Taste of Cape Town 2015

We went on the first evening this year and found it to be a lot more fun than last year, but with less impressive food. And on chatting to some of our hotel, restaurant, wine and cheffie friends, it seems that they want things back the way they were to start with or their presence might be missed next year. We can’t put our finger on what made it so much fun, perhaps seeing so many friends in the wine and food world as well as people attending whom we knew, but it was fun

We ate and really enjoyed food from two venues, the rest was OK but not terribly exciting to us. It seems that the top restaurants won’t come and do this as a purely PR exercise –would they need to? They don’t make money, but we think they are missing out on introducing new people to their excellent food

Tiny print on the programmes again made for fairly random eating; we ate what we found, until we had had enough. Planning our route would have been good

A merry crowd, but no rowdiness or drunkenness seen on the first night

Chef George Jardine (emulating John obviously) with Louise Starey of The Bakery at Jordan They were one of the Pop-Up restaurants for the evening – sad if you missed them, as they had the best food there. Yes, we are biased

The Jordan Pop-up menu. The baked egg tart with the melt in the mouth buttery pastry topped with truffle hollandaise was magnificent, the dish of the evening, followed closely by that Chocolate and caramel slice

Poor Chef David Hicks from the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg was visiting the show and was presented with an apron and Shanghai’ed into helping George in the kitchen. So two great chefs together had good fun

The two savoury dishes from The Bakery at Jordan

We had the Crispy duck pancakes from Kitima in Hout Bay. Well, it was just one small pancake filled with very dry, overcooked duck

These were their three display dishes on their counter. We had a problem getting our heads around Dutch gouda cheese wrapped around Prawns but friends who had it said they liked it

Errieda du Toit of Kokkedoor fame, who was one of the organisers of the show

Long queues at one of the more popular stands

Char sui oxtail from Azure, gloriously tender with great rich flavours. We also had their Fisantekraal trout done two ways, Tequila cured gravadlax cut in a small round medallion and a superb smooth mousse, baked avocado and corn succotash, second best dish of the night. The duck pancake is from Kitima

More queues of mostly happy people

Lynne asked what the wine was at the Vingooo stand. The reply was White Wine. As it was not at all drinkable, we didn’t enquire further

A new wine for us was the 2013 Neil Joubert's Christine-Marie Blanc de Blanc MCC. We liked it very much and at R110 a bottle, worthy of purchase

The Azure menu – it is the restaurant at the Twelve Apostles Hotel

Old friend Gavin Ferreira, Assistant General Manager of the Twelve Apostles, trying to tempt Lynne into eating something. He succeeded admirably

Vaughan Walker was kept very busy with demand for sweet things on the Queen of Tarts stand

Roger Jørgensen, with the good range of spirits he makes in Wellington, meets Lidia and Linda Nobrega of Chapman's Peak Hotel in Hout Bay

His range with the prices

On the Domaine des Dieux stand tasting their Claudia MCC and new Rose of Sharon MCC Rosé

Lynne having a laugh with the lads & lass on the oyster stand. She can only admire

One of the richer stands, selling spirits and cocktails

Two of our favourites from Thelema/Sutherland, Melinda Jost & Michelle van Eeden having fun on the first night

Shall I, shan’t I?

The Villiera Tradition stand was very popular

Paul Kruger and Pascal el Azzi were great fun and very good at attracting customers

A glass of their Domaine Grier Rosé, from their French vineyard in Rousillon

And who should we find cooking on the Big Green Egg stand but chef Arnold Tanzer, down from Johannesburg for the show

Nearly time to close, so we did the brandy tasting, paired with chocolate. It works very well indeed and we all had a favourite. The chocolate is from De Villiers

Well dressed promoters Megan Venter and Cameron Stroebel on the Black Dog whisky stand

A cider from Sweden? We were too late to taste

There was a good selection of goods to purchase stands , charcuterie, sausages, chocolates, chilli sauces and preserves from The Little Herb Garden, cakes from Queen of Tarts and many others

The Speedy salted caramel tart from The Bakery at Jordan. Such delight

Burgers to go from the Ultimate Braai Master stand. Necessary nourishment at the end of the evening for Silwood students Kayleigh Wortley and Emilie Vidal

On the Paul René MCC stand (from Wonderfontein in Robertson) we found the owners Henk and Monica van Niekerk, Chef George Jardine with Chef Pete Goffe-Wood. A great way to end an evening.

Bottles for recycling after some enthusiastic MCC tasting

Strolling home in the fog

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

150409 This week's MENU -Daily Dish, Elgin Cool Wine Festival, Sing for your supper, Cookery course for domestics, Biltong and Pinotage Festival, Blaauwklippen Blending Competition, Bacon and Spinach Quiche

A common tern at sunset

In this week’s MENU:

 The Daily Dish

 The Elgin Cool Wine and Country Festival

 Sing for your supper

 Sense of Taste Cookery course for domestics

 Joubert & Monty Biltong and Pinotage Festival

 Blaauwklippen Blending Competition

 Bacon and Spinach Quiche

 Learn about wine and cooking

We write about our experiences in MENU, not only to entertain you, but to encourage you to visit the places and events that we do. We know you will enjoy them and we try to make each write up as graphic as we can, so you get a good picture of what is on offer at each place, restaurant, wine farm, festival we visit.

To get the whole story with photographs, please click on “Read on.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.

A relaxing weekend     We have had a nice quiet Easter for a change, We were going to go away and suddenly the time slipped by, all our visitors went home and we decided just ‘kuiering’ (loose translation: comfortably and socially visiting) at home was going to be lovely and restful. Avoiding potential mayhem on the roads was an added incentive. We had so much to catch up with and also spending days doing exactly what you want to do - which might be absolutely nothing - was very appealing. Lynne has nearly caught up with Masterchef Australia, UK and Professional and Junior Bake Off and John did some gardening and watched some sport, which he loves, even though the Stormers’ match was a great disappointment!

The Daily Dish    “Daily Dish – South Africa's first internet start-up to offer a yummy, ready-to-prepare home meal kit delivery service – has partnered with Fairview to expand the company's foodie offering. “ We were asked to take part in an experiment by this company who deliver a hamper of food for four meals in a week with the recipe either for two people or four.

They offered to send us a box and we said great, we would then invite friends who are vegetarians and we would cook two of the dishes. We completely misunderstood what was in the boxes, we assumed we would be able to cook out of one box. What we actually received – and it was, impressively, delivered on Easter Monday - was two boxes, one for a Banting diet with four meals for two people and another Vegetarian box with another four meals for two. Which was extremely generous of them. We have cooked one vegetarian meal and three Banting meals so far. The last Banting meal of steak strips with peppercorn sauce will be cooked for supper tonight; then we will move on to the other three vegetarian dishes. This was because we had to use up the fresh meat supplied by today.

“This is directed at people who are too busy to cook, or those who simply relish the convenience of having recipes with exact ingredients that they can quickly and easily prepare delivered to their home or office. With its ultra-fresh ingredients, tasty recipes, and outstanding service, Daily Dish has grown so popular that the company was recently prompted to expand its delivery base to include Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as suburbs and towns outside the Cape Metropole.”

If you are interested in this concept, have a look at their website www.dailydish.co.za for more information, recipes, and to register if you like the idea of this service. We have taken pictures of what we received and what we made and written the full story so Read On

The Elgin Cool Wine and Country Festival     This is going to be on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd of May and is usually great fun. If you can find accommodation and stay for the two days of the festival you will have a marvellous time sampling the events that the farms involved have planned. For instance Oneiric is not only opening its doors at the Cool Wine & Country Festival, but also throwing together the option of either lunch or an afternoon session with the incredible Watershed. Festival tickets to sample all 18 Elgin winerys’ wines over the two days can be booked through http://www.webtickets.co.za. To see what is on offer check out the Facebook page of Elgin Valley Tourism.

Sing for your supper     Something fun to try. We have been to one of these and had a great time. On Saturday 18 April at 7pm, opera singer Monika Voysey and chef Marc Wassung will join forces to present an elegant Spanish themed soirée that will feature glorious arias and food, at the beautiful Welgemeend Manor House, Welgemeend Street, Gardens. It starts at 7pm and tickets cost R350 per person, and includes sangria, tapas, a main course and dessert, and the opera concert. 
Booking is via 076 423 8191 or monika@singforyoursupper.co.za. Guests are encouraged to dress according to the theme.

Sense of Taste Cookery course for domestics     This is something we know some of you are looking for. The course is great way to train the Housekeepers to become more confident in the kitchen…..understand seasoning, cooking methods, knife skills etc. The current course starts on the 18^th of April and will be held on 5 consecutive Saturdays from 10 to 4 pm, so if you are interested contact Debbie Ayub at Sense of Taste 082 337 6240 Tel: 021 5110426 chef@senseoftaste.co.za or see their website www.senseoftaste.co.za/school/ for more information. This is an accredited City and Guilds course.

The first Joubert & Monty Biltong and Pinotage Festival will held on Saturday, 18 April 2015 from 11h00-18h00, at L’Avenir Wine Estate and will have 2 guided tastings at 12h00 and 14h00. Only 20 tasters can be accommodated per tasting. Pre-bookings are essential at info@lavenir.co.za, Tel: +27 21 889 5001 or Tasting Room: 076 267 9172. The cost is R50 per person. Ticket price at R150 pp includes a branded wine glass, free wine tastings, a biltong cup and coupon booklet. Bookings at www.plankton.mobi and selected Joubert and Monty outlets. Visit www.joubertandmonty.co.za or J&M’s Facebook page to find the outlet closest to you. Wineries taking part are: Anura Vineyards, Ayama Wines, Badsberg Wine Cellar, Beyerskloof Wines, Boland Cellar, Diemersfontein Wines, Kaapzicht Estate, Lanzerac Wine Estate, L’Avenir Wine Estate, Mellasat Vineyards, Perdeberg Wines, Rhebokskloof Vineyards, Remhoogte Wine Estate and Windmeul Cellar.

Blaauwklippen Blending Competition      It’s that time of year again. Call on all your wine club friends, because this year you could be the winner of the 32nd annual Blaauwklippen Blending Competition. Register on the Blaauwklippen website. http://www.blaauwklippen.com/bbc/wine-society-registration/

This week’s recipe is one from Daily Dish, the one we enjoyed the most. It’s a classic quiche, it just doesn’t have any pastry base, so it is probably more a frittata than a quiche. But there is nothing to prevent you from putting the contents into a pastry case should you wish to. The quantities are big, so we found the recipe for two might well do two meals.

Bacon and Spinach Quiche

For 4 (halve quantities if you want one for 2)

500g bacon, cut into thin strips – 1 red onion, finely chopped – 2 T butter – 1 t olive oil – 100g chard spinach, cut in strips – 175g mature cheddar, roughly grated – 125ml cream – 6 eggs – salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200°C. Fry bacon in a dry pan over medium to high heat until done to your liking. (Crisp is good). Heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Cook onion for a few minutes until translucent. Turn the heat down and add the spinach, cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring until it wilts. Remove from the heat. Whisk together the eggs, cream, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add the cheese, onion, spinach and bacon and stir well. Butter a large pie or quiche dish and pour in the mix. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until just done. Check by inserting a knife in the centre, it should come out clean. Let the quiche rest for 5 minutes before serving. Cut a slice for each plate.

Lynne did fry the bacon and then the onions in the same frying pan. We like our vegetables, so we accompanied this with steamed green beans and broccoli; you could also make a salad.

Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here. Karen Glanfield has taken over the UnWined wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here

The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here

In addition to his Sense of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details here

Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here

Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her home in Constantia

Nicolette van Niekerk runs baking courses at La Petite Patisserie in Montague Gardens

George Jardine will be running a series of winter cooking courses and other activities at Jordan. Details here

9th April 2015

Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.

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.

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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.

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