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Wednesday, January 23, 2019

This Week's MENU. Russell's on the Port, Blaauwberg, Indian Chapter, Durbanville, Oranjezicht Market, Pavlova, Nitida Grande Matriarch

The classic view of Table Mountain across Table Bay from Blaauwberg on a perfect Summer day

Thank you to the lovely readers who have said complimentary things to us about our new layout on the web and blog pages. Feedback is essential and we take your comments seriously.

The year is already warming up and we are receiving some exciting invitations to events which we look forward to describing to you when we’ve been to them

This weekend will see us at one of the great events of the year, the Hemel en Aarde Pinot Noir Celebration. This week’s stories follow, click on the headline, the photograph or the green words at the end of the paragraph to see the whole story

Lunch at Russell’s on the Port

On the way home from our Summer Holiday, we made a reservation for lunch at Russell’s on the Port hotel and restaurant at Velddrif. We had lunch there last January and vowed to be back. It has both great food and a very relaxed atmosphere. It’s next to the Port Owen Yacht club…

A Beautiful Summer’s Day in Blaauwberg

The view from the beach at Blaauwberg! Cape Town is doing turquoise so well this year. The fine white sand is almost blinding. A little breezy, but this side of the coast does get a bit of wind. It is a great place for kite sailing and surf boarding, you just have to be careful not to be taken out past Robben Island…

Lunch at The Indian Chapter

We are fans of good Indian food and Lynne, who is a member of a Facebook restaurant page called Cape Town Restaurants, the Good, the Bad and the Nasty, found that The Indian Chapter in Blaauwberg was recommended by members as one of the best in Cape Town. We were going to be in the area, so we made a booking for lunch during the week. The restaurant is owned by Prim Reddy, a TV and Radio personality…

Two Durbanville Estates; lunch at Durbanville hills

This is always the time of year when we have several good friends visiting from overseas. And doing a wine tour with them is always fun. Diana Loots studied for the Cape Wine Academy Diploma with us way back in the 90s. We took her and her husband Philip on a tour of some Durbanville wine farms. We began at Nitída…

The Oranjezicht City farm market

On Saturday, we visited the Oranjezicht City Farm Market at the Waterfront and met some old friends from the brief time when we, too, worked in markets like the Biscuit Mill. It is a dynamic place selling good comestibles from local suppliers to keen foodies and featuring the fresh organic fruit and veg produced at the Oranjezicht City Farm. It is now open on Saturday and Sunday so you can go and buy your fresh produce for the following week…

On the MENU this Week. Pavlova

Friends joined us for lunch on New Year’s day and, as this time of year has the best selection of tropical fruit and berries, our dessert was a classic. It’s not difficult to make at all, remember to take your eggs out of the fridge a few hours before. Lynne made the meringue the day before and had a challenge. Our gas oven is playing up and would not light. The temperature in the oven is impossible to control and so she risked cooking this in our combination oven where you can set the temperature to the desired 110°C degrees and cook in the Convection mode – she just had to use a lined Pyrex or porcelain dish instead of anything metal. It worked well…

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Nitída The Grand Matriarch 2015

The 2015 Grande Matriarch MCC from Nitída in Durbanville is, unusually for a bubbly, 100% Pinot Noir and it so impressed and surprised us that we have made it our wine of the week. It has cherry and raspberry on the elegant nose and on the palate the best expression of cherry ever, so quaffable. It has good length and depth, elegance and lovely maturity from 39 months on the lees. So exciting and so delicious. R225 on the farm and as you see, also available in magnums for great celebrations…

Things to do

Sunday, 27th January Groote Post’s First 2019 Country Market. For further information on the Groote Post Country Market. Contact I Love Yzer: 022 451 2202 or info@iloveyzer.co.za /

www.grootepostcountrymarket.co.za • Facebook.com/GrootePostCountryMarket • @GPCountryMarket

Saturday, 2nd March Harvest Festival at Muratie Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. For further information and bookings contact Nina Martin at Muratie on 021 865 2330/2336 or info@muratie.co.za

Friday & Saturday, 1st & 2nd March RMB Starlight Concert at Vergelegen. Details and tickets at http://www.capetownopera.co.za/production/rmb-starlight-classics/

24th January 2019

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2019

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 our website and ancillary works are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are often 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, pleaseclick here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list

Two Durbanville Estates and lunch at Durbanville Hills

and who should we run into in the tasting room, but Rudger van Wyk, Assistant winemaker at Starke Condé and 2018 Young Winemaker of the Year, here in conversation with Nitída Sales & Marketing Manager Jacus Marais

We sat at a table in the tasting room and had a really good tasting of almost their entire range

We began with the two MCCs, both honouring owner Bernhard Veller’s late mother, who helped them buy the farm 20 years ago. It was then a sheep farm, now a very successful wine farm. The Matriarch is a 50/50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with the Chardonnay to the fore in taste. Golden on the nose, clean lemon and lime flavours, nice and dry and very elegant with a good mousse. R140.

The Grande Matriarch is, unusually for a bubbly, 100% Pinot Noir and it so impressed and surprised us that we have made it our Wine of the Week. It has cherry and raspberry on the elegant nose and on the palate the best expression of cherry ever, so quaffable. It has good length and depth and lovely maturity from 39 months on the lees. So exciting and so delicious. R225

The 2018 Wild Child wooded Sauvignon Blanc is barrel fermented with wild yeast. Gentle pyrazines on the nose, soft silky and full on the palate with tropical granadilla and ripe peaches, big with some elegance

The 2017 Golden Orb Sauvignon Blanc spends 10 months on the lees and has a golden nose with figs - leaves and fruit and green peppers, On the palate, full on nearly ripe figs with peach nectarine, sea salt and caramel in layers. Superb. It inspired Lynne to make a salad of these flavours with goat’s cheese

The 2017 Semillon has a rich nose of sesame and linseed. It’s lovely and smooth on the palate with white pepper, fig and lemon with a hint of spice

The Tinkery this year 2017 is 100% Viognier which spends 10 month in older barrels. Peaches, nectarines and honey on the nose. The balance of fruit acid and honey is on-going and there are wood notes on the end

Coronata Integration 2016 is a 51% Sauvignon Blanc and 49% Semillon. A sophisticated white blend with crisp limes and sesame on the nose. On the palate, it is nutty with pears and lime, a long finish with salt on the end. Great elegance, it deserves putting down

Then the 2018 Riesling which has golden honey and herbs on the nose and palate, it is off dry with herbs on the end with thick honey, but is waiting a bit to reveal all. It needs some time. Thankfully, no terpenes as yet

On to the reds. The 2016 Pinot Noir won the Best Pinot trophy at the 2018 Michelangelo Awards. It is perfumed with roses and fruit, light juicy fruit, supple with warm alcohols. The 2017 Pinot Noir has a ruby nose with good berries, soft and gentle at first, then complex and warm

Their top of the range 2015 Calligraphy is a classic Bordeaux blend: 50% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon 21% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petite Verdot. Green herbs, leaves and dark berries, then the Cabernet Franc shows; incense wood and then the Petite Verdot peeps through with violets. On the palate, liquorice, umami, salty rich with plum pudding fruit, cherries and soft chalky tannins. Wow!

Shelley is a great asset in the tasting room and is very attentive. This was a really great tasting of some superb wines

And then it was time for some lunch. The Durbanville farm restaurant we had wanted to go to is, for some reason, closed on a Wednesday, so we made a booking at Durbanville Hills, where we had not been for a long time. This is the favourite restaurant of the diners in Restaurant Weeks and we could see why. The views are spectacular

We ordered two wines with lunch and chatted while we waited for the food

The menu

We enjoyed the renamed Rhinofields 2017 Sauvignon Blanc with our starters, now labelled The Cape Mist

The rich and spicy High Noon Shiraz 2016 went so well with the meat dishes

We ordered by the glass and the glasses were generous

They served some cheesy ciabatta slices with a dip

The Beetroot Tart Tatin topped with reconstituted dried figs was inspiring. Great for vegetarian friends

The fish cake had good texture and lots of fish and was not filled with potato or breadcrumbs.. Not sure it was smoked salmon, it looked like white fish. Topped with a guacamole sauce, one prawn and served with orange and lemon segments

Crusted and seared venison tataki, with small butternut pancakes and a sticky sauce

This was the Venison Skewer. Incredibly tender almost as soft as fillet steak, which it tasted like and very generous

On a caramelised onion and butternut tart, a good meat jus and sprinkled with dukkah

The nicely pink beef sirloin on pappardelle pasta, with shimeji and other mushrooms and a tomato sauce

John's without the mushrooms was not as medium rare as he ordered

Our bill

And then off for one of the best views in Cape Town and some wonderful wine at De Grendel

We were shown to a table in the shaded terrace room. We began the tasting with the Koetshuis 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, one we often buy. Grapefruit and lemon on the nose, a nice mouthfeel, fresh fruit acidity with good pyrazines, figs and green peppers, with long flavours. This is still rather young and needs time

Then the delicious 2018 Chardonnay Op die Berg. Golden fruit, summery peaches, apricots, lime and light golden oak

The 2016 Pinot Noir is light red with an integrated berry nose, red berry on the palate but a little too much oak for us. Some crisp freshness and an umami soy on the end. Both of these wines are made with grapes from the cool, high altitude Ceres Plateau

Douglas Swanson, the Sales Manager, came and took us through some of the wines. The 2017 Shiraz is from the Firgrove area in Stellenbosch, pepper and smoky on the nose; sweet, warm fruit, plums, blackcurrants and nice chalky tannins

The 2017 Viognier has a very pretty nose, like the Armani perfume Lynne wears. White fruit, gooseberries, lovely warmth, good balance of acidity and long. It finishes dry, which we like, rather than too sweet

The 2017 Pinotage has balsamic notes, spice and pepper, very aromatic with plums, rhubarb and cinnamon on the nose. Plum fruit, dry tannins, more rhubarb and spice; it needs time. But then, for us, Pinotage needs 10 years

And then the pièce de resistance and we had none to this fantastic wine. Rubaiyat is a Bordeaux Blend without Malbec. It has the classic Bordeaux nose too, complexity and elegance, some wood supporting and dark fruit. On the palate, silky soft fruit, then liquorice, lovely soft chalky tannins, red plums, black and red cherries and it ends on cassis. So beautiful. Some went home with us, as did the Chardonnay

and gave us a short cellar tour

In the barrel cellar

And explaining how they do things at de Grendel

Thank you so much Douglas

Topping up the red wines in the French oak barrels, replacing the Angels’ share

And a view of the goats on the other side of the dam

Trees, lots of grass and a few ducks and geese

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Tuesday, January 22, 2019

MENU's Wine of the Week. Nitída The Grande Matriarch 2015

It honours owner Bernhard Veller’s late mother, who helped them buy the farm 20 years ago. It was then a sheep farm, and is now a very successful wine farm. There is also The Matriarch MCC made from 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

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The Oranjezicht Market at the V&A Waterfront

On Saturday we visited the Oranjezicht City Farm Market at the Waterfront and met some old friends from the time when we too worked in markets like the Biscuit Mill. It is a dynamic place selling good comestibles from local suppliers to keen foodies and featuring the fresh organic fruit and veg produced at the Oranjezicht City Farm. It is now open on Saturday and Sunday so you can go and buy your fresh produce for the following week

Stefan Wroblewski on his fish stand, he is especially famous for his tuna biltong

Home made brownies of many varieties sure were tempting

and it is a very busy stand

We love the bread produced at the Woodstock Bakery. Sourdough, rye and other variations

Nice to see butcher Salvin Hirshfield and Kaytlin Jones on their stand

He says that he will open a butchery in Sea Point in the near future

They have such good meat and it’s all from ethical sources

The Biltong stand with fans

and another old friend, Jane Selander on her cheese stand, Around Cheese; all her cheeses are the best South African

And we are very fond of Chrisna's huge variety of olives. She told us how she makes them; the process is long and complex,

but so worth it. The olives are firm and very good. You have to try the chilli olives, they can blow your mind

An extremely tempting ice cream stand with real flavour

A message to us all

The Oranjezicht farm stand is large and crammed with so many different fresh, organically grown vegetables at this time of the year. And if you are looking for something rare, try them; they do seem to grow everything. We were asked for white egg plants and saw some here last Saturday

A great selection of heritage tomatoes, they have the best flavours

The largest aubergine we have ever seen, the size of someone’s head

The large green pepper was there for a size comparison

Security watching the happy shoppers

R40 a kilo but worth every cent

They grow lots of fruit too

Sheryl Ozinsky, who started it all. We have known Sheryl for many years. John worked with her

on the Heritage site boards and Aquarium projects at the naissance of the V&A Waterfront

AGFA was one of the sponsors

Sheryl is passionate about what she is working on; someone who truly gets involved and does

We have great respect for her and her enthusiasm

There is a smaller area with food outlets and we were impressed to see the French Galette stand,

making authentic buckwheat galettes, sweet and savoury varieties

Select your mix of salads for lunch

Or on another stand, a selection of avocado open sandwiches, topped with different mixtures

Happy serving you today

.. on the Ethiopian delicacies stand

Another old mate, Lewis Niemann of Oded's Kitchen with his very popular small pies

Lewis told us he no longer does any other markets but this; it is so successful

And the stand of the Kitchen Cowboy Pete Goffe Wood

where they serve these awesome barbecued beef sandwiches. Chef Pete, who is a judge on the Ultimate Braai Competition with Justin Bonello and Chef Benny Masekwameng, knows how to do it well

The meat cooking on the braai. His staff are trained to do this properly

It’s a busy place and there are seats and tables outside where you can enjoy your food

Lynne’s choice was a naked, lightly toasted sesame seed bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon from Kleinsky’s, who have a restaurant in Sea Point. No onions or capers for her, they muddy the waters. R40 is reasonable and it’s a large bagel

The outside seating area, with plenty of umbrellas

And you can sit and watch the yachts, cargo and container ships and cruise liners in the bay. This week, Cunard's MS Queen Elizabeth called in on her way to Australia, as did the MSC Musica

The popular Queen of Tarts stand dispensing their wares

Popular with families too

On the Adopt a Pet stand we met this enthusiastic chap and we were both captivated. John said "I think I'd have called him "Jake". But our current lifestyle cannot support a dog, we have such an unpredictable life. We feel we need to devote time and attention and lots of walks and a regulated regime to keeping a dog. Maybe one day when we slow down. At present independent cats grace our lives and don’t mind our coming and going so much

Raising funds is necessary

And some very cute puppies, some of whom had already been claimed. Lynne asked what breed they are and was told African dogs. The breed is called Africanis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanis) and is one of the most ancient breeds in the world. They have bred by natural selection

On the edges of the market are some good bric-a-brac stands, some clothing and jewellery

and flowers

Cute clothes for children, even some made with imported Liberty cotton

and one great plant stand

Milkshakes are very popular at the moment

And then we found something we love, Martin Grunert’s Protea Hill Farm Balsamic Vinegars, which we used to sell at Main Ingredient. We know there are many fans out there, our customers used to buy lots. You can buy by the bottle from the barrel. Lynne went for our favourite, his aged Raspberry Balsamic vinegar, and it cost R100. If you are a fan, this is now the place to buy them. The stand also has a good selection of local olive and other oils, some of which you can taste. They will give you a taste of the vinegar too if you ask

The barrels of vinegar. They are not harsh at all, just intensely fruity. Used by many top chefs too

The owner of the stand. We need to go back soon to get some walnut oil