Thursday, February 27, 2020

Waffles and Pancakes at Feel Good Food, Tableview

Where to find THE BEST waffles in Cape Town? We think we have found it

Now there are "Waffles" and waffles. If you have travelled in Belgium you will know what an iconic dish this is to the Belgians. And it has to be made perfectly. Not a quick self raising flour batter and a quick pour into a blackened pan that hasn't been used for a year or more. They must not be soggy or flat or even too crisp and dry. They have to be light and airy and melt in the mouth. We used to rave about the stall at the Biscuit Mill run by a Belgian, Fernand Durler, but he has returned to Belgium. We have had some very bad ones and, thankfully, some occasional good ones. But not quite there

 An invitation to come and taste some at the new, huge and impressive Table Bay Mall just off the R27 set us on our quest. This huge airy and spacious Mall has been open since September 2017 and walking around it will get your Fitbit steps soaring, it is so huge. It is on the edge of present Cape Town civilisation as the Renosterbos takes over just behind it, but things are changing and more building is taking place all around it. This area is the fastest developing area in the Cape at present, as we spread our margins wide so that we can to fit in all who come seeking our golden paved streets. OK rhetoric got us, that is so not true. They are tarmac and generally pothole free, unlike further north
The Mall has recognised that they need to make space for small emerging businesses, so they have created a Food Cube area with lots of seating in front to serve the food vendors’ customers. It is also the ideal place for bored spouses to wait with a beer or a glass of bubbly or wine and a waffle or a chilli popper while their other halves shop. They even have sport on TV. It certainly gives one the choice of something different from the big name fast food outlets
We were invited by Greg Cooke and his wife Marcha to come and sample his waffles, pancakes and other hospitality. Greg is also known as John Eric, from a previous restaurant he had. They have two cubes. We began at Greg's Bite and Tipple bar, where you can have a beer, a glass of wine from good local brands, a coffee, juice and even a cocktail. And yes, there is Bubbly by the glass
The Bite and Tipple bar also has a snack menu with some interesting choices for a quick lunch on the hoof
or a sit down with a drink. The cheese platter looks very good, especially paired with a glass of bubbly...
Greg also runs the Feel Good Food stand where you get the waffles and pancakes
These customers were ordering breakfast waffles
The Feel Good Food menu for the waffles and pancakes. There are some tempting choices savoury or sweet
Or you can have an old fashioned Jaffle. The prices are very budget friendly
The wine is kept cool and fresh in this innovative machine
The breakfast waffle: Bacon pieces are baked in the waffle;
it is topped with scrambled egg and cheese which is melted with a blow torch
And a sprinkle of chives to finish it off
Greg pouring John a good glass of Jack Black
We also had a taste of the Cherry Ale which is soft and sweet and full of cherry flavours. Both are locally made
Correctly poured with a good head on top!
Our first waffle was a plain one, so that we could try the naked waffle in all its glory. And, wow, is it impressive! Twice the height of anything we have had before, light as air, the right amount of crispness on the outside and eaten hot with a dusting of icing sugar and either golden syrup or Maple flavoured syrup, it was delicious. Disappeared in an instant
Another customer was having the savoury Caprese Waffle with mozzarella, tomato, pesto and basil
John was able to take a photo before it was served
They do traditional pancakes, with sugar lemon and cinnamon or you can have some with wicked fillings like Melktert,
Mixed berry or Lemon meringue. The Banoffee pancake was extra tempting, but we resisted
And there are several other toppings you can choose from
The happy pancake maker
The local bridge club came and played on two of the tables and enjoyed some refreshments
The vendors hope that you too will stop for a rest and a chat and partake of some of their excellent food
Time for our lunch and John chose (very wisely) the sensational Mexican waffle,
generously topped with guacamole, cream cheese, chilli jam, jalapenos and corn chips. It went very well with John's beer
Lynne chose the Bacon Waffle topped with Cheese and Maple Syrup, it has always been one of her favourite combinations
Lots of bacon pieces baked into the waffle. And she enjoyed a glass of Ken Forrester Old Vine Chenin Blanc wine with this,
a great match. Do go and try these two great stands; we thoroughly recommend them
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All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 1:44 pm 1 comments

Thursday, February 20, 2020

This Week’s MENU. De Kelders weekend, Elgin tour, Escalivada, Iona Wild Ferment Sauvignon

Sunset Ship
Our stories this week are about beauty, to a large extent. We travelled, not far, to two of our favourite areas within a couple of hours; drive from Cape Town. And, of course, food and wine were involved, with a chance to taste some magnificent wines, some from our own cellar and some from farms we visited and from our friends. All things bright and beautiful…

We asked, last week, if our readers are prepared to follow us on social media and on our web sites. We had a largely positive response to the idea of discontinuing the email version of MENU. A few readers responded that they would like to keep on receiving the mail version, but they are few enough to allow us to stop paying for the bulk mailing service. If you do want to stay on the mail list, please send us a reply by clicking here and tell us
We love showing you beautiful parts of our wonderful country. Last weekend was spent with friends who had invited us to stay with them in their daughter’s house at De Kelders on the Southern Cape Coast. From the deck there are great views of Hermanus across Walker Bay and then right down the coast to Hangklip. And on this particular day we were even able to see right across False Bay to Cape Point. Read On…

A lovely American couple booked a tour, specifying that they preferred cool climate varietals, especially Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot noir. After we presented them with the best alternatives, they chose Elgin, so they were fetched from The Taj and taken there on a lovely summer day. Elgin is a relatively new wine producing area, and is internationally famous as a producer of excellent apples and pears and an equally famous apple drink. Read On…

It is that time of the year when the supermarkets are full of the most delicious vegetables.  This dish originates in Spain and is a selection of Mediterranean vegetables that are roasted whole and then served as a salad.  Over the years we have added one or two local vegetables to the mix and they have really added to an already almost perfect dish. Read On…

John tasted this wine at Iona with his American tour clients who declared it one of the best sauvignons they had tasted. They are particular fans of Sancerre. When just opened, it shows initial “cat's pee on a gooseberry bush” on the nose. This settles to grapefruit and Elgin Sauvignon’s signature granadilla as well as a hint of elderflower. Read On…



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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
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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
Posted by MENU at 8:22 pm 0 comments

MENU's Wine of the Week. Iona Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc 2018

John tasted this wine at Iona with his American tour clients
who declared it one of the best sauvignons they had tasted anywhere. They are particular fans of Sancerre
When just opened, it shows initial “cat's pee on a gooseberry bush” on the nose. This settles to grapefruit and Elgin Sauvignon’s signature granadilla as well as a whiff of elderflower. 

Fermented in used oak barrels with native wild yeasts, it has a rich, full mouthfeel and is delightfully fresh-flavoured with comfortably moderate acidity. It is a super drink on its own as an apéritif, but will be a fabulous accompaniment to creamy fish or chicken dishes. The grapefruit follows gently on the palate, with developing flavours of fig and gooseberry, ending bone dry with a hint of granadilla.

Platter scores it 4½ Stars. Expect to pay around R190 per bottle
Posted by MENU at 5:29 pm 0 comments

On the MENU This Week. Escalivada


It is that time of the year when the supermarkets are full of the most delicious vegetables.  This dish originates in Spain and is a selection of Mediterranean vegetables that are roasted whole and then served as a salad.  Over the years we have added one or two local vegetables to the mix and they have really added to an already almost perfect dish.
We find many people fail at roasted vegetables simply because they cut them up before cooking and then grill them, this means they do not concentrate in flavour and often dry out.
You need to leave most of them whole and you do need to bake them in the oven.  You then get the benefit of their juices in the bottom of the pan which help to make up the dressing.  If you are a fan of roasted garlic, include a whole head of garlic when you add the tomatoes. You can then peel this and add the cloves to the salad at the end.
1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow pepper  -   1 or 2 small aubergines - 2 large purple onions - 5 medium courgettes - 2 large tomatoes
 2 crushed garlic cloves -  Extra Virgin Olive oil  - Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Optional: 2 small sweet potatoes – 1 small butternut – 1 head of garlic
Peel the onions and cut a cross twice in their tops, cutting only 2/3rd of the way down.  Leave all the vegetables whole but remove any stalks. Oil the peppers, aubergine, onion and courgettes well, sprinkle with salt and pepper and put them into a large baking tray, drizzle with more oil and place in a moderate 160°C oven for 45 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and add the two oiled tomatoes and the head of garlic if using. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
Have a large bowl ready - glazed earthenware with 5 cm sides looks good. Place the onions in the centre of the bowl - they will have opened out like lilies. Slice the aubergine but leave it as a whole, showing both the purple skin and the pale lime interior.  Ditto the courgettes and the tomatoes.  Put the warm peppers into a plastic bag and let them steam till cool. You then will be able to easily peel the peppers, deseed them and chop into fairly large pieces. Add them to the dish with their juices. The object is to make a very pretty arrangement of the vegetables so that there are patches of contrasting colour, not to mix them up together.
Now deglaze the baking tray with some fresh green olive oil, add the crushed garlic, taste and adjust the seasoning. Perhaps a dash of balsamic vinegar or glaze?  Then pour these wonderful juices over the vegetables and serve. If you serve it cold, you will find that the juices often jellify. This dish just cries out for a good ciabatta to soak up all those lovely juices. 
What local vegetables do we add?  Sweet potatoes which you roast whole with the other vegetables. Butternut, but cut big slices on their skins and remove the seeds. This way you get some caramelisation on them, which adds to the flavour
All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Posted by MENU at 5:04 pm 0 comments

A wine tour to Elgin

A lovely American couple booked a tour, specifying that they preferred cool climate varietals, especially Sauvignon blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot noir. After we presented them with the best alternatives, they chose Elgin, so they were fetched from The Taj and taken there on a lovely summer day. Elgin is a relatively new wine producing area, and is internationally famous as a producer of excellent apples and pears and an equally famous apple drink

 We began the experience at Oak Valley, a huge estate whose hundreds of oak trees feed the pigs. The acorns  influence the flavour of the hams for which the estate is famous. Wine is quite a small component in the business of the farm - fruit and cut flowers are the prime focus and Wagyu cattle also play a part in the farm's activity
But we were there for the wine. The wine tastings are held in the Pool Room. Sadly, this is not operating as a restaurant at present, but we hope that a new operator will be found to run it and the deli
Fabio Turilli gave us a a warm welcome 
and gave us very instructive and well- informed tasting through the farm's extensive range of wines
watched by Kevin the peacock
Our next stop was at Almenkerk. The ultra modern winery was designed by the renowned Cape Town architect Derick Henstra
Our tourists loved the beautiful landscape
and insisted on posing in front of it
Malefane "Famous" Moeketsi guided us through a very good tasting of the wines
He has completed WSET Level One, scoring 86%, and has started on Level Two
Dana and Michael were especially impressed with the Chardonnay and the Syrah
As always, we and other visitors had a very warm welcome from owners Natalie Opstaele and Joris van Almenkerk
Natalie was very kind and took us through the cellar, explaining how they work
Next stop was at Paul Cluver, where we had booked for lunch at Craig Cormack's lovely restaurant, SALT
Lynne loves cats, so I took pictures of this one which was drinking deeply from the pond
The Menu
Michael's starter, Salt and Pepper Squid
Dana had Three Flavoured Fish
and Michael had Miso Cured Pork Neck as his main course
while John fell for the excellent Twice-Baked Cheese Soufflé
The Paul Cluver Estate Chardonnay was an excellent partner to the food
After lunch, we went into the tasting room with one objective
Michael had heard very good things about the Seven Flags Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
He loved them and bought them
He had enjoyed the Riesling the evening before
From Paul Cluver, we drove up to Iona,
perched on top of the hill overlooking the Elgin Valley on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other
General Manager Brad Gold CWM met us and started with a walk though a vineyard, explaining their philosophy of working as naturally as they can, with minimal chemical interference. In fact, the only factor which prevents them being completely organic is the need to spray sulphur on the vineyards to combat the mildew which results from the frequent mists which cover the farm
Then into the tasting room, which houses owner Andrew Gunn's first Porsche, his immaculate 1958 356C
Brad began our tasting with the excellent Iona Pinot noir,
followed by the other red wines in the range, One Man Band and Solace Syrah
Brad follows the Burgundian practice of tasting Pinot before Chardonnay
The delicacy of Pinot can often be overshadowed by a rich Chardonnay
We started the whites with Elgin Highlands and Kloof Chardonnays
and finished with the Wild Ferment Sauvignon blanc, our Wine of the Week
All the wines we tasted at Iona and most of the wines on the other farms score 4½ stars in Platter
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Posted by MENU at 4:48 pm 0 comments
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