Durbanville Soup, Sip & Bread at De Grendel

Vines and our mountain on a beautiful winter’s day

The interior of the Restaurant

Chargers on every table bearing the De Villiers Graaff crest

John chose the excellent French onion soup which was so good it inspired Lynne to make a pot on Monday night. 

This came with a glass of De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2011.

Lynne had the Potato, sweet corn and truffle soup served with moist corn bread.  

The soup was as smooth as silk and also very inspiring. We will be trying to make both the soup and bread soon, This came with a glass of their white blend Winifred 2010 which went very well indeed.

There were two main courses, but we both chose the very substantial Goulash ‘soup’  with dumplings. 

More like a very filling pork and paprika stew this was good, but the dumplings made from choux pastry were as light as a feather and a good counterpoint, as dumplings are normally quite stodgy. We drank glasses of the Merlot 2009 with this. The alternative course was a Dhal (lentil) and tomato curry served with a naan and red onion. We saw some on our neighbours' table and it looked delicious. Great that there was a vegetarian option.

We panicked a bit when we saw the Bread and butter puddings, as we were both flooded with memories of squares of solid stodge in fake powdered custard at boarding school. 
Our fears were completely unfounded as this light and gentle pudding floated in a lovely sea of real vanilla custard and was so delicious that it absolutely had to be finished.

Wines on their winelist are mainly from De Grendel, but they do offer choices from the other farms in the area.

All photographs in this blog are ©John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc

Dinner at Tokara

Tokara

Wonderful effects of lighting and art at night

Richard Carstens, the chef, briefing his staff in the open restaurant kitchen

Getting seated with a nice warm fire in the background

The Chefs Menu – This changes often

Starters on the Main Menu

Mains on the Menu

Desserts on offer

The current Winter Set Menu. 

Very good value - four courses with an intermezzo and a glass of wine for R250 a person.

Our first starter 

A Frozen butternut dome with grain mustard ice cream, salmon caviar, coconut foam and rocket. The refreshing butternut sorbet went so well with the savoury and almost marmitey mustard ice cream. The caviar bubbles gave notes of excitement with each bite and the coconut sauce brought it all together . The rocket is the green gel on top of the sorbet.

Reflections in the glass window

Next came a perfect light pasta prawn ravioli where you could taste the prawn, with sole goujons, tomato concasse , chervil and a silky mussel velouté. Really classy.

The roaring fire was kept going all evening

Lynne’s choice of soup: a supremely smooth sweetcorn velouté with popcorn, rocket and crisp chicken ravioli ‘croutons’ so suited the cold night.

John’s choice of starter was one of Richard’s signature dishes. A savoury baked Alaska on rainbow trout, cucumber, citrus salsa, smoked salmon ice cream and ginger soy and mirin sauce. 

The sauce was phenomenal as a match for what topped it, adding beautiful Asian notes to a fresh delicious dish.

Some of the art in the foyer of Tokara

One of Richards new dishes: dry aged roast carrot, gorgonzola, yoghurt, curry oil, orange, macadamia white chocolate and herbs. 

Improbably one thought this cannot work and every element on the plate went well with the others. The meaty carrot counterpointed with the citrus and the chocolate and the cheese was a poem.

A gentle dish of turnip, pear, ponzu, celery, spinach, mozzarella cream, pumpkin seeds adding a good crunch as a change in texture,  garlic and bonito flakes.

Our intermezzo of a crisp and refreshing lime sorbet on rocket gel.

Lynne chose as her main course an intriguing Sunflower seed risotto, soya honey glazed aubergine which was unctuous and sweet, coconut, lemongrass and ginger. 

The sunflowers are cooked in a pressure cooker so are no crisp but more like a grain.

John had to have the Confit duck leg set on a sweet orange potato puree, crisp croquettes sprinkled with roasted almonds, crisp beans and courgettes as a vegetable and a cumin gastrique. 

Delicious.

Our dessert, one we have had before, is Richard’s White chocolate egg with baby meringues, lemon mascarpone mousse, white chocolate mousse, and an almond financier. 

Luckily, we shared this one as we were ready to roll home without the car...

 All these photographs are ©John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc 2012

Shiraz and charcuterie at Hartenberg

The wine cellar under the hill at Hartenberg -a great venue for the festival

Filled rolls on The Charcuterie table for the hungry wine-filled tasters

Kleinood's excellent Tamboerskloof Shiraz being opened

Steven Jeffery of The Charcuterie offering us a taste of something interesting, or ?

Anel  Grobler (Spit or Swallow) and Lynne tasting some excellent shiraz from Rust en Vrede

James Mackenzie, Hartenberg Director, with more wine for the tasting

James and friend having a great time

Nico van der Merwe and his wife Petra pouring the Mas Nicolas Shiraz to enthusiastic tasters Anel and Jan of Spit or Swallow

Christophe Dehosse of Joostenberg selling some of his charcuterie

The three Hartenberg wines for tasting: The Bookkeeper,  Hartenberg Shiraz 2007 and the magnificent,  award winning The Stork 2007

Hartenberg also had an excellent plate of mixed charcuterie to match their wines

Neil Jewell and assistant, from Bread and Wine on Moreson,  with their delicious charcuterie

Jacques Borman jr from Boschkloof with their lovely Shiraz

Gerard de Villiers, owner of Kleinood - home of Tamboerskloof wines and De Boerin olive oil

The crew at the Charcuterie working very hard to feed everyone. Those jars of rillette are amazing

Old friends, new wine and lots of chat outside the cellar door

Having fun tasting wine and charcuterie in the late afternoon sun

A selection of some of the great wines we tasted

All these photographs are ©John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc, 2012

Expressions of Robertson & Tulbagh at the Taj Hotel, 31st May 2012

The wine tasting before dinner in the foyer of the Taj

Mint restaurant and eager diners studying the menu

Food and Beverage Director Willem du Toit doing the introductions

Sandra Papesch the chef/co-owner at Fraai Uitzicht telling us about the food to come

ON the left is Karl-Uwe the husband of Sandra and joint owner of Fraai Uitzicht Estate which has lovely accommodation and the restaurant at Klaas Vogts in Robertson. At the head of the table Michael Pownall, the General Manager of the Taj.

A green spinach ravioli filled with Ricotta and lemon thyme, with freshly grated parmesan on top. 

We all wanted more, much more of this delicious starter. It was served with Esona Singe Vineyard chardonnay 2010Grilled steak Tartar. 

Minced raw steak mixed with capers and onions, seared on one side only then topped with a fresh salsa of tomato, coriander basil, spring onion, pine nuts soy, olive oil and maple syrup. 

This very complicated sounding dish was actually very fresh and simple and one of our favourites of the evening. Served with Lemberg Estate Pinot Noir 2011

Vanilla Prawn Pasta Two large beautifully cooked prawns on a nest of tagliatelli pasta with a heavy cream and vanilla sauce. Not at all to our taste because of the vanilla with savoury food but others enjoyed it. Serve with Arendsig Wild Yeast Chardonnay 2011

James Boreland, the Beverage Manager of the Taj with Karl-Uwe Papesch, Co- Owner of Fraai Uitzicht

James Boreland chatting to Colyn Truter who represents Arendsig and other Robertson estates and Lemberg winemaker, David Sadie

Beautifully presented fillet of Springbok wrapped in Parsley mousse and breadcrumbs, served on truffled mash, with Broccoli and a juniper berry sauce.  

The Springbok was very tender and delicious. This was served with Graham Beck Viognier 2009 which went very well and the Fraai Uitzicht Merlot 2006 which was also a very good match.

A witty presentation for the Beetroot and Belgian chocolate sorbet. We found this a rather strange mixture of flavours.

Crisp wontons were the savoury last course and were filled with sharp and rather bitter goats cheese, thyme and sweet olives and dressed with a tomato jam. 

All photographs in this blog are ©John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc 2012