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All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

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.

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Friday, July 19, 2019

On the MENU this week. Hungarian Chicken Paprikash

This traditional Hungarian dish is just right for the cold days of winter when you want something that is uncomplicated and delicious. If you can find Hungarian paprika, that would be superb. But if it is not readily available, use a good, reputable local paprika

2 large onions, sliced – 2 cloves of garlic, crushed – 2 tablespoons olive oil - 1 large red pepper, sliced – 2 tomatoes, skinned and finely chopped - a free range chicken, jointed or 4 chicken thighs & 4 chicken drumsticks - 2 tablespoon sweet paprika - 250 ml of good chicken stock - yolks of 2 eggs - 2 tablespoons of plain flour - 250 ml Smetana, Crème Fraiche or thick sour cream – salt and pepper

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until just beginning to colour, add the chicken pieces, red pepper and paprika and seal the chicken pieces. Add the tomatoes, then simmer gently for 5 minutes to reduce the mixture. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the flour and the egg yolks into the sour cream and add to the dish; season and simmer until the chicken is tender and the sauce is creamy and thick. Serve with rice or, more traditionally, ribbon noodles. If you want to add a little heat, add half a tablespoon of hot paprika (or a little cayenne pepper) as well

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Thursday, July 18, 2019

MENU’s Wine of the Week. 2018 Meerhof Cabernet Sauvignon from Riebeek Kasteel

made by Cellarmaster Jaco Brand

This classic Cabernet blew us away with its quality and fruit. Cassis fruit with some spice on the nose. 50/50 French and American oak has been used which adds complexity. It is a beautiful, cassis driven wine, layered with good black currant berry fruit, lovely soft tannins, and the fruit returns for a long end. We bought six immediately

One to watch, we think that it is good enough to win major awards; a bargain at R95 on the farm. Do go and taste if you are in the area

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

A Riebeeck Valley weekend. 5. Pulpit Rock

Sunday morning dawned sunny but icy cold. After breakfast we all checked out of the hotel

and some of us headed to Pulpit Rock winery, which IS open on Sundays although not many people were there that day

It is just a very short distance down the road out of Riebeek West in the direction of Moorreesburg

with seating outside on the terrace and inside. They also have a restaurant below, but it was not open on Sunday

They have a lovely walk up the mountain to Pulpit Rock, which is just 2 kilometres up and mostly gentle. So off we set

It goes through the vineyards and then above to the rock that looks like a pulpit in this photograph

The valley was still shrouded in freezing fog at 11 am

You could not see the mountains across the valley

The happy band of walkers who, sadly, missed an important red arrow painted on a rock and went merrily along their way in the wrong direction. They thought another rock looked like a pulpit. Sadly, the winery told us that they used to have better signage, but people (vandals) removed it

You can see the cement factory' chimneys peeping out of the fog

And the church steeple became more visible as the day wore on

There is the pulpit that we should have reached and the path up the mountain to it

Back at the winery some of us stopped to do the tasting, which was presented by Mignon

Not sure if this 2004 Nebuchadnezzar is for display or sale

Jocelyn really enjoyed the hike

These tall bluegum trees remind us of those behind our house in Sea Point

that prevented the fires on Signal Hill from getting too close to us. They do seem to act as a fire break

We began with a glass or two of Louisa, their nice crisp Blanc de Blanc Chardonnay MCC Brut, just to celebrate a good weekend. And the walk. Then we realised it was Bastille Day, so we sang - well, Alexandra sang as she knows all the words in French, and the rest of us hummed along the tune of the Marseillaise, just to celebrate that. Les Arms aux Barricades!

We had a small tasting of their wines, bought some of the Brut and 3 bottles of the Unwooded Chardonnay, which is sweet on the palate at R65, and 3 of the Shiraz, which has good wood, spicy fruit with pepper, lots of dark plums and tannins. R80. Then it was time to head home for most of us, although a couple of the members stayed another night at the hotel

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

A Riebeeck Valley weekend. 4. Lunch at Bayleaf & Thyme, Supper at Mama Cucina

Bayleaf and Thyme restaurant for lunch

Wine farms close early on Saturdays in the Riebeek valley, so we had not made any appointments for the afternoon. We had made an appointment for lunch at Bayleaf and Thyme which is in the main square in Riebeek Kasteel. but were a bit late from our superb tasting at Meerhof, which went on till nearly 2. But we phoned and the restaurant was fine with our coming late. It was actually too warm to sit at the table they had kept for us on the sunny porch, so we headed to the shaded side of the verandah and the terrace

We had chosen this restaurant because, after a heavy breakfast, most people wanted something small and fresh

It really fits the bill

They have a daily blackboard menu as well. Those pancakes were tempting, but we resisted

It is nice and crisp, white and light and airy inside

An unusual but talented way to use bottle tops! The cakes look good

And they have a bar, should you want something other than wine

This was the Butternut, caramelised onion and feta cheese filo pasty tartlet which comes with a generous salad

Many of us had the Olive and tomato tart with goats cheese and salad. Good crisp pastry, lots of flavour

and just the right portion size. Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar are available for you to dress your salad

The Caesar Salad without the chicken

and the hamburger and chips comes dressed with caramelised onions, a barbecue sauce, pickled gherkin

and is topped with camembert cheese

Just chilling in the shade

or having serious discussions. We had a great lunch and we do recommend it. Prices are reasonable

We all had freedom that afternoon to do whatever we wanted. Many went for walks,

some watched the Wimbledon womens’ final; others napped or read

For dinner that night, we were booked into Mama Cucina, which many recommended to us as the best restaurant in the valley

There were differing opinions; some preferred Old Dalby

They are also in Riebeek Kasteel and just around the corner from the main square

Do red check table cloths remind you of Italy?

They have a standard menu, but the blackboard menu is the one most of us ordered from. It is changed daily

We opened the three bottles of 1999 Swartland Shiraz we had been gifted

Sadly the first bottle was corked. The other two had corks that resisted extraction and broke up

The wine was fruity and good at first, but soon became rather porty, not surprising after 20 years

We were happy to pay R40 corkage on them, but we also ordered other wine for the table

Lynne, who was not very hungry, ordered the Warm Beef salad with an Avocado and Mayonnaise guacamole, which had quite a chilli kick. The beef was in small slivers in a very salty and savoury sauce with chickpeas beneath. Perhaps a good way for the restaurant to use up leftover roast beef? Dressed with slivers of cucumber, raw onion and a lavender stem (we always remember the Masterchef judges comment: "If it is not edible, leave it off the dish")

An enormous plate of Gnocchi with Saffron Chicken with green olives and a lemon sauce, nearly defeated its male recipient

The Caprese salad of baby tomatoes, basil pesto, basil leaves and fior de latte mozzarella morsels was flavourful,

but the tomatoes had seen better days and were bitter. We did send most of them back and told the restaurant why

They made no comment

Drinking an old friend's red wine. The winemaker is Roberto, son of Eugene Mori from Casa Mori in Bottelary, Stellenbosch

John ordered the Quattro Stagione pizza for dinner and could only eat half of it

He got a doggy bag of the rest but then mistakenly left it in our room's fridge the next morning when we checked out!

We hope the staff enjoyed it

Tagliatelle with Roasted red onion, Pesto and spinach

We did not get photos, sadly, of the two dishes that people enjoyed the most, the Aubergine Melanzane

and the dish with Squid steak and Calamari which was raved about as so good

We made the wrong choices, evidently

The kitchen staff: Cathleen Smith, Madeleine Arendse, Elmien Swarts and Suzette Engelbrecht

Not an Italian amongst them. They have been well trained to make these dishes