The Winter Tasting Menu at Myoga at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa, Newlands

The quality of some of these images does not do justice to the food. The lighting level at Myoga is low and automatically dims as the evening progresses. We do not use flash in restaurants so that we do not disturb the ambience, so we had to work with the ambient light. Our Nikons work better than most other cameras in low light conditions, but there are limits, even at 12800 ISO

Just before we left for Hong Kong we were invited by chef Mike Basset to come and sample his new winter menu at Myoga at the Vineyard Hotel. They are doing a 7 course menu for R365 which, as it includes two extra courses and bread, offers tremendous value. Just go very hungry. We opted to do the menu with the wine pairing, which costs R650 per person. It includes some of the top South African wines so, if you like wine, this is for you. We didn't always agree with all the pairings, but taste is subjective. The menu is a showcase of multiple textures, flavours, colours and surprises. It's a tour de force of modern gourmet food. Perhaps one or two of the courses had too many ingredients on the plate, but we really enjoyed the experience

The restaurant has soft elegant French style furnishings

You enter at the side of the bar

Soft lighting and a view of the open kitchen

We began with a glass of Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut Rosé

The Menu

The bread platter included truffle butter, an aioli, organic flake salt and whole wheat rolls, potato bread, rye bread and a butternut and pumpkin seed crisp.

Then the Surprise: A black pepper and parmesan crisp with a celeriac and garlic espuma, truffle purée poured from a tiny jug and pickled dried apricot. It was very rich and creamy and coated the mouth in fat and cream so it didn't go well with the delicate Kaapse Vonkel brut. It ended on a strong note of black pepper. This was followed by The Tickler, pictured here, it's an barley oat porridge with herbs, mushrooms, onion ..

...and a soya miso cream added later. Just for Lynne

Lynne's choice for the first official course was Shiazuke Salmon (a bit like gravadlax )with pickled daikon radish topped with a Thai snowball of rice wine vinegar and coconut milk. Beneath was an edamame bean gel and caramel toffee dust was sprinkled over. On the edge was some very spicy and vinegary curried apple achar or Cape Malay chutney. A little overwhelming for the delicate salmon. This was served with the Fable Mountain vineyards Jackal Bird 2013 a blend of 41% Chenin Blanc, 18% Grenache Blanc, 17% Chardonnay 14% Viognier, 10% Roussanne

John's first course was venison loin with creamed cauliflower 'couscous' topped with pickled watermelon and crispy onion rings. There seemed to be fig flavours as well

His wine pairing was the Terra del Capo Sangiovese, a very good wine and a very good match

Next course for Lynne was the Korean Pork belly, topped with a great piece of crackling. It came with crisp mange tout, and was in a rich ginger apple sauce, almost barbeque. The pork was so well cooked that the bones had turned to jelly

This came with Eikendal Pinotage 2014 and sadly the ginger enhanced the metallic notes Lynne picks up on many Pinotages. The wine has a kick of acidity then calms down to a softer fruity wine

John chose the Jamaican Jerk Poussin, which was a sous vide ballotine served with white peach cubes, baby bok choi and a fried quail egg

This was served with Neethlingshof Six Flowers a white blend of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Gewurztraminer, Weisser Riesling. Shy on the nose with lots of new smoky oak, the Chardonnay predominates

Time for the Surf and Turf courses. Lynne chose the smoked butter langoustine, which comes with a added cost of R65, but was very disappointed at the tiny single mouthful serving of smoked langoustine. It came with some deep fried salmon in a very crisp pork fat coating come too brittle to bite, caramel tamarind sauce, caramel brittle and a few broccoli heads

It was paired with Delheim's delicious semi sweet 2014 Gewürztraminer, always a favourite, full of rose petals, litchis and Turkish delight which sadly rather overwhelmed the delicate fish

The previously tasted Fable Mountain white blend was a much better match, Lynne still had some

Johns choice was the Black salted squid paired with Lomond's Pincushion 2014 Sauvignon Blanc from Cape Agulhas. Very spicy squid on a black ink aioli swipe served with litchi, a sprinkling of Iberico ham, a white almond sphere, anchovy lime condensed milk, and a pool of red chilli sauce with sweet potato slices. And ash. The excellent wine calmed the palate down. But so many different elements on the plate can confuse

Then the lime lemongrass sorbet with balsamic pears to cleanse our palates

Time for The (main) Event. We both chose the Confit Duck Tacos. Nice and pink slices of seared duck breast resting upon mission figs and onions, a pomegranate chipotle syrup, a tiny rather doughy taco filled with shredded confit duck topped with a salty Fontina cheese foam and alongside some avocado and tomatillo salsa. Quite delicious, one to return for but no to the raw onion

We were delighted to find it paired with Waterford's Kevin Arnold sexy, soft and spicy Shiraz, full of liquorice and dark red berries, and a long, long afterglow - the best wine of the evening. We also had the Domaine des Dieux Josephine 2012 Pinot Noir which is still a little young

A strange machine on the kitchen counter; it turned out to be part of the sous vide process

Time for desserts. When we were here in the summer for lunch, everyone except Lynne had the 'Death of Strawberry shortcake' so it was time to try this performance dessert. The strawberry bombe, coulis, pastille and gel, sharp strawberry sorbet, light white chocolate sponge, coconut milk ice cream, and summer berries come covered with a cloud of pink candy floss

The waiter than begins to pour over the warm strawberry sauce

and the candy floss melts ...

... and disappears. Leaving a complete strawberry experience. Very sweet, very rich and lovely if you have a sweet tooth

John chose the Black Forest memories, a deconstructed black forest cake with a cherry cheesecake sphere, a chocolate log, chocolate mousse, hot dark mousse, dark sponge cake, morello cherry ice cream, chocolate streusel and a chocolate blini. Complex and loaded

We were offered two dessert wines: Tierhoek's excellent, elegant straw wine from Chenin Blanc - perfect with the Strawberry dessert and the Waverley Hills Red Jerepigo 2013, better with the Black Forest

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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MENU goes East - Hanoi. Heat humidity and a walking street food tour

We woke to a hot humid day. And then it was time for our first Vietnamese breakfast

The menu offers a wide choice

The cheese omelette comes with a crisp roll, butter, strawberry jam and a cream cheese. The plate is artfully decorated with flowers made from sliced vegetables

And then there was the pancake with banana and honey. Light and delicious!

The view from our 9th floor hotel room to the back yards below. Hanoi was a complete contrast to the orderly neatness of Hong Kong

Looking over the rooftops to other hotels in our street, which was called in English Drun Street

The electric connections on every street corner are quite scary. Legal, but are they safe? Scooters carry heavy loads and multiple passengers

Bicycles, street traders and mopeds. You had to watch out for taxis too. Sound familiar?

One of the posh restaurants, serving mainly western food which we couldn't afford, nor wanted to try

A typical old style villa in central Hanoi

Men socialising on the street outside a local temple. The lady on the bike is selling drinks

The temple entrance

Seeking our travel agent for the Ha Long Bay trip down one of these narrow alleys

On-the-street trading and a small street food outlet

In Hong Kong the dogs were so worshipped, pedigreed and manicured, here not so much, but this was clean

Slightly lost, but getting there. Not all the streets are on the map!

A wedding couple outside the Cathedral. The Notre Dame inspired architecture reflects the years of French occupation

It cries out for a good clean

A spectacular bonsai in the cathedral courtyard

A service taking place. It was Sunday and we could hear the choral mass from our hotel room in the afternoon

Where he lived. We didn’t go in, it was a bit red hot. He is revered wherever we went on northern Vietnam

The Ngoc Son Temple on the Hồ Hoàn Kiếm lake ("Lake of the Returned Sword") in the Old Town. People walk around it in the early morning and late evening, when it’s cooler, and do their morning tai chi and other exercises on its bank

Turtle Tower, known to the Vietnamese people at Thap Ruá, was built in 1886 on the same site where a Ta Vong Temple had been built during the 17th or 18th century. Somewhere between the Restored Le Dynasty and the Nguyen Dynasty that temple disappeared. The tower that stands there now was erected on the same site to commemorate Le Loi, a warrior who defeated Chinese invaders in 1425. This tower, though not built in any type of Vietnamese style and built by someone later discovered to be a traitor, still stands in honour of what Le Loi did for the nation and also for the magical turtle that is standing guard over the sword Le Loi used to free his people. This tower has stood for almost 150 years as a symbol of patriotic pride for the people of Hanoi. Though the French placed their own ‘Statue of Liberty’ atop the tower for a time (it was later removed in 1945 when the Tran Trong Kim government regained control of the city from the French), the Vietnamese have always seen this tower as a symbol of the patriotism and unity of the Vietnamese people

Green leaves reflected in the lake

The Flamboyant trees are all in bloom, covered in orange blossoms

Many small fish which look like dark carp are in the lake

There are lots of these 'old' watches for sale. Buyer beware. They say they came from prisoners of war. We don't think so. Good fakes

The very humble entrance to our hotel, which was modern and quite luxurious once you entered the foyer

Early evening, people come out to eat. And, yes, the Western fast food restaurants seem very popular

Crossing this was hell. You wait for a gap in the traffic like this and dash, dodging cars, bikes and other pedestrians. pedestrian crossing lines are a decoration

We begin our Street food tour with Ling

The menu on the wall. 1495 Vietnamese Dong will buy one Rand. There are about 22300 Dong to the US dollar. In practice prices are quoted verbally without the 000

First dish: grilled meatballs, pork, noodles, bamboo shoots and herbs and lettuce. Good flavours, like the addition of the herbs. Not at all hot. You add your own chilli sauce. We didn't get any of the names

Madam making the food

A street barbecue

The outside of the restaurant

Another, not on our itinerary. Everyone intent on eating supper

It rained a bit, but not enough to put up the brolly

Next restaurant

A small menu

Rice pancakes stuffed with mushrooms and topped with crisp shallots and shredded meat. You dip them in the sauce and eat with the herbs. We have to confess that we were not sold on this dish. John because of the mushrooms, Lynne because of the rather slimy texture of the pancakes. But we soldiered on

Our guide Ling Tran. She has her own Facebook page should you wish to book her: Lillian Tran. The tour took about an hour and a half; we went to five places and the food was all included in the price which was US $30 each. She was a great guide, with good English and humour and she responded well to our requests. Two portions of food were offered at each place, after the first two, we asked for only one to share. They seem to eat a lot of food

Madam steaming the pancakes. It is an incredible art making them and she does hundreds an evening

They seem to be stretched over the top of the pan on the right then steamed

A view through a domestic kitchen window. Living spaces are cramped

Sitting on the street waiting for the next" course"

A speciality. A crisp roll stuffed with paté and vegetables. An echo of the French occupation. A Vietnamese “bunny chow”? Served with a fruit tea

Ling with the owner’s cute little girl

She wanted to know everything

A make-up shop

It's a very lively, 'happening' city and the street life goes on till all hours

Off to our final restaurant

For some fresh fruit

A very stately cat, beloved by its owner, a porcelain seller

The iceman cometh

Cell phones are an extension of everyone's hands. We were offered the famous Egg coffee but we declined. It is coffee and condensed milk into which a raw egg is whipped. We were told it tastes just like crème brulée and most tourists love it. We don't like sweet or milky coffee, it was late and coffee keeps us awake

Mangosteens and rambutans (hairy litchi). We didn't get any to eat on the trip or any longan. A pity, as they are very delicious. All the pineapple we had was so sweet and succulent

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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