Wednesday, December 04, 2019

A celebration of three Anniversaries at Jordan Wine Estate, Stellenbosch

How could we refuse an invitation like this, to celebrate important Anniversaries with friends?
The lovely, crisp Jordan Blanc de Blancs MCC as a welcoming drink

Served outside the new Tasting room on its deck. A perfect early summer evening;
GM Jacques Steyn was trying to keep up with demand
Gary Jordan, chatting to Lynne, and to Annareth Bolton and Mariette du Toit-Helmbold of marketing agency Destinate
The new tasting room is next to the deck used for al fresco customers of the Jordan Bakery, spacious and cool
Sue and Neil Proudfoot of Wine Concepts
Wine Distributor Andrew Baker of Vinimark, waiting for a recharge
Inside the new tasting room, the doors open up to those famous Jordan views
over the lake and down across Stellenbosch to the far Paarl mountains
Looking from the other end
Alastair Rellenberg, Khoisan tour guide, with Amanda Bosch and John Collins,
who markets Jordan's wines to the restaurant and wine retail trades
Chef George Jardine was busy in his kitchen preparing the food for later
Several vintages of Cobbler's Hill, available for tasting and as accompaniment to the food, in bottles and magnums
Time for the speeches, hearing about the reasons for the party, congratulations for the anniversaries and celebrating, introduced by Jordan's General Manager, Jacques Steyn CWM
Great to see Allan Mullins and many other friends from the wine industry
Kathy Jordan told us about winemaker Sjaak and his 20 years with the farm, how he has changed in that time,
how hard he works to produce their great wines and how particular he is about the work in the vineyard and the cellar
She confessed that they change things a lot, not always with Sjaak’s approval. They have always been full of innovative ideas
And, even when they are in the United Kingdom, they have daily contact with the farm and its running
Gary Jordan also lauded Sjaak and spoke about how they had come from five staff to now employing nearly 125 people
We then watched a very funny video filmed in the last few days by Thea van der Merwe, the Marketing Manager.
You can watch it on Jordan's YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2cQ-_r7Jk0
Sjaak then spoke briefly about his time on the farm
Chef George Jardine has had his popular, award winning restaurant on Jordan for 10 years
and has opened two others, in Stellenbosch and Somerset West
Gary told us how they found him at his restaurant, which was then in Bree Street, and managed to persuade him to join them
at Jordan. It has been a very successful partnership. Gary spoke about how passionate Chef George is
about training his staff properly and of how so many of them are now respected chefs with their own restaurants
Chef George spoke about his time at Jordan, running the restaurant with his wife Louise
It is most certainly our favourite place to bring friends, tourists and to have important family celebrations. It never disappoints
Great food, well priced; great wines and a view to savour as well. It is very popular, so you do need to book
The map of where to find the wines which we could taste and which dishes would be paired with them
Paired with the Inspector Peringuey 2014 Chenin blanc, the barrel smoked salmon, topped with sauce Gribiche and cucumber
Chef George Jardine does his own hot and cold smoking in old Jordan barrels
On each stand there was a menu showing that day’s lunch menu at the restaurant
In 2014, the smoked salmon dish was on this menu
The Inspector Peringuey 2014 Chenin blanc, which is quite superb and a wine we often order when dining here
Mini vetkoek was to go with… 
…the Saldanha mussel dish. It was superb; the coconut, lemongrass and chilli seafood bisque
served with the mussels was really memorable; such depth of delicious flavours
Chopped pan fried mushrooms for the risotto
and, making the excellent mushroom risotto the proper way was this young chef's task
Tasting portions of the finished dish 
The risotto was paired with Jordan’s award winning Chardonnay, the Nine Yards 2013
Jordan Sophia 2009 was paired with the Chalmar beef. It had aged very well
The vetkoek was served with the Mussel bisque, which was paired with Jordan 'The Real McCoy' crisp Riesling 2015
There was only one magnum of the Sophia, which they had put aside just for this anniversary;
you had to be quick to get a taste of this
being poured here by Jordan winemaker Wade Roger-Lund for Mariette du Toit-Helmbold
Wade was Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year in 2017
The aged Chalmar beef was perfectly pink, herb crusted and very tender
topped with broccoli, endive and Gorgonzola
Enjoying their dishes were Tim and Vanessa Hoek. Tim is winemaker at Haute Cabrière
and Vanessa, also a qualified winemaker, distributes barrels for a French cooperage
As the sun begins to set, the mountains turn purple and pink in the distance over the vineyards;
it is a wonderful view from Jordan
Riaan Mol, who was restaurant manager here for several years, with former colleagues
Winemaker Teddy Hall with his wife Denise, chatting to Chef Pete Goffe-Wood, who is now at Grande Roche in Paarl
A winning team; Louise and George Jardine. Both their charming teenage boys were helping to serve on the night
Celebrating the Anniversaries, Kathy and Gary Jordan
and with Sjaak Nelson. It was a really fantastic evening and a great party
Restaurant manager ?
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All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus


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MENU's UK Adventure 20. Visiting around London and home to Cape Town

Most of the last week of our trip was spent in and around London, with interludes at the SA owned estates in Sussex
It still feels like home to Lynne, who was born there. Her family emigrated to South Africa in 1948,
but she returned and lived there for 27 years from 1967 to 1993
It has changed a lot; so many new buildings and other developments
We apologise to all the friends we didn't manage to see; our time in London was far too short

The tubes have space to stand in them! Well they do on the District Line
Lynne still remembered all the routes, where the entrances and exits were, where to change and where to stand
27 years of commuting will do that to you

We had Oyster cards, thanks to Angela, and were headed to East Finchley to have lunch with David Hill,
who was Lynne's boss at Heinemann Educational and then at Sage Publications

The Northern line tube trains are still fairly cramped!

David's house

We had a great lunch, cooked by David, and we caught up with him and with Caroline Lane,
another Heinemann and Sage colleague. Lynne hadn't seen them for 14 years. Caroline brought dessert

and we took a good bottle of South African wine, Bosman Adama 2017, which we found in Spar
It went very well with David's excellent quiche

Going home was in rush hour and it became very crowded

We also made a special trip by car to see Lynne's father's cousin Peggy,
who has now moved to a home in Hornchurch, Essex
She is 94 and not enjoying it one bit! She told us that she is not allowed to sit with another "inmate",
as they plot their escape if they are together
Sadly, she can no longer manage on her own at home but she is still feisty, if stone deaf

A dinner at Angela's with her sister and brother-in-law, Carol and Ian. They have both been British Ambassadors
and Carol is now Chair of an important EC committee. Not a comfortable or secure job with Brexit looming

Another fantastic meal cooked by Angela and much enjoyed, with good company and good wine

Affectionate sisters who don’t see enough of each other!

These were some of the great wines we drank while we stayed with Angela,
four of them South African, sourced by us from various English supermarkets
We did our level best to promote SA wine abroad, but the variety is somewhat limited;
the prices of good wines from South Africa are so cheap
that consumers can’t believe that wine at that price can be any good, which is why too many people don’t look at them
The Bruce Jack Shiraz was £5 (R92), the Stellenrust Chenin £6 (R111) and the two Bellingham Bernard series £12
However, we believe that we have converted several people with the bottles we bought
It was a really great evening with lots of stimulating conversation, much of it about Brexit

From our Wimbledon attic suite, we had very good views of the London skyline
Here you can just spot the chimneys of Battersea Power station which is undergoing a huge development
We could also just see the Gherkin, the Shard and Canary Wharf on a clear day

Another skyscraper going up, you can tell by the height of the cranes that it is going to be a tall building

Then a walk in Richmond Park... 

... with one of Lynne’s best friends, Kate, whom she misses very much. We had a lovely long talk,
catching up over tea and scones in Pembroke Lodge, which is a magnificent listed Georgian mansion

We watched the crows pinching leftovers from tables

Then we went for a lovely long walk in the park. Spotted these huge mushrooms on the way

The crows act like our tick birds, cleaning up the pests on the fallow deer, which roam all over the Park

This buck was quite hard to see in the dappled shade under a huge oak

And then, suddenly, five wonderful weeks in the UK were over and it was time to head home
Angela, very kindly, drove us to Gatwick airport, an easy hour’s drive from Wimbledon, so it's very accessible

Watching our Emirates A380 arrive at its docking station

And whom should we meet at Dubai airport, also flying on our plane,
but an ebullient Malu Lambert, who had been to London to collect her prestigious award
the Champagne Louis Roederer & Montblanc Emerging Wine Writer of the Year Award

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Dim Sum lunch at Joy King Lau, Leicester Square, London

On our last Sunday in London, we had made an appointment with friends to have some Dim Sum in Chinatown. It is something we have done together since the early 1970s. Old friend Chris Hutton is half Burmese (we call him Buddha! You can see the resemblance) and we have him to thank for introducing us all to the panoply of good Asian food over the years; we are all quite adventurous. Lynne cooks it at least once a month and we have a cupboard dedicated to Asian spices, sauces and important rare ingredients
Sunday morning in Wimbledon. All residential permit parking
Angela came with us and we walked to the tube station just round the corner and up the road
Everyone seemed to be going somewhere for Sunday lunch, so the tube was crowded
We got out at the nearest tube station to our destination, Leicester Square, and it was a short walk to the pub,
The Salisbury in St Martin’s Lane, at which we were meeting the others. It was raining, but who cares
Sadly, it was our only trip up to the West End. No time on this trip for a day of shopping in Oxford Street for Lynne
Next time perhaps, and a visit to Liberty?
Chris, Lynne, Kate, Angela and Anne. The gang is nearly all here, drinking good ale and other delights
And then, off to the restaurant in Leicester Street and, to Lynne's amazement it is Joy King Lau, the same one we all went to
from the early 1970s, still there, still thriving and now run by the original owners’ children. It’s on 5 floors and always busy
We went in at 2 pm without a booking, as many Chinese eat Dim Sum for a late breakfast and it can get quite crowded then
They are open every day from 12 noon to 11.30 pm, but they stop serving Dim sum at 5 pm
They have visual menus on the wall with a very good selection of dim sum
But the menu has many more traditional Chinese dishes, also noodle and rice dishes, Pekin duck etc..
Chris asked us all to order our favourites and made sure we had enough, ordering at least two or three portions of each dim sum
Three of us ordered bottles of Tsingtao beer, the others stuck to tea,  which we all had and enjoyed
Lynne had been dreaming about this, it’s a Yam croquette, made of sweet potato mash, stuffed with meat in a creamy sauce and covered in something like shredded wheat, then deep fried to make it beautifully crisp 
We had to have lotus wrapped rice
so fragrant and filled with sticky rice, mixed meats and prawns
We had excellent spring rolls (no soggy leftovers inside those) and these fried leek cakes
Another all time favourite, open prawn, scallop and water chestnut steamed dumpling
There are different dipping sauces besides soy; we had chilli and black vinegar dips
The difference we noticed between these dim sum dishes and those we get in Cape Town is intensity of flavour and generosity
Dim sum in the Cape is good, if a bit limited in its selection, but why do they serve three dumplings for two people?
John carries a knife, so we can cut the last one in half, or we fight for the last one
Here at Joy King Lau, you get four in a serving, two each
Char su Bao, light steamed buns with barbecued pork in the middle
And, to finish, a large platter of mixed meat noodles. We all ate exceeding well and it was very satisfying food
We thoroughly recommend it if you are in London
Tea comes with the food at no extra charge; if you want more, just tilt the lid and another pot arrives
The bill for 6 of us came to an amazing £100 with a tip. That works out at £16.66 per head = R 325; good value
Down the very long escalator - "Stand on the Right please, those walking pass on the left!"
It had been a great day; nothing nicer than sharing a meal with really good friends
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