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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Breakfast at Shift coffee bar, Green Point

We have not been out for breakfast for ages and wanted to get together with good friends we haven't seen for a while. The original plan was to go to Jason's in Green Point but when we got there we discovered he closes on Sunday (Memo to self - always check the web site first). We wandered along Main Road, knowing we would find something open in this area and the sign above the Shift Coffee door on the ground floor of the Cape Royal Hotel building told us that this was possibly the place for us. It read "Death Before Decaff!" and we agree

Some cyclists leaving after having their breakfast. They told us that the coffee is very good

A small enclosed courtyard and lots more room inside

Lots of shade under the umbrellas and usually lots of free parking in the area, however the Cape Carnival had been held in Main Road the day before and they were breaking down the stands and the Big Walk was ending. We all found nearby parking, eventually

Things to buy to take home at the counter, croissants and filled rolls

Run by Italians, we knew the coffee would be good. Americanos were R19, a Cappuccino R20

Lynne ordered The Breakfast Croissant with bacon and scrambled egg. Good croissants, very crisp and layered. R40. The eggs were cooked dry and needed to be more buttery and soft. Bacon was good

Scrambled egg and sliced avocado with health bread, and a small salad for a vegetarian. R36

A filled omelette with mushrooms and cheese and cooked baby tomatoes with rocket; John’s had bacon in it instead of the mushrooms

Some of those tempting filled rolls. The prices are reasonable too

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Tasting at Simonsig, lunch at Glenelly

Spoiled wonderfully at Simonsig followed by a Birthday lunch at Glenelly

We mentioned to Johan Malan last week that we planned to bring our Dutch friends to Simonsig this week, on our way to attend our friend Peter's Birthday lunch at Glenelly. And they really pushed the boat out for us at Simonsig and made it such a special day for us and especially for Peter

Itumeleng in the tasting room saw Peter looking at the Sabrage sword and then taught Peter how to do it on a bottle of Kaapse Vonkel Rosé. He was thrilled

Peter removed the top of the bottle perfectly and John managed to catch the cork flying through the air - you can see it at the top of the glass door.

Now he knows how to do it, we expect to drink even more MCCs and Champagnes. As he is a retired Dutch Naval Commander, we think he may have his own sword

Then we began tasting with the three most popular MCCs that Simonsig produce, the Brut, the Rosé and the Cuvée Royale. They are all excellent and, apparently, these wines are sold in Holland, but only in restaurants

Because lunch was booked for 12.30 and we were meeting others there, we went straight to the Red wines, as these are what Peter likes to drink. We began with the 2013 Tiara, a Cabernet driven Bordeaux blend full of spicy wood and black berries which still needs time to gather its skirts together; the 2015 Redhill Pinotage which begins shy then boom! opens up. A powerful wine with spicy wood, lots of fruit and licorice and elegance. Next the really impressive 2015 Frans Malan, which is a Cape blend of Pinotage, Cabernet and Merlot. It is still youthful, with cassis on the nose with richness and hints of vanilla, full of spicy cassis and plums and future

Then something very special from the Vinoteque: the 2004 Merindol Syrah has balsam on the nose and soft sweet integrated fruit on the palate, still has time to go. And then to contrast,the 2014 Merindol Syrah, which Itumeleng decanted through an aerator. You can see the relationship. The wine is soft, silky and sweet, with spiced black current jub jub berries, chalky tannins, and dark wood on the long finish. What a treat to compare two vintages, ten years apart

The top wine, The Garland Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, is herbal, with sweet cassis and violets on the nose. On the palate, the wine had cherry notes, perfume and complexity, so soft and full, it is silky with soft chalky tannins and warmth. Built to last, the wine has such quality and length. We felt very privileged to taste these special wines

Wine Advisor Itumeleng Mohale and Peter with a magnum of Kaapse Vonkel

On to lunch at Glenelly and the menu had to be studied well, as there were so many temptations

This was the menu of the day

The pepper crusted oh-so-tender springbok fillet, served with fresh spanspek melon, a horseradish sauce, pickled vegetables and baby leaves. Lots of flavour.

A very popular starter was the Prawn and Langoustine Bisque with chive cream, which got great applause

The lightly cured hake and mussel marinière, with grilled baby courgette, Mediterranean potatoes and glazed carrots. The hake was pronounced especially well cooked and delicious

Peter ordered the Pork cheeks Grande Mere and was rather envied by a couple of us. It is a beautiful dish, with melting pig cheeks and a very rich jus with lots of vegetables, beluga lentils, and glazed onions and cabbage. This was the perfect dish for the Glenelly Glass Collection Syrah

The Bouillabaisse was generous. It had four pieces of fish - silvers and panga, calamari, lots of mussels, and a gigantic prawn. It also correctly came with a dish of rouille, the spicy sauce you top those tiny croutons with and float in the bisque. Almost too big a portion for one, some had to be left and the bisque could have been a little deeper in flavour. Went with a carafe of Glenelly Glass Collection unwooded Chardonnay

John chose the Beef Rib eye Steak with potato wedges, root vegetables and a mustard sauce, drenched in a wonderfully aromatic and flavourful gravy. He relished the dish

Yes we did have room for dessert. This was the much enjoyed warm melting dark chocolate "biscuit" served with poached figs, and a Chantilly yoghurt

Lynne had to have the Canelé from Bordeaux; she knows Chef Christophe is a master at them. Hard to describe its between a baked pancake and a stiff panna cotta, set and caramelised on the outside, gooey and creamy inside. Once you have had a good Canelé you are hooked for life. Served with sharp caramelised pineapple, a good foil for the sweetness of the dish, and a rooibos and honey ice cream. A very good ice cream if you are a fan of rooibos tea. Lynne is not and it did completely take over the dish, hiding even the honey. Without it the dish was good for her. You may love it

The Rum Baba, a soft pudding cake soaked in rum and topped with preserved sour plums and a Chantilly cream and a plum coulis. Pronounced delicious by the Birthday celebrant

The beautiful views from Glenelly

Vines after harvest

Our waitress taking photos for the group.

Cattle in the far fields

The Hottentots Holland mountains through the vine pergola

We had been to see the glass collection before and made sure the group went downstairs to look at it. Such an interesting end to a lovely day in Stellenbosch

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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Lunch at Nom Nom, RMB Starlight Classics 2018, Wines of Portugal, Moussaka, Perdeberg Malbec

From our deck, late evening

After a couple of relatively quiet weeks, we are suddenly in a maelstrøm of events, some of which were very exciting and resulted in a huge number of photographs to select and edit. So we have done our best to get this week’s MENU out on schedule, but beg forgiveness because we are a little late. We have visited a re-branded restaurant, attended a fabulous open-air concert and experienced a selection of interesting wines from another country, picked grapes on an historic wine estate and helped to stomp them, and been to a preview of a great traditional festival. Not all of these are below; you’ll read about some of them next week….

Lunch at Nom Nom in Somerset West

Nom Nom is the new identity of the restaurant on the corner of Main Road and Coronation Avenue in Somerset West which used to be Benguela on Main. Owned by Penny Streeter who owns Benguela Cove winery in Hermanus, this opened in December and is a welcome addition to the dining selection in the area. They have swapped the fine dining of Benguela on Main, which did not suit the locals, for a concept that allows the customer lots of options all day. As the manager JC van der Merwe says, "If you want a steak early in the morning and breakfast at four you can have it." Or just sit and have tea, milkshakes and nibbles at lunchtime as some ladies at an adjoining table were doing when we were there. We were invited to sample the food and the experience at the restaurant by Penny Streeter

RMB Starlight Classics 2018

This Afro Symphonic tribute to our beautiful country brings together a collection of diverse musical talent and incredible singers and instrumentalists, under the legendary baton of Maestro Richard Cock. It was founded 20 years ago. It is held each year at Vergelegen in Stellenbosch and in Johannesburg at the Johannesburg Country Club and we were delighted to receive an invitation again this year.

Duorum wines of Portugal from João Portugal Ramos

We were very pleased to be invited to a tasting of some special Portuguese wines this week. The tasting was to be at Muratie Wine Farm and would be followed by lunch. We do not see many good Portuguese wines in South Africa, most often Port and entry-level Vinho Verde. Both of us are familiar with Portuguese wines from travelling and our studies and it was a really good opportunity to see what the current Portuguese industry is producing.

On the MENU this week. Moussaka

We haven't made a substantial dish for a while and, as we are getting ready to entertain, Lynne wanted to try out one of her old recipes. You should use minced lamb, but you can also use beef mince if the current price of lamb scares you to death. It is a rich dish so, usually, just accompanied by a classic Greek salad of tomato, olives, green peppers and feta. You can add sliced potatoes to make it go further, or just serve with crusty bread. If you add a little macaroni, it's called Pastitsio - from the Italian influence.

Ingredients

150-175ml olive oil - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 3 garlic cloves, crushed - 900g lean minced lamb - 50ml white wine - 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes - 1 x 5cm piece cinnamon stick - handful fresh oregano leaves, preferably wild Greek oregano, chopped or 1 t dried oregano - 3 large aubergines - salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

75g butter - 75g plain flour - 600ml milk - 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated - 2 medium free-range eggs, beaten

Heat two teaspoons of the oil in a pan; add the onions and garlic and fry until just beginning to brown. Add the mince and fry over a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the wine, tomatoes, cinnamon and oregano and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes while you make everything else. Preheat your oven at 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6.

Slice the stalks off the aubergines and cut them lengthways into 5mm slices. Heat a frying pan until it is hot, add one tablespoon of the oil and a layer of aubergine slices. Fry quickly until tender and lightly coloured on each side. Lift out with tongs and put a layer of them in the base of a 2.5-2.75 litre shallow ovenproof dish and season lightly with a little salt and pepper. Remove the cinnamon stick from the mince sauce, season to taste with some salt and pepper and spoon a layer over the top of the aubergines. Repeat the layers, seasoning each as you go. Have a mince layer on top.

For the topping, melt the butter in a non-stick pan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for one minute to cook out the flour. Gradually beat in the milk; bring to the boil, stirring, and leave to simmer very gently for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. You can also make a quick roux in your microwave. Stir in the cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Cool slightly and then beat in the eggs.

Pour over the topping and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden-brown and bubbling.

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Perdeberg 2015 Malbec

We used this wine in a blend we were asked to make this week at a function at Perdeberg cellar - more about that next week - and the wine really impressed us, again. We have bought it previously

On the nose it is quite sophisticated and integrated, with echoes of French Malbecs. On the palate this big wine is savoury at first with salty liquorice then opening to robust dark fruit, shy supporting wood and good fresh fruit acids to help it last. It made a good blending wine especially with Pinotage, adding structure and depth. Great value at R98 per bottle ex cellar

7th March 2018

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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 message

On the MENU this week. Prawn and Tamarind Curry

Image © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

3cm piece of ginger - 1 onion - 2 cloves of garlic - 150 g ripe tomatoes - 3 T vegetable or coconut oil - ½ t black mustard seeds - ¼ t fenugreek seeds - 12 fresh or dried curry leaves - 1 t chilli powder - 1 t ground coriander - ¼ t ground turmeric - 1 T tamarind pulp - 12 peeled king prawns - sea salt - 1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk - 2 dried red chillies - 1 fresh green chilli if you want more heat

1 T = Tablespoon 1 t = teaspoon

Peel and finely chop the onions, crush the garlic. Grate the ginger and chop the tomatoes.

Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and, when it’s almost smoking, add the mustard seeds, the fenugreek, ginger and the curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds, then add the onion and the garlic and cook over a medium heat until golden.

Add the chilli powder, coriander and turmeric, and stir for a few seconds. Add the tomato and tamarind. Simmer until slightly reduced and you can start to see oil separating from the sauce.

Add a few tablespoons of water to get the sauce back to the consistency it was before, season with sea salt. Simmer until the sauce is quite dry. Then add the coconut milk and the prawns; bring back to boil and turn the heat down to low till the prawns are cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning. This makes quite a chunky curry. If you want it smooth, and we do, just put in your stick blender and blitz to the desired consistency BEFORE you add the prawns. They only take a minute or two to cook.

In another pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, the chillies and remaining mustard seeds and curry leaves. Fry for 10 seconds or so, then tip into the curry. Serve with steamed rice, some atchars and a sweet chutney which will temper the tartness that the tamarind brings.

We enjoyed with a 2016 Chenin blanc from De Wet cellar, a previous Wine of the Week

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Harvest Day at Lanzerac, Stellenbosch

It is Harvest time in the winelands, so we were up early to join the arranged transport to Lanzerac in Stellenbosch (for which we are very grateful) and warmly welcomed on arrival by General Manager Barend Barnard

He provided us with reviving coffees before whipping us up the mountain in 4x4 vehicles

We have known the farm for many years, but had absolutely no idea that the Lanzerac vineyards went so high up the mountain. This was the Shiraz vineyard

Fantastic, huge bunches of blue Shiraz grapes were being picked and we could join in

Just a quick explanation of how to do it from Barend and Viticulturist Danie Malherbe. We are old hands and really enjoy picking grapes

Botmaskop mountain. Their green vineyard up on its slopes on the right is the highest vineyard in central Stellenbosch, it is planted with Sauvignon Blanc at 560m above sea level

Lynne starts picking

and in the next row, Leanne “The Wine Girl” Beattie begins to fill her crate

Lovely blue grapes

Our kind helper took off leaves, so we could see where the plentiful grapes were hiding. Apparently the size of the grapes is down because of the lack of water, but the quality is up. And he carried our full crates to the tractor

Now that is a huge bunch

Full crate, NEXT!

It was very hot indeed and it was time to go back the cellar

This is one of the professional pickers, they are so fast!

Views over the Stellenbosch Hills and Stellenbosch

A very empty dam

A tractor bringing the grapes to the cellar for pressing

Pinotage grapes from a bush vine

Looking down the rows

Botmaskop

Two of the names of older vineyards, either side of the road

Hand sorting as the grapes come in

The cellar is buzzing with working winemakers

We were extremely grateful for these ice cold damp cloths and the cool cellar after the 34ºC heat in the vineyards

Ah, yes please, we would love a glass of the excellent MCC Blanc de Blanc Brut with its lovely citrus flavours and crisp bubbles, 100% Chardonnay

Chilling

The wines of the Keldermeester Versameling (Cellarmaster Selection): Bergpad Pinot blanc, Prof (dedicated to Professor Perold, the father of Pinotage) and Dok (in honour of rugby legend "Doc" Craven). The labels are very difficult to photograph, with embossed lettering in a white label

Three of Lanzerac's top wines: Mrs English Chardonnay, Le General Bordeaux blend and the Pionier Pinotage

Are you game to press by foot?

Winemaker Wynand Lategan joins us for the tasting. Barend talks about the wines

Wynand demonstrates grape pressing

Volunteers having fun

Very squishy and a good exfoliator of feet

New volunteers, who are joined by Barend

till smiling, but waiting to get into the foot bath

Juicy

More of the Lanzerac wines

Wynand then gave us some tank samples to taste. First the base wine for the MCC. It’s a good rich Chardonnay

and shares it out

Then the base wine for the Pinotage Rosé, which has lovely summer fruit

Gives Lynne a taste of his Semillon

and some for PRO Pippa Pringle

Barend gets some of the almost black Pinotage

And we get to taste the Pinotage grapes

with the newly fermented wine. You can see the similarity

In their Vinoteque Lanzerac's famous skittle bottle. While the first grapes came from Bellevue farm in 1959, Lanzerac was the farm that made them into the first bottled Pinotage. This is from the 1992 vintage

We got to look at these old gems. No tasting sadly. The 1957 Cabernet Sauvignon

Handle with care, these wines are rare

Time for lunch, which was served on the Deli terrace under shade. It was served family style

The menu. You too can go and have this lunch

Chef Stephen Fraser had prepared us a feast. They do picnics as well. The new restaurant is being rebuilt after the disastrous fire which destroyed several buildings last year

Hopefully, it will open in a couple of months' time

Killer crisp salted potato wedges, sprinkled with cheese, so hard to resist

Snoek Paté served with Pinotage grape jelly, pickled onions and a Lavash cracker

A mixed salad with Pinotage Biltong, minted courgette slices, pink candy beetroot slices, pomegranate aruls, peppered Caciotta cheese and sun dried tomatoes

A very generous cheese board of great local cheeses, fruit chutneys, dried apricots and walnut nuts

Mini filled farm pies

Slow braised lamb, pulled and formed into patties, then breadcrumb coated and deep fried. Topped with pea shoots and mayonnaise. These were really excellent, full of rich lamb

Hot smoked trout salad

Different shaped mini pies, these seemed to have a sweet and sour filling

We were served some of the excellent Lanzerac wines with lunch

The small desserts were all made by a skilled pastry chef. A mini chocolate mousse with crisp broken meringue, honeycomb and mini choc Maltesers for texture; there was a tiny apple tart and a mini light-as-air lemon meringue tart; both had thin, buttery perfect pastry. We had these with espresso coffees

Lanzerac's main building was devastated by fire last year and is currently being rebuilt. We were taken on a tour to see what is happening. We so admire the skill of building this oak crux frame roof over the reception area, very, very specialised. This was how ships and houses were built in the 16th century, generally in England

The same reception hall, which was about to go through a makeover, when we photographed it in November 2016, before the fire made the makeover even more necessary!