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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 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

MENU’s Wine of the Week. David Finlayson’s Edgebaston Camino Africana Cabernet Franc 2016

Winemaker David Finlayson writes “The soils (Somerset West) reminded me very much of the Graves region in Bordeaux, allowing me to spot the potential to make a great wine from these vineyards that are threatened by Urban encroachment.” It has a classic Cabernet Franc leafy, fragrant nose with dark smoky hints. Smooth as silk on the palate with rich dark cherry fruit, some savoury notes, minerality and lots of class, with good potential to age. Drink now with good food and it will delight. R 279 per bottle from Wine.co.za

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

On the MENU this week. Chicken Tomato & Feta Pasta

An easy Sunday evening supper, most of which you can prepare in advance. Lynne makes the sauce in the morning, then heats it when ready to serve and stirs in the pasta, the spinach and the feta. She also subscribes to the Chef Nick Stellino’s method of cooking with garlic. No fine chopping or pulping of garlic for this recipe, just add nice chunky pea sized pieces, which cook down to sweet nuggets in the sauce. You could omit the chicken and the chicken stock if you are vegetarian, but the flavour might need enhancing. If your tomatoes are a little tart, add a spoonful of sugar. And if you like to spice things up, add a few chilli flakes. If you don’t use or have passata, you can use a tin of chopped tomatoes

1 T olive oil – ½ an onion, finely chopped – 2 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped – 1 cup tomato passata – 1 cup chicken stock – 4 deboned and skinned chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces – 12 baby tomatoes, halved – 4 cups of dry penne or lumache pasta – 200 baby spinach – 100g crumbled feta cheese

In a large chafing dish fry the onion in the olive oil until transparent, then add the garlic and fry for another minute or two, do not brown. Add the chicken pieces and fry till seared on all sides. Add the tomato passata and fry for 3 minutes stirring continuously. Then add the stock and the baby tomatoes & bring to a gentle simmer, cover with a lid and leave to cook gently for half an hour. At this point you can put the sauce aside until you are ready to use it

Boil your pasta in lots of boiling salted water until just al dente. Drain and add to the sauce. Stir in the spinach and the feta cheese and mix well. Check seasoning and serve

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Wade Bales Cap Classique & Gin Affair at Grand Beach, Cape Town

Saturday before last saw us at the Grand Café on the Beach

for Wade Bales' extremely popular Cap Classique and Gin Affair 2019

Your ticket entitled you to six plump oysters or a vegetarian option, which Lynne had

The oysters are served in bamboo boats, which are recyclable
The oyster queues were not long, but the wait for the vegetarian option was very long

MD of Wines of South Africa, Siobhan Robinson and a friend

John began at the Stellenrust stand for their Cap Classique bubbly; Lynne started with Claudia from Hemel and Aarde

The restaurant was very busy

and space at tables in the adjoining marquee was at a premium

There was also a little lounge style seating which allowed for a relaxed afternoon, if you could occupy it

We both had a chat with the Benguela Cove staff and enjoyed their Cap Classique again

The last time we had this was at Leonardslee Estate in Sussex;

both Benguela Cove and Leonardslee are owned by Penny Streeter OBE

Still reeling and celebrating their recent Vertex Award for the Wine of the Competition at Veritas

were Megan and Shane Mullis of Domaine des Dieux

Summer on the way? Lovely blue sea and a sunny day. Well, not always

It is Spring and Cape Town spring weather often shows all four seasons in one day. Keeps us on our toes

The Cap Classique area was very popular and quite crowded,
but the gin area was so busy it was hard to get a tasting

Time to get a gin cocktail

A new gin label to us, Monkey 57

Pizza was very popular in the restaurant; they are huge

On the water stand you could have a bottle of fizzy or plain water without a charge. Very sensible indeed

The water is condensed from the moisture in the air. Very clever in a drought environment and very pure

We needed some lunch after the tasting and shared the fish and chips. Lynne enjoyed a Seville Orange gin

Good chips and two portions of fish with good batter; one of the best menu choices, we have discovered

The Cap Classique & Gin Affair will be repeated for Johannesburg fans at the Southern Sun in Hyde Park Rooftop Terrace Bar,
on Saturday 23rd November from 3-7 pm and Sunday 24th November from 1-5 pm
Book your tickets today at QUICKET TICKETS

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Thursday, November 07, 2019

Tasting the Veritas Award winning wines at the CTICC

Douglas Swanson and Righard Theron on the De Grendel stand

They were showing their impressive Double Gold 2018 Op die Berg Chardonnay and the superb 2015 Rubaiyat red blend

Graham Beck won a Double Gold for the elegant Cuvée Clive MCC

Willem du Toit, Operations Manager at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, and Bennie Howard CWM, chatting over a glass

Henk van Niekerk showing his award winning Paul René MCCs from Robertson

Winemaker Debbie Thompson pouring the excellent Simonsig, 2015 Avec Chène Chenin blanc (Double Gold)

They also won Double Golds for their 2014 Tiara red blend and for the 2017 and 2014 Redhill Pinotage. So well done

So much to taste, so little time

At 7 pm, KWV opened four special museum class wines:

a 1930 KWV Muscadel, a 1948 Tawny Port Limited Release, a 1949 Ruby Port, a 1969 Hanepoot Jerepigo

Competition to taste them was huge, getting to the table quite difficult, but it was so worth it

You were given a very small pouring to taste, enough to share with some of the wine people trapped behind their stands

The 1930 KWV Muscatel was smoky and spicy on the nose, light Gold in colour,

sweet and heavy with spice and a sour fig ending, so intense that it was hard to rinse out of the glass

The 1948 Port was dark raisin plums with smooth chocolate on the end and still tasted young

The 1949 Port was ruby garnet in colour, richer and darker than the '48, more Christmas pudding fruit,

with long flavours and coffee wood

Francois van Zyl of Laibach shows The Ladybird organic red blend (Gold)

L'Avenir was awarded Gold for their 2016 Pinotage, always a good example of what the grape can do

Gretha Geldenhuys of Fleur du Cap with their three Gold Medal winning wines:

Laszlo Red Blend 2015, Series Privée Pinotage 2016 and Series Privée Cabernet Sauvignon 2015

Georgie Prout, Marketing & Public Relations Manager at Glen Carlou

They won Golds for their Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2019, Collection Verdelho 2018, Collection Red Blend 2017

and Collection Petit Sirah 2017

Johan Bestbier of Goede Hoop wine estate in Bottelary. They were awarded a Gold for their 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon

Bennie Howard calls a halt to a great evening of tasting excellent wines and lots of chats with wine people

Next: The Eden Project and Charlestown in Cornwall

MENU's UK Adventure 13. Cornwall: Falmouth, Marazion and Mousehole

We were so enjoying our Cornish holiday, but you cannot keep us still, there was so much to see

Falmouth is close to Mevagissey so we decided to visit it and several other places in one day

The view across the bay, where there are some lovely seaside houses and private boats

We decided that, if we ever won the lottery, this house would just fit the bill! Pipe dreams

It’s on a large estuary

More seaside housing above

Looking sideways from our viewpoint, we saw the dockside of Falmouth

and didn't realise then that we would be returning later in the week

Warships at the dockside

P222, HMS Forth, is a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel

Named after the River Forth, she is the first Batch 2 River-class vessel to be built

She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 13th April 2018,

following a commissioning ceremony at her home port, HMNB Portsmouth

Just behind the Falmouth Naval docks with its huge crane, is this extraordinary glass building

It's the Ships and Castles Leisure Centre on Pendennis Rise

Off down the coast past the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose

It is a Royal Navy airbase near Helston on the Lizard Peninsula of Cornwall, and is the largest helicopter base in Europe

Then, on the way to Marazion, the rain came down in buckets, but it didn't seem to deter the kite surfers at all

We had timed our visit badly as the tide was very much in

and so we couldn't walk across the causeway to St Michael's Mount

So near and so far. We could have taken a ferry, but didn't like the look of the weather coming in over the sea

Originally the Cornish counterpart of Mont St Michel in Normandy, France,

it has been home to the St Aubyn family since 1659

In 1954, Francis Cecil St Aubyn, 3rd Baron St Levan, gave most of St Michael's Mount to the National Trust,

together with a large endowment fund

The St Aubyn family retained a 999-year lease to inhabit the castle

and a licence to manage the public viewing of its historic rooms

This is managed in conjunction with the National Trust

You can see the sea getting rough on the other side as the small boats arrive

The gulls love the fresh weather

Oh, those narrow Cornish lanes

Like green tunnels for some of the way, as the trees grow over much of the road and intertwine in the middle

No road markings you say? That is because they are all mostly just one car's width;

they have regular passing places (this is one on the right-hand side),

but you do rather hope not to meet too many locals who take these lanes at a fast race track pace

The driver needs to literally keep on his toes all the time, especially when you have blind bends

Not for the faint hearted or novice drivers. But they are very pretty and very ancient

This is especially so in Spring, when the hedgerows are covered in primroses, wild violets and daffodils

and a myriad other spring flowers. The woods are full of bluebells too

and then to Mousehole (pronounced Mowz’l). The origins of its modern name, 'Mousehole', are unknown,

although it is suggested that it was derived from the Cornish word Moeshayle, meaning “young woman's brook”,

while others maintain it as simply being a reference to the original tiny harbour, or to a nearby sea cave,

which resembled a mouse hole

The building in the middle, with the windowed gallery, was previously a wonderful little hotel called The Lobster Pot

John and his family had several marvellous holidays there

The harbour at Mousehole

To get out of the rain, we decided that a cup of tea and a scone were called for

John knew of a favourite restaurant, but they had changed hands and image

Suddenly, we were transported back to wartime days at the Four Teas Café

and had to look at our Ration Books to see what we could order

Good old Coleman's Mustard

Marmite 'soldiers' for dipping in your boiled egg for tea would have been a luxury in rationing

Many British children are brought up with this for their tea, before their bath and bed at 6 in the evening

A coffee for John, green tea for Lynne and warm scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam

The outside of the café

Heading back to the car

Long mooring ropes, as there is quite a tide rise and fall

Another narrow lane and green tunnel

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