.

Thursday, March 01, 2018

Tapas and wine at Bouchon Bistro & Wine Bar

Dorrance Wine Cellar, Heritage Square in Cape Town

We love wine bars and often wonder why they have not really caught on in the Cape. There are a few, but there could be many more. When Lynne returned to Cape Town from London in 1993 she wanted to open one. It will never work she was told, people don’t go out after work, they go home first and then they go out. But it seems things have changed and as Cape Town has become more work flexible, lots of people want to meet friends after work. We decided to go and see how Dorrance were succeeding with theirs

Christoph Durand was a barrel trader from France who decided to settle in the Cape more than two decades ago. He started to make his own (then garagiste) wines in rented spaces, but now has his own Dorrance mini winery at the back of the wine bar in the middle of central Cape Town

It looks more like a restaurant and, indeed, it has tied up with Faisal Khakoo of La Bohème bistro in Sea Point, who runs the kitchen - they serve a tapas menu. We were surprised to see linen table cloths in a wine bar and in the drought. They also serve other alcohols and we saw this gin tray with a selection of local artisanal gins ... gin cocktail anyone?

We read on the website that Dorrance wines are available for tasting till 6 pm and thereafter the wine bar is open but, although we arrived before six, the tastings were not taking place as it is harvest time. We did persuade the friendly staff to allow us a small tasting of three of their available wines

The Dorrance 2014 Chardonnay Cuvée Anaïs (R317 / R81 a glass on the menu) is rich and complex on the nose; full of peaches, with a full palate with more rich lushness and hints of peaches and apricots with citrus on the end. Wood lees are its backbone. It’s a Bourgogne with lots and lots of sunshine! The Dorrance Rouge (R150 / R50 a glass) is 100% Cinsault from the Swartland. It has the characteristic slightly metallic, almost Pinot Noir nose with gentle berry fruit. Clean rhubarb and cherries on the palate, a nice quaffing wine, and a good expression of what Cinsault ban be like in South Africa. It washes the palate and has long flavours. The 2014 Syrah Cuvée Ameena (R350 / R88 a glass) has spice and white pepper with soft bruléed cherries on the nose. Crisp on the palate with lively fruit acids, mulberries from the tree, soft chalky tannins, warmth on the end and a steely old world finish

The specials of the day

The three page tapas menu. Lots of choice! We asked about the sizes and they are all about 100g, so four would be good for two people, which is what we ordered. With her meal Lynne ordered a glass of the Dorrance Rosé also made from 100% Cinsault (R150 / R50). We assume that it is made with the free run juice of the Rouge. It has the same nose, but is much lighter and softer on the palate. John had a glass of the Viognier

Crispy curry spiced fried calamari on parsley couscous with aioli (R72.50). Nice and crisp tentacles and polpetti; we didn’t detect much curry spice, a good light aioli and superb olive oil couscous with parsley. Topped with fresh tomato, pea shoots and a slice of lemon. The chardonnay loved the couscous

Tuna Crudo with teriyaki and a mango and Peppadew salsa (R87.50) Fresh from the sea tuna, beautifully pink in a caramelised teriyaki, so, so good. There was competition eating this dish. Topped with raw onion, chilli and coriander salsa. Didn't notice any mango. The red chilli fought with the wine

Prawn and Spring Onion gnocchi in garlic and pecorino sauce (R79.50). Round in shape, rather doughy gnocchi, reminded us more of Chinese dim sum because of the texture and the spring onions. Loved the pecorino cream sauce. Plenty of prawns which were a bit chewy, topped with lemon, pepper and pea shoots, a good dish

Duck Rillette with toast and pickles (R70.50) Quite a dry rillette, no duck fat residue, good flavour. Served with good pickled cucumber and onion and toasted ciabatta bread. The duck and the pickles need each other, they sing together

The bill

Now we have to go back and try some more of those enticing Tapas. And hopefully the new season Chenin when it is available, currently it is sold out

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

Breakfast with Jason

Friday morning at Jason's Bakery

Jason Lilley now has two Bakeries in Cape Town and we had not yet been to the one in Green Point which opened late last year in an attractive Edwardian building. We haven't treated ourselves to breakfast for months, so on Friday morning we set off at 9.30. Why so late? The breakfast menu is quite small and they start serving sandwiches at 10, so we were hoping to have a choice of both options. http://www.jasonbakery.com/eat/

It was as busy as we would have expected it to be on a Saturday! Lots of tourists, honeymooners, people off work

There is a counter at the front where you can buy his bread and pastries to take home. And lots of people arrived after a nice walk, many with dogs, who have to stay outside the restaurant

The pastries look delectable

Jason is deservedly famous for his bread, and his pies

On the door or the walk in fridge!

A place to do your on line work?

We appreciated this

We began with two Americanos. Not great in a paper cup but necessary. Wondering whether we can take our own cups next time? Should we start a trend?

Lots of charcuterie, some imported in the fridge window

The Bakery is behind the service area, and seemed constantly busy; they have a fast turnover. Is that Jason on the right, pounding dough?

The Menu

Lynne ordered The Bomb, R58, a croissant with filled with bacon, Emmenthal cheese and a soft poached egg. T'was lovely, but she did envy John's huge sandwich

He had the BAB. R80 on Ciabatta, crisp streaky bacon, avo and Dalewood Brie. One might be enough for two people. .... maybe... As it was mid-morning, he was tempted and thought a beer would go down well with it. No luck... they aren't licensed

Our bill. Lynne had to take a pill and so had to order a bottle of still water. Huge price for 500ml. We took the bottle home to recycle it. We enjoyed our brekkie and will definitely be back for more. We bought two Pasteis de Nata home to have with our supper and they were superb. Light flaky pastry and really flavourful custard. Do they put alcohol in the custard? There did seem to be a faint whiff of something good. Is that the secret ingredient we keep hearing about?

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

Thursday, February 22, 2018

This Week's MENU. A Clifton Picnic, Black Sheep supper, Franschhoek & lunch at Mont Rochelle, Lime sorbet, Glen Carlou Curator’s Chenin

Sunset picnic on the rocks, Clifton

We say it often and we sometimes have to pinch ourselves to make sure that it’s real, even though we have both lived here on and off since the late 1940s and consistently for about the last 30 years. This is one of the world’s most beautiful and interesting places. We are entertaining friends from the Netherlands, who visit every year at about this time. One comment from them is that people at their home ask why they come back each year; don’t they get bored with seeing the same thing over and over again. Their reply is that they are never bored. There is so much to see that they seldom re-visit any of the places they have seen.

A Clifton Picnic and Moonstruck

We are avid listeners to Cape Talk Radio; it accompanies most of our working days at home. We have our Dutch friends here for a couple of months and Yvonne grew up in Clifton so when we heard about Moonstruck, a free concert organised by Cape Talk on Fourth Beach last Saturday night, we made plans to go. But, as both men hate sand between their toes, we decided to have it on the rocks overlooking the beach. The weather could not have been more perfect. Shaded by our hats, we could enjoy the late afternoon together

Supper at the Black Sheep

To say we have been trying to get to this restaurant for a long time would not be an exaggeration. We know the Chef Owner Jonathan Japha from his days at Fork Tapas restaurant in Long Street. It says on their website that he has love for UK gastropubs "that inspire his love for honest, uncomplicated good food made with the best local ingredients". But time and tide washed us to other shores. So when friends phoned to say they had a reservation but family had postponed and were we free, we jumped at the opportunity. It is their favourite restaurant in Cape Town, probably because there is a good selection of vegetarian options on this large menu, which changes regularly

A visit to Franschhoek with lunch at Mont Rochelle

It was all about the views. Oh and some restaurants. And of course wine. We took our Dutch friends to Franschhoek this week, at their request and showed them some beautiful wine farms, good restaurants and amazing views on the trip. And we tasted a few wines and had lunch. They are looking for a special restaurant to celebrate a birthday next month.

MENU's Wine of the Week

The newly released 2017 Curators Collection Chenin Blanc which blew our minds. Wow. This complex wine plays a tune on your palate - we foresee lots of awards for this vintage. It is an absolutely delicious rendition of what we would like Chenin to be. Wood shows on the end but Pianissimo. It has flavours of lemon, lime, golden peaches, loquats and litchi.

What is on the MENU this week. Lime Sorbet

The heat is getting to us so we can only think of cool things. Which made us think about a sorbet. They are not difficult to make if you have a freezer or an ice cream machine, but they must be made with strong flavours as the ice can make them bland. This is John's daughter Clare's favourite sorbet. Limes are coming into season, so you should be able to find them. Great if you are dairy challenged. Limes are sometimes difficult to juice, make sure you buy enough and that they are not stone hard

1 cup of water - 1 cup of sugar - 1 cup of lime juice - 1 teaspoon of finely grated zest of lime

Heat the sugar in the water till the sugar melts, then add the lime juice. Simmer gently for three minutes. Cool completely and then add the zest. Put into your ice cream machine and churn till set. Freeze, covered, till ready to use.

If you don't have a machine, pour the mixture into a shallow metal baking tin and cover. Put in your freezer until completely frozen, about 2 hours. Then break the frozen mixture into pieces and place in a blender; blend until smooth. Place in a container and store, covered, in the freezer until ready to serve

22nd February 2018

Subscribe to MENU

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

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. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a me

What is on the MENU this week. Lime Sorbet

Image © Sam Tan's Kitchen

1 cup of water - 1 cup of sugar - 1 cup of lime juice - 1 teaspoon of finely grated zest of lime

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

MENU's Wine of the Week. Glen Carlou Curator's Collection Chenin blanc 2017

The newly released 2017 Curators Collection Chenin Blanc which blew our minds. Wow. This complex wine plays a tune on your palate - we foresee lots of awards for this vintage

It is an absolutely delicious rendition of what we would like Chenin to be. Wood shows on the end but Pianissimo. It has flavours of lemon, lime, golden peaches, loquats and litchi

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

A visit to Franschhoek with lunch at Mont Rochelle

We began at Glenelly as our friends had seen our post about it last week and were keen to see this beautiful farm in Ida's Valley. It lies at the bottom of the Helshoogte Pass in front of the Simonsberg. They were very impressed

Then it was up to the top of the pass to Delaire Graff, where they admired a different view of the same mountain and the vineyards in front. We bumped into the winemaker Morné Vrey who is in the middle of his harvest, saw the amazing jewels, the art and sculptures and looked at their menu

Franschhoek was shimmering in the heat and we made our way to Mont Rochelle which also has lovely views across that valley

We headed for the Country Kitchen in the old house next to the winery, as it was time for lunch. They do have a fine dining restaurant Miko, at the hotel

You can have picnics in the vines there (they must be booked beforehand) and we did see some folk heading that way with the large picnic basket. Others were braving the heat and eating on the terrace

We headed inside for the coolth of the old building, and the good blasts of air from the roof fans

This is the tasting room area

Bread and butter was brought to the table

The menu has something for everyone, but is not very exciting. We were a little surprised at the prices, as it was much more reasonable the last time we visited, but it seems they have upped their game. Good to see them supporting SASSI - using only sustainable fish

Three of us decided to go for the Beef hamburger (it can come with a chicken breast instead) and it was a very, very good choice; it is a hamburger like no other, royalty in the genre. Not something Lynne has often but this was probably the best burger she has had for years. They cost R170

The Angus beef is roughly minced, has great flavour and is not filled out with anything. We all asked for them to be cooked medium and they were rather rarer than that in the middle but it was fine, the beef was so good, it was like eating a good beef tartare. You can of course ask for well done. The sesame bun comes drenched in creamy mayonnaise, cheese, a large slice of tomato, slices of pickled cucumber, rocket and marvellous crisp and crunchy fried onions. And as an extra a small pot of sliced mushrooms cooked in a creamy sauce that tasted as if it had brandy in it. The icing on a great cake, if you love mushrooms. Lynne got John's! Most of the buns were set aside as we tackled this moist flame grilled burger with gusto. However the chips were very disappointing as they came 'slap' not crisp, something many South Africans enjoy, but we detest half cooked limp oily chips. We had asked for crisp chips and when we mentioned this to the manageress she quickly brought us a large bowl of good crisp chips to share. Thank you!

Yvonne ordered the fish cakes which she said are full of fish, not padded out with potato. They were served on a radish and celery salsa, wild rocket, a tartare sauce, caper berries and pickled cucumber. R165. A substantial dish for a small eater, she took a doggie bag of two home with her

We didn't order a bottle of wine, instead we did the wine tasting. with lunch. The very well trained sommelier Natania served us and gave us all the information we needed about the wines. Her knowledge impressed us and she told us that she has passed WSET 2 and the Cape Wine Academy exams. We opted for two of the 5 wine flights at R75 per flight and we shared. 5 Wine Flight – R75 per person

Mont Rochelle Little Rock Blanc 2015. A wine we all liked while it was chilled. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon and Viognier. They all show up individually and then get together. So the nose is most dusty full Semillon, Guavas from hot country Sauvignon Blanc, then the Chardonnay arrives crisp and clean with limes, and the Viognier brings the peach and melon. A slight bitterness on the end from perhaps one component that has a lot of wood

Mont Rochelle Sauvignon Blanc 2017. This lovely Sauvignon needs less chill for the characteristic green leaves, peppers and figs to reveal themselves. As it opens up on the palate, apples and English gooseberries show well. A food wine

Mont Rochelle Chardonnay 2016 has toasted brioche on the nose, and lot of wood on the palate. Limes, lemons and apricots from 4% viognier which is added.

Mont Rochelle Little Rock Rouge 2014 a Bordeaux blend, is almandine garnet purple, has a lovely nose, red berries and unexpected complexity. Juicy with warm alcohol, with sweet cherries and berries

Mont Rochelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 Classic cassis driven Cabernet on the nose. Some wood hints on both nose and palate. Some green tannins and cassis leaves

Mont Rochelle Syrah 2014 Pepper and spice on the nose full of red and black fruit, warm alcohol and dark coffee chocolate wood

On the terrace

The girls needed to do some quick shopping in town so the lads dropped them and went off to Le Lude to taste some of their renowned bubbly. Very French Empire in influence, this is the tasting room

The glass floor gives one a sight of the bottles in the pupitres, slowly being riddled to get the lees to the neck of the bottles

Impressive chandeliers ...

.... and impressive Bubbly

Time being a little constrained (we'd been given half an hour) we elected the most simple tasting, the Brut NV and Brut Rosé, priced at R90. Le Lude's wines are different in that the second fermentation happens under cork, rather than the more common crown steel cap. The Brut is still a little young, but has light yeasty flavour over gentle citrus and a a refined bubble. The Rosé is more of a cocktail party wine, ripe strawberry flavour giving an impression of sweetness while it is still bone dry and a good, energetic bubble

Our final farm was on the way home. Glen Carlou also has a great view over the vineyards looking towards the Paarl mountains. We were ably served by Zayne Smith, another WSET graduate. He has attained Level 3. It is very encouraging to see how many people showing the wines on wine estates are being given this training

It was very hot in the afternoon so we sat on the shaded balcony and tasted five wines. We began with the Unwooded Chardonnay made in a ceramic egg. It has the reductive characteristic that one would expect from wine made this way

Then the newly released 2017 Curators Collection Chenin Blanc which blew our minds. Wow. This complex wine plays a tune on your palate - we foresee lots of awards for this vintage. It is an absolutely delicious rendition of what we would like Chenin to be. Wood shows on the end but Pianissimo. It has flavours of lemon, lime, golden peaches, loquats and litchi. It is our wine of the week and yes we did buy some

The Quartz Stone 2016 Chardonnay has a nose full of red apples, caramel and cloves, soft and creamy, then the fruit appears. Elegant and clean, a good food wine

The 2015 Pinot Noir with roses, violets and cherries on the nose. Soft fruit with some fresh fruit acids, lightly wooded with some chalky tannins. Needs more time, this could be a 10 year Pinot, built to last

2015 Shiraz has incense wood, cherries and spice on the nose. It delighted our Shiraz fans, Cherryade on the palate with good fruit acids, warmth and some chalky tannins, with licorice wood on the end

These friendly Barn Swallows were perched on a wire above us

We saw them in Germany last May and are amazed at such a small bird's ability to fly between continents

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU