This market has recommenced for summer 2010/2011. I visited it last night again, on it’s first one this season, and it’s better than ever.
So I am reproducing the article I wrote on it in February.
This is a great new addition to the growing Cape Town market scene. The setting is beautiful, particularly at dusk on a summer’s [...]
Tucked down the end of a cul-de-sac in the middle of the courts and legal district you find 95Keerom, which is located on Keerom Street.
Cheek by jowl with 95 are attorneys offices, legal services companies, Carne Restaurant (a sister restaurant to 95 Keerom) and the notorious Senator Apartments, a poisonous den of drug sellers, prostitution and [...]
Posted in Restaurants 
Tags: 95Keerom, angel hair pasta with mussels, antipasta, brian berkman, carne restaurant, carpaccio, designer furniture, down south, fiorentina, fish, giorgio nava, gnocchi, gorgonzola cheese, graff Reinet, italian, linefish, meat, northern italian, old redbrick, ossobuco, pasta, prawn and rib, side dishes, small cozy rooms, t-bone grass fed beef, tuna 
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My tasting notes are that this is a smooth, full bodied, peaty but not smokey whisky. There’s a slight sweetness, but it’s a well balanced whisky, without harshness or “grab the back of your throat” qualities.
It has just been launched and will retail for R200, which is a steal at that price. Only 8,000 bottles [...]
The deal is you pay R185 for 500g of crayfish. You can have it hot or cold. I recommend cold – with some crusty bread and mayonnaise. I’d strongly recommend a chilled glass of wine to wash it down.
Sitting on the deck of Oyo, looking out over the water, it’s a real pleasure to enjoy [...]
Posted in Niblets., Restaurants Tags: crayfish, oyo, paternoster, v&a, v&a hotel No Comments » read more »
What has been the biggest influence on your winemaking?
The biggest influence on me to date have been the people I’ve worked with. I’ve had great mentors – John Loubser, the Cellarmaster here, and Erika Ubermeyer at Graham Beck in Franschhoek.
What excites you currently about the wine industry?
There is continual experimentation with lighter, more elegant, lightly [...]
This is one of my favourite Thai recipes because it is so easy to make.
Prepare your ingredients and you need one pot to cook it, and another for the rice. It takes 20 minutes, apart from prep time for the ingredients.
Ingredients.
1 Tbsp garlic, roughly chopped.
1 Tbsp sunflower oil.
2 Tbsp cumin seeds.
2 Tbsp shallots, finely sliced.
1/1/2 Tbsp [...]
Anyone who has ever bough flat flatpack IKEA furniture and then had to endure the agony of trying to assemble the stuff will groan in agony when they hear that they’ve brought out a book of baking recipes.
Why would they do that?
Well it’s a marketing exercise, and a pretty good one at that. 30 recipes, [...]
And you thought your apples in the local supermarket were just picked, bagged and shipped?
Wrong.
I accepted an invite to visit the Two a Day fruit people last week. They asked me to come and have a look at their production and packing facility in Elgin.
Ok, I was going on to a lunch where tasting Elgin [...]
Summer is still not here. And good comfort food is still in demand.
I unearthed an old recipe which never fails. It’s Cottage Pie with a flavoursome twist.
Ingredients. Serves 4.
1 Large celery.
4 med carrots.
6 potatoes.
1lb, 500gms, lean lamb or beef mince. I used beef.
I length of good quality chorizo.
3 med onions.
A good bunch of thyme.
Worcester sauce and Tabasco [...]
Posted in Recipes Tags: beef, carrots, celery, chorizo, comfort food, cottage pie, garlic, lamb, shiraz, tabasco, thyme, worcester No Comments » read more »
I ate at Tokara yesterday to experience Richard Carstens food for the first time.
Tokara is located in a beautiful stone and glass building, with views out to the vineyards which roll across the surrounding hills and valleys.
The restaurant occupies a building that it shares with wonderful tasting rooms, and the whole structure is built over the winery, [...]
Posted in Restaurants Tags: delaire, fine dining, helshoogte pass, jardine, lawrence graff, richard carstens, sous vide, stellenbosch, sunday lunch, Tokara 4 Comments read more »
Restaurant and foodie circles have been abuzz in recent weeks with the imminent opening of Richard Carsten’s restaurant at Tokara.
They are not quite there yet, but here is a sneak preview of the art, yes the art, that will adorn the walls between the tasting room and
the restaurant.
What’s interesting about this art is that it [...]
Watch as Eric Bulpitt of Jardine Restaurant cooks liver and onions. His favourite dish, it is nutritious and easy to prepare.
He pairs it with a Doolhof Malbec, 2008.
Eric has recently returned from a 6 week stint at NOMA, the world’s number 1 restaurant.
Where were you born?
Westley: Krugersdorp
Carmen: Durbanville
How long have you been in your present job?
Whe have both been working as chef’s for about 8 years, but have currently been working at Towerbosch for 8 months.
What is your favourite dish to cook?
Westley: Anything slow- to see how the flavours are released and enhanced by time, like a [...]
Posted in Chef's Chat Tags: aubergine, Knorhoek Estate, roundhouse, Towerbosch Restaurant 2 Comments read more »
At the launch of the 2011 Best Value Wine Guide at Joostenberg none other than Christian Eedes shoved a glass of Koelenbosch Sangiovese 2009 over to me.
“Taste that!”, he commanded, “It’s superb!”
I did, and it was. And only R28 per bottle.
“But Christian”, I said, “It’s only R28 per bottle, isn’t it making you ill?”
I was worried [...]
The time: 9:21 on a windy Cape Town Spring evening.
The place: Nonna Lina’s Pizza and Pasta joint, Gardens, Cape Town.
We order the bill. Just ok food, and very slow service. It was a pit stop on the way home after a long day out.
Bill arrives. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.
Food is totalled, then a [...]
This restaurant is attached to tastings rooms and a winery and has been open for just one year.
The interior design is airy with light wood and is dominated by the colour white.
Bottles from Steenberg Winery line the walls; it all looks chic and cool. Outside there is seating for eating as well as loungers for [...]
This soup is a wow and is so disgustingly easy to make. It’s great for dinner parties because it tastes so delicious. Your guests will be speechless or babbling incoherently in delight.
It tastes like a soup a lot of work has gone into. I think I’ve got a cheek putting it up as a recipe [...]
Posted in Recipes Tags: blue cheese, cauliflower, cream, delicious, dinner parties, newlands spring water, recipe, soup, speechless 1 Comment read more »
Sodastream have gone on a marketing push. They have distributed the famous old sodastream machine to a gaggle of Cape Town bloggers and journalists.
These devices bring me back to my childhood.
A major plank of their marketing strategy has been to persuade us to stop buying bottled water, which is bad for the environment (all these [...]
Posted in Niblets. Tags: bonaqua, bottled water, champagne, environment, kildare road, Newlands, sodastream 1 Comment read more »
Justine Drake is a South African food guru, so when her fifth cookery book comes along you expect to be impressed with what she has turned out. And impressed I was.
Simply Good Food has over 120 really easy recipes to follow. That’s not a cliché, they really are easy. And gosh these recipes really deliver [...]
Posted in Cook Book Review Tags: asian chicken balls, asian vegetable broth, bean dip, beetroot gazpacho, citrus and coriander yellowtail, easy recipes, egg fried rice, exclusive books, food guru, justine drake, lannice snyman publishers, mashed potato, ministrone soup, pea risotto, salmon fishcakes, salt, simply good food, sugar, sweetcorn salsa 2 Comments read more »
Mike Bampfield-Duggan is the owner of Wine Concepts in Newlands and on Kloof Street in Town. I have great time for him as he’s a nice fellow and he has a great nose for truffling out a great bargain. That is not the same as a cheap wine. Bargain wine is a wine that normally costs a heck of a lot more for the equivalent drinking experience..
Posted in Wines of The Week Tags: arra viognier, asian food, bargain, blue train, braai, bush vines, chardonnay, cheap wine, chenin blanc, cinsault, darling, dido pinot grigio, european style wine, haystack chardonnay, inkspot vin noir, kloof street, Mike Bampfield-Duggan, mooiplaas chenin blanc, Newlands, paarl, pinotage, semillon, shiraz, Wine Concepts, winespeak, withington semillon blanc 4 Comments read more » |  |  |  |
