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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

MENU's Iberian Exploit 13. Toledo

It is so great when a plan comes together and it did on May Day. We had booked our AirBnB in Toledo in what looked like a central place and boy was it ever. A mansion block on a main road with a lift to the large and comfortable apartment which was just 300 meters from the escalator that takes you up the steep hill to the old town. There was safe, free parking in the area too, near the local park. Once we were settled in, it was time for some lunch and our landlord recommended this local restaurant, Reconquista. It was a Public Holiday, so many places in the area were closed. As you can see from the clothing worn in the photo below, the cold weather was back

A popular and busy bar too

We got a table just in time; it was 2 o’clock, the time most Spaniards seem to start lunch

Tapas of the day was baby elvers and aioli on bruschetta with good green olives. We suspect that these were rather like the crab sticks we are used to, not real elvers but made from gelatin, flavour and colouring but interesting and enjoyable. The glass of white wine was part of our Menu de Dia and was a Vino Blanco Verdejo; grapey, Chenin-like with perfume, greengages and pineapple, crisp acidity and a short finish

John chose the creamed soup for his starter which turned out to be a mushroom soup, so we swapped. Rich but not creamy, lots of puréed mushroom, Evidence of truffle oil on the top

Lynne had chosen the dish of beans and prawns. Well not quite prawns, just four tiny shrimps which topped a dish of long-cooked green and wax beans, carrots, aubergine, with interesting flavours of cumin and turmeric, with the plate dressed with a balsamic glaze

We both chose the same main course, an entrecote steak, nicely en point, well seared outside, seasoned with flaked salt and pink and juicy inside. It came with sliced potatoes in olive oil, some pimento, and half a lemon. The flavour was good, the steak a bit chewy, Lynne liked the good crisp fat, John did NOT

With our main course, we each had a glass of a Castilian Tempranillo from Toledo. Rich and full of vanilla oak, heady and lactic with nice spice, some floral notes and it went well with the steak for John. Lynne found it overpowering. Typically, it was included in the price of the meal

The waiter brought John a glass of this wine, a Vino Tinto from La Mancha, Mano à Mano. Not too tannic and with ripe cherry fruit, a hint of tomato and a little tobacco on the nose

For dessert we chose a flan and cheesecake, nice but unremarkable and we forgot to take photographs. The bill, with a coffee for John

The view up to the old town from the road where we were staying. On the right, you can see the system of escalators which take people up and down the steep hill

The old city wall and the Alcazar

The view of the new town going up the escalator. We think this is such a clever innovation for a city on the top of a very steep hill

There is no way you would want to drive up here. No parking except for residents and small narrow streets which are a nightmare for driving, the buildings are often medieval. The best way to get around is to walk

And we do mean narrow

And it is not flat, even on top of the hill, you walk up hill and down dale the whole day

Blue sky above a city emblem

We headed for the Charles V Hotel which has a rooftop bar with a view and were shown, after a short wait, to a table on the side with great views of the old city and its rooftops, looking toward the Church of San Lorenzo

Craft beer at the rooftop bar. €4 a pop for 330ml = ±R56 a glass, but we were only there once! You get a bowl of nibbles and a bowl of sweeties with the beers

Very good German style craft beer

For lovers of Iberian ham. Hams hanging from the ceiling of a Charcuterie shop

And other local delicacies for sale below them

A shop selling marzipan

The Tagus river almost circles the city. At this point, we realised we were in the wrong place. It was at this point that we found that there are two escalators and we were at the top of the wrong one. You could not see the river from ours. We had another long exploratory walk through the town until we came to the right one

The following morning it was up to the old town again. The old city of Toledo dates back about 2000 years. It was built on top of a steep hill, a challenge for old, tired legs

To help, a seven stage escalator system was built on the east side of the city and another
in the west to take pedestrians from the new city at the bottom of the hill up to the top.
It was opened by King Juan Carlos I in 2000

This is the view of the street we were staying in. Our building is the second block down

Wandering through the old town and finding old palaces, churches and other historic buildings

Lots of tourists and lots of guided tours. We prefer to follow a map and just wander

Villas in the hills beyond

The beautiful ceiling of the foyer in the 15th Century Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes

The Tagus River, which reaches the sea at Lisbon

The memorial to Doménikos Theotokópoulos, widely known as the artist El Greco,
opposite the El Greco museum

We wanted to go to his museum but need to let you know that not all is what it seems. It is in a house in the Jewish quarter in which they thought he once lived. It turns out that it is not his old house, but it has been turned into his museum. Entrance was free for us (not sure why but probably because we looked ancient and pensioners get in free of charge)

The house has been lovingly restored to represent the way
his house is believed to have looked in his time

Wine or olive oil amphora and lovely tiles

What they are really saying is that there is only one El Greco picture in the museum,
most are elsewhere

No Smeg or Bosch equipment here! The reconstruction of the kitchen

A gallery above a beautiful carved door

And the paintings; copies of El Greco's work, other local artists and works of his pupils

Blue skies but still chilly

Looking down at the central courtyard

And finally we found the one el Greco painting - or was it? Painted to be placed high on a wall and observed from far below, the figures are elongated and out of proportion. The hands on his figures are so long and feminine

The room has a magnificent ceiling with Moorish influences

The garden is pretty with seating areas

And you can visit the cellars which have been excavated beneath the building.
Apparently they are all that remains of the palace built by Samuel ha Levi in the mid 14th Century.
He was the treasurer of king Pedro I "the Cruel" of Castile and founder
of the Synagogue of El Transito in the Jewish Quarter of Toledo

Apparently some of these were water cisterns. They date back to medieval times

John thought we were going to have another café Menu del Dia. But Lynne thought it was time we pushed the boat out and she'd spotted this hotel restaurant on our way to the museum. The draw card was the 7 course degustation menu. She was missing complex food. We were reverting to type! This was our lunch menu. The name of the Restaurant is La Fabrica de Harinas (the flour factory)

We chatted to our nearest neighbours, a pleasant couple from Britain who were taking a similar trip to ours and who were staying in the hotel. It has a rather strange name: Hotel 5JR

The drinks menu

Our waitress, who was also the Sommelier, suggested we try two different white wines and so we had a glass of each and shared. The Blanco Nieva Verdejo had a grape almond whiff and was refreshing and clean, no challenge. The other packed a punch with full on fruit with some tannins, leesy with some slight bitterness on the end

The first course was supposed to be a tasting of different local Extra Virgin olive oils with bread. We were given only one. Good bread, a bland and safe olive oil, but not what was promised. This amuse was served first. A small pita bread topped with an aubergine purée, rather moreish and possibly Moorish, topped with a honey and date syrup and some chopped chives

The first course promised a salad topped with shaved Foie. The foie didn’t taste of anything but fat, definitely not gras as we know it. It was accompanied by red berries from a tin, tomatoes and grapes with a yoghurt and lime dressing. Strange, different, the 'foie' left a fatty coating on the mouth and we were grateful for the white wines

Described as red tuna belly, the small shavings of fish were delightful but the three slivers disappeared in an instant. It was placed on wafer thin prawn crackers, guacamole, samphire, lime and lemon spheres and pansies. Absolutely delicious, but only a moment's satisfaction as it was so minute. More tuna please chef. That is the olive oil in the background

Squid, charcoal onion and Kimchi mayonnaise. One mini squid, cut in two, cooked beautifully in tempura batter on a bed of delicious caramelized sticky onion jam. The squid and the onion jam did not go together, but were good on their own. This came with some slightly acid (from the Kimchi pickle) pink mayonnaise reminiscent of prawn cocktail mayo with a rather unpleasant smell, so it was easy to avoid

Time for some red wine, a glass of the house Tempranillo. Incense wood, violets, herbs, mulberry; this spent 3 months in wood. Robust fruit on the palate, rhubarb and plums and dark berries, fizzy, bitter wood and grippy tannins on the end; the way Spain enjoys its reds

Venison loin, slightly smoked as it was grilled over an open fire. Very tender and well flavoured, salty, pink inside but a bit stringy, with tendons. Accompanied by baby corn, asparagus and baby carrots with a green apple purée (with no hint of apple or the raspberry that the menu promised)- it tasted more of vegetables

Time for dessert and there were two. We think the pastry chef is very talented. The white chocolate had been subjected to dry ice which gives it a puffy meringue-like consistency which melts in the mouth but still tastes of chocolate. The apple sorbet was sharp and showed green apple at its best, served with cream and some rather sharp early season berries - a lovely refreshing dessert

We feared this because of the menu description, what we got was life changing. Described as Manchego cheesecake with thyme ice cream on more red berries. It looked very deconstructed, with not a crumb in sight. Blobs of what tasted like thickened old fashioned condensed milk (who doesn't like that?) interspersed with heady, savoury thyme ice cream. The cheese was there but hiding well, Manchego is a robust hard cheese. We have to use Thyme in desserts more, it was absolutely fantastic in its thick creaminess. Lynne is seeking a recipe

We felt that the chefs are trying for a Michelin star or at least for attention, but with only one waitress for the whole restaurant at lunchtime, who was willing and pleasant but rushed off her feet, this won’t happen. Sad for the obvious talent in the kitchen. Despite some small off notes, we really enjoyed this meal. The bill was large as we expected, but worth the experience. And, yes, we did add a tip for our hard working waitress who really looked after us

Back to the streets to walk off lunch and see more of this historic city which was once the capital of Spain

One of the main Plazas

The spire of Toledo Cathedral. Very difficult to reproduce when photographed from a confined space. Thank you Photoshop. With a professional view camera it would have been easier. An SLR makes Photoshop a necessity

We found a tour of some catacombs showing Roman and later ruins beneath the city

And chanced on an open door with the wonderful smell of freshly worked wood.
Invited inside, we saw this talented craftsman in his little workshop, working at his lathe
and with pieces he has made on display

The Toledo turner at his lathe, turning a ball from a block made up from different
coloured pieces of wood. So nice to see a real craftsman and his tools

The next morning it was time to leave Toledo to travel to Madrid.
John walked through the park to collect the car

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Thursday, June 21, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Morvino tasting; Old Mutual Trophy tasting; Iberian Exploit – Granada, Valdepeñas; Chicken Waterblom bredie; Bellingham Roussanne

A bee in the rosemary flowers

We are celebrating some lovely rainy weather, which was put into context by an image on Instagram showing the week’s forecast in the south of England with not a cloud in sight. We are not swimming yet, but the Western Cape dam levels are now at an average level of just over 40%, with Theewaterskloof, our most important reservoir, having reached 29% from being almost empty in early April. From water to wine, the wine tasting season continues. There have been some lovely highlights, both at the small Morvino trade tasting and at the Public Tasting of the Old Mutual Trophy winners at the CTICC. We continue our Spanish narrative, this week telling you about our time in Granada and Valdepeñas. So click on the links below and read the stories

Tasting the wines of the 2018 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show at the CTICC

There were all the Trophy wines to taste, then the Gold Medals, and the Silvers. But there is never enough time to taste that many wines. Where do you start? Well, after lots of hellos and hugs and congratulations, with the Trophy wines of course. The wines are laid out alphabetically around the room, so this entails a lot of dotting about. And we started with the 2011 Laborie Blanc de Blanc which won the Trophy for the best Méthode Cap Classique and has always been right at the top of our list of favourite Blancs de Blanc

Morvino trade tasting at Villa 47

This small and rather classy Pop Up tasting of the products of some of of Morvino's smaller clients was "to take away the noise" of the big farms and let the trade see how good these smaller brands are. It certainly worked for us. We were very impressed with some of these brands

MENU's Iberian Exploit 11. Granada

More Castles in Spain this week as our journey continued from Cordoba to Granada through beautiful countryside. We needed to stop for lunch and it was this castle that drew us to the small town of Alcaudete in the province of Jaen. We stopped in this flower meadow high above the town for the best view

MENU's Iberian Exploit 12. Valdepeñas

John wanted us to stop in Valdepeñas in Spain to taste some of their wines, this being one of the largest wine growing areas in the country. It was an adventure, but we were not successful in tasting any wine. They have not yet discovered wine tourism; you can buy wine at the wineries (well priced) but not taste any before you buy. There was no AirBnB or Booking.com accommodation available for the night we needed, but Lynne did find a roadside motel in Santa Cruz de Modela on Hotels.com (we like them because you rack up a free night for every 10 bookings you make). We had stopped there for petrol and then discovered that it was where we would be spending the night. However, this place did not initially look very salubrious. And it was right on the side of the busy motorway. You enter through the truckers' American style diner, as there is no m/hotel reception and you have to wait while the dismissive manageress serves the customers

On the MENU this week. Chicken Waterblommetjie Bredie

It’s Waterblom season at the moment with the dams filling up. We bought a pack of nice plump waterblomme this weekend and Lynne made this easy Bredie. It’s spicy, but not too hot. Don’t cook all of them at once, you want different textures.

8 thigh portions - 1 T olive oil - 1 onion, chopped - 1 leek, sliced - 3cm ginger root, grated - 2 cloves garlic, crushed - 1 fresh red chilli - 2 small dried pepperoncino chillies - 1 t cumin - 1 t coriander - 3 cloves - a good grating of nutmeg - 175 ml verjuice or dry white wine - 400 ml chicken stock

2 carrots - 1 t corn flour - 500 g waterblommetjie - salt & pepper

Remove all the fat and skin from the chicken thighs, Fry the onion and the leek in the oil till soft and transparent then add the chicken to the pan and brown slightly. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the spices and chillies and fry for a minute, then add the verjuice, the stock and the carrot to the pot and cover with a lid. Simmer for half an hour then add the chicken, pushing the thighs down into the stock, and half the waterblomme. Cook for 15 minutes, then add the rest of the waterblomme. Taste and adjust the seasoning, add the corn flour and cover and simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve with flavoured rice and a good Chenin Blanc

Menu’s Wine of the Week is from Bellingham. The Bernard Series 2017 Whole Bunch Roussanne. Made by Niel Groenewald before he left to become the Head Winemaker at Distell.

Roussanne is certainly capturing our attention at the moment. This white wine was much discussed and enjoyed at the Old Mutual Trophy wine tasting last week by other wine makers and trade. Suddenly the SA plantings are becoming noticed. It certainly captivated Lynne with its floral notes and hints of herbs and tea. Its depth and length with hints of tropical fruit, peach and a little honey on this dry wine made it something to explore and enjoy now, as it has the freshness of youth. It has the legs to indicate that it will reward being kept for a few years. A white wine that should be on restaurant menus as it is very versatile.

21st June 2018

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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. 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

On the MENU this week. Chicken Waterblommetjie Bredie

8 thigh portions - 1 T olive oil - 1 onion, chopped - 1 leek, sliced - 3cm ginger root, grated - 2 cloves garlic, crushed - 1 fresh red chilli; 2 small dried pepperoncino chillies - 1 t cumin - 1 t coriander - 3 cloves - a good grating of nutmeg - 175 ml verjuice or dry white wine - 400 ml chicken stock

2 carrots - 1 t corn flour - 500 g waterblommetjies - salt & pepper

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Tasting the wines of the 2018 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show at the CTICC

Photographer Shawn Benjamin and Allan Mullins

Lynne having fun with Fundraising Manager Charmaine Gola on the Pebbles Project stand, tasting a Rosé MCC

This magnificent 2015 Constantia 1769 Noble Late Harvest from Buitenverwachting, made by Cellarmaster Brad Paton, deservedly won the Trophy for the best dessert wine. We overheard a taster say "Sheer Bliss"

Brad Paton

also won Gold for his 2012 Christine Bordeaux Blend, another excellent wine

Tielman Roos, Mooiplaas viticulturist was showing their NV Duel MCC and their rose-perfumed and complex Bordeaux blend Rosalind, where the savoury Cab Franc shines through; both these wines won Silver medals

Jeremy Borg, owner/winemaker at Painted Wolf Wines won a Silver for his Painted Wolf The Den Chenin Blanc

Great labels and Jeremy and his family are passionate about the preservation of our African wild dogs

Paul Wallace and his friend Chris Davidson

Paul won a Silver medal for his Reflection 2017 Chardonnay

Philip Engelen and Michael Pownall with an English friend

David Kretzmar, owner of Broad Valley and marketer Ross Sleet. The Broad Valley 2015 Pinot Noir won a Silver Medal

The DGB team, Premium Wine Account Executive Kris Snyman, Sommelier Germain Lehodey and Premium Brand Manager James Gower

DGB Sommelier Germain Lehodey and Regional Sommelier for Southern Sun, Georgio Meletio

The Boschendal Elgin 2017 Sauvignon Blanc was a Gold Medal Winner

And this will be our wine of the week this week, The Bernard Series Whole Bunch Roussanne. It had many people in the room talking about it

Cape Point Vineyards winemaker Riandrie Visser and some of her wines

Stuart Botha now at Tokara - he won a Trophy for his Eagles Nest 2014 Merlot, Tokara was awarded one for their Stellenbosch Reserve Chardonnay 2016 (made by Miles Mossop) with James Gower

Stanley Zimbizi showing Steenberg. They won a Silver for the Steenberg Lady R 2012 MCC

They also had their 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve for tasting which won the museum class Trophy and showed how rewarding it can be to keep quality white wines for a few years. It was complex and delicious

Wildekrans General manager Braam Gericke and the tasting room manager Leen Joncker

In case you were hungry...

The first Chenin blanc from Durbanville Hills called The Cape Garden 2017, which won a Silver

Theo and Berinda Basson of Ormonde

Michael and Rene Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts with Theo and Berinda Basson of Ormonde

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About us

MENU, our weekly email newsletter, started as an advertising medium for Main Ingredient, our specialist retail grocery business. We opened our Sea Point shop in December 2002 because realised that there was a place in South Africa for a grocer catering to people with sophisticated tastes and needs. We moved the shop on line in 2010, but discontinued it in 2015, having decided that it is time to “retire” and concentrate on our writing, photography and tour guiding. MENU has a wide circulation and is read nationally and internationally.

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