo
served raw in an acidic sauce to 'cook' it
Sadly, it was not quite as fresh as we prefer and we don't risk old raw fish
They were very apologetic and replaced it immediately with another dish

They brought us two more of their sauces to taste as they saw we were interested
The Strawberry and Chipotle chilli was fruity, nice and hot with lime
The green was apple and Pablano chillies; good and sweet
We kept these on the table to try with other dishes

Our replacement dish was Quesadilla de Pollo with tender barbecue chicken between two red tortillas, 
mustard seed gel, avocado crema, queso fresco (fresh cream cheese) and seared corn
Very enjoyable with flavours of good pepper and caramel and no heat,
so we added the mother sauce, Adobo Oaxaca red sauce, to spice it up..

The dish Lynne was looking forward to the most; she is crazy for crayfish
These were in a tempura batter served on a black tortilla with a strawberry and pomegranate aioli and lime
The batter was a little oily, but inside was tender, sweet local crayfish

Next was the tender, long slow-cooked Brisket
cooked in the Mole Hacienda, with pineapple salsa, sesame seeds, sliced raw apple and a roasted peanut sauce

Summer Thomas was our friendly and very helpful server

A charred corn Tamale (the outer leaves) containing Tiger prawn and salty fish
with lichi Arbol mole, pickled poblano chilli and edamame beans crudo

It was messy but very flavourful

The final dish was almost dessert
Guajillo dusted charred sweetcorn, with Ancho honey, sweet Queso Fresco and, thankfully, very little fresh coriander
The chilli burn was similar to that we get from our Cayenne chillies
We have to admit that, with all the tortillas, nachos and sauces, we were now rather replete. It is a big meal 

Edamame beans served crudo

Finally, a gift from the chef, a huge beehive of Candy Floss,
which we returned with thanks because we do not eat sugar, and donated it to someone else

All our stories can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right

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Posted by MENU at 1:33 pm 0 comments
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