Tuk Tuk Brewery in Franschhoek launches the beers brewed in house

Tuk Tuk Micro Brewery, which is part of the Leeu Collection, opened in February this year and is already a very popular venue on Main Street in Franschhoek, on the next corner above Quartier Français. They have been selling CBC beers on tap and, this week, they introduced their own beers, brewed in the in-house 250-litre capacity brewery which you can see as you walk into Tuk Tuk. The beers are a Pale Ale, a Weiss or Weizenbier (wheat beer) and a Dunkel made by brew master Dewald Goosen. We enjoyed these with a rather good selection of classic Mexican street food served family style from the Tuk Tuk Taqueria

It is easy to spot the Tuk Tuk Brewery on Franschhoek's main street, Huguenot Road

The actual brewery is at the back of the building, all gleamingly hygienic stainless steel and copper, and you can admire it from inside the restaurant

This is how the bloggers do it! Our welcoming glass of bubbly

All the beers are on tap

The decor is all glowing copper industrial and there are some witty touches like this beer bottle light

Salsa, killer chilli sauce, cream cheese and guacamole on the table for the first course

Note the copper fronted bar and the plumbing pipe lights with a sight of the brewery behind the bar

The barman pouring pints. Four exclusive, handcrafted Tuk Tuk branded beers, a Lager, Weiss, Dunkel and Pale Ale. Two of the Tuk Tuk brews will change seasonally. A selection of Six CBC beers are on offer , namely the CBC Lager, CBC Harvest Lager (seasonal) CBC Mandarina Bavaria IPA, CBC Oktoberfest Beer (seasonal), CBC Imperial IPA, CBC Pilsner, CBC Amber Weiss, CBC Krystal Weiss and CBC Red Weiss (seasonal)

Our tasters of the beers Left to Right: Pale Ale, Weiss beer and Dunkel, all with great heads. The lager is still fermenting, but will be available shortly. The Pale ale has notes of orange and hops; it is very satisfying with a nice refreshing bitter end. The Weiss beer has that cloudy still-fermenting character, rather lactic. The Dunkel is a dark malty beer with coffee and chocolate on the nose, and coffee deluxe on the palate with nice bitter hops. It is lighter in texture than we expected and a moderate 5% alcohol

Broadcaster Jon Meinking likes his beer

Nicolette Waterford, Leeu Collection Head of Public Relations, Brand and Marketing

Brewer Dewald Goosen

Interior designer Beverley Boswell, who also designed the Leeu Collection Estate Boutique hotel, had free rein to design Tuk Tuk. She told us where the inspiration came from

Then Dewald told us about the beers and how they are brewed

Hector Maramwidze, our very professional and friendly waiter

The lunch menu. Plates for four were put on the table and we helped ourselves. The food is very good, the portions were very generous and the beers are enhanced by the food and vice versa

Nachos. We love this easy to put together dish and often make it at home. Corn chips, Pico de Gallo (aka Salsa made with tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos), grated cheese, guacamole and sour cream flashed under the grill.  If you add spiced mince or chicken, it becomes an easy fireside supper

These tiny light sweetcorn fritters were served hot with a hot chipotle chilli dip. Tempting to eat too many and fill up on them, but so much was to follow. The sauce has quite a kick

Quesadillas are also easy to make at home  They are dry pan roasted tortillas filled with tender gently spiced chicken, with melted cheese, roasted tomatoes and cream cheese. These were followed by two different tacos, both excellent. One filled with slow cooked beer with lettuce and a strongly smoked aioli. and a spiced lightly seared tuna Taco with guacamole and cheese. Lynne added the table chilli sauce to it and if you love hot chilli sauce with a flavour try it if your heat tolerance is high. Our table loved it

Just when we thought we could eat no more they served hot and crisp Churros with a great Nyangbo dark chocolate and chilli dip. Nyangbo is a Ghanaian chocolate from Valrhona

Leeu Collection Executive Chef Oliver Cattermole supervises this kitchen too. Here he is with Beverly Boswell

A great design detail in the bathrooms: a shining copper sink and bar taps!

Pouring a pint of Dunkel with a great head. We were able to try larger glasses of our favourite beers, this was for Lynne.  We think the combination of good beers and Mexican food is great

Linda Harding

Nicolette with Linda Harding

The sun, weakly coming out at about 4pm as we headed off, first next door to see the redesigned bar at Quartier Francais, and then to Angala for the night

This is the snug bar, we loved the wood burning stove for wintery days like this and the blue and white with the sandy coloured textured walls is very calming

with a matching alcove with comfortable sofas behind the bar

Antonia by the wall, another realistic figure sculpture from the Leeu collection to match the male figure there, and an impressive painting dress the hallway. The yellow reversed writing on the forehead of the face is a reflection of The Tasting Room logo across the hall

In winter a glassed conservatory, in summer an open air deck

Inside the main restaurant, which has not been changed

And outside on the terrace with another of those amusing rabbit statues

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Overnight at Angala, a luxury boutique hotel near Franschhoek

Another visit to the Place of Angels - Angala

We loved our first stay at this chic, small Boutique hotel on the slopes of the Simonsberg last year in April and were delighted to be invited back to see the new Spa, have dinner and stay the night. We had a marvellous time in this peaceful and tranquil place. Angala is surrounded by Vrede and Lust and Rupert and Rothschild vineyards. You enter through the Vrede and Lust gate and then drive 3 Km up the mountain, until you come to this lovely guest house with superb gardens and views. They have recently installed a spa and they also have a special Winter Spa package for two. http://www.angala.co.za/

The entrance

The crystal clear green swimming pool flanked with water lilies, frogs and water plants

Outside the new spa is a small pool and above it, a hot tub

The sauna inside the spa building

This is the hot tub. We were not tempted to try it in the very cold weather that day

Aubrey Blignaut, manager of Angala, was showing us around

The cottage on the far right was where we stayed the last time we visited

A tree sculpture; there are many in the gardens

Looking up towards the restaurant, the lounge and the deck

A mountain stream rushing down the hill, filled with fresh rain water. Angala uses some of the water and the rest goes through the wine farms below and finally goes into the Berg river

Lots of indigenous wild olive trees on the property and spring bulbs showing their heads beneath

The small pool at the Honeymoon cottage

With its enormous four poster bed

A quiet corner of their garden

It is fully self catering if required by the honeymooners, 

or they can employ the private chef to cater for them. Or they can eat at the restaurant

The lounge area

The bathroom with the walled outside shower as well as one inside

One can imagine a tranquil time in this lovely cottage

A double cuddling chair in the lounge

Our cottage with its private pool

Our softly textured bedroom with its enormous bed and high count percale linen

It is also self catering

And has nicely organised space, with the bonus of the wood burning fire

Our bathroom with its double shower and enormous tub

They are establishing a vegetable garden and a perfumed garden outside the cottage

At 7pm, we had dinner in the main restaurant. Because it was a rather raw night and we were the only people staying that night, they put our table in front of the fire, a wonderfully comfortable and romantic place for dinner

This is normally a nice warm nook to sit, next to the small library

The menu

We chose wine by the glass. There is a more comprehensive wine and drinks menu

John chose the tomato tart tatin

Lynne the well cooked and spiced calamari and prawn warm salad. The addition of orange segments was interesting

Because we had that large Mexican lunch at Tuk Tuk, Lynne chose the vegetarian option of tempura vegetables with a sweet soy dip as her main course. They were perfectly cooked, lovely and crisp and the dip, reminiscent of Indonesian Ketjap Manis sweet soy, was a good accompaniment

John chose the Duck breast with cabbage and walnuts, apple and a red wine glaze

just relaxing over a good dinner

Lynne chose the fruit juice sorbets, three flavours, citrus, tropical mix and red berry. More granita than sorbet and the citrus one was the best

John had the trio of chocolate

The chef on duty, Jonathan Swanepoel, came to introduce himself after the meal, an enthusiastic, friendly young man. The head chef had the evening off. We think he did a very good job

Next morning after a night of good rain the gardens looked refreshed and sparkling

A huge carved wooden heart with some carved toadstools

A tree angel

Time for breakfast. A good selection of cereals, cheese, meat and smoked salmon

Three different yogurts; most appreciated was the double thick

Fruit. The berry compote included mulberries and loganberries and was very good with the yoghurt

Our table by the window

This hammerhead shark sculpture was superbly done

Juice and a pot of good black coffee, and a nice fire

John’s selection

They have a good selection of breakfast dishes, Lynne chose scrambled egg and smoked salmon on a croissant

John had a cheese and bacon omelette

Both came with a rather superfluous sweet balsamic reduction and lots of rocket was on everything

Ah, the sun finally showed its face at 10 as we were leaving

The clouds lifting off the Simonsberg mountain behind the main restaurant and lounge building

The swimming pool was like a mirror and overflowing with the rain water

And the hot tub in front of the spa was steaming. A lovely stay in a tranquil place where they know how to look after guests

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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