Chef Stefan Marais works his magic this Autumn with his new menu of dishes designed to reflect the best of produce sourced from local producers committed to ethical practices. He uses top quality ingredients from small producers and creates earthy dishes which deliver on looks and taste.
What I love about Stefan’s approach is that he just [...]
Posted in Restaurants 
Tags: Autumn Menu, gardens, societi bistro, stefan marais 
No Comments » read more »
Ten reasons to buy a bottle of Laurens Campher:
1. Romance: This wine commemorates the masculine half of the great
Cape romance of the 17th century. German immigrant falls for
beautiful slave girl held captive in the Castle and visits her on
foot, a three day walk from his Stellenbosch farm, until she had
learnt sufficient Dutch to be emancipated. [...]
Bea Tollman is one of the founders of the Red Carnation group of Hotels.
In Cape Town she oversees the 12 Apostles Hotel.
Spanning three continents and 15 hotels she’s been in the hotel business all her life.
Her passion for food comes to the fore in this fascinating read, “A Life in Food”,
Bea’s interest in food was [...]
Posted in Cook Book Review, Recipes Tags: 12 apostles, bea tollman, cape town, cheesecake recipe., red carnation group 7 Comments read more »
Josephine Gutentoft is a Sommelier.
She is based at the Grand Roche Hotel in Paarl and she is a dynamo.
Josephine is a rare species in South Africa as she is one of a handful of people with an internationally recognized qualification as a wine sommelier.
What is a sommelier?
It’s a person who has trained to become a [...]
Posted in Niblets. Tags: chenin blanc, Grande Roche Hotel and Restaurant, josephine toft, paarl, sommelier, swartland 2 Comments read more »
The annual Oesfees, or harvest festival, was held on Saturday at Solms Delta.
It was a wonderful mix of music, food, wine, and people having a great time.
Here are some of my impressions.
Part of our global village that’s blessed with plenty of sunshine is the Mediterranean and that’s where the peasants have been making a flatbread from dough and topping this with olive oil and wild herbs since way back in the Middle Ages. At some stage they added mozzarella cheese, discovered that the ornamental tomato was [...]
Sometimes you come across little objects of desire or elements of design, or things purely functional that attract your attention.
This egg cup from German artist, Tom Hoffman, is one of the dinkiest things I’ve seen in a while.
His collection at Grand Gallery Boadicea has sold out, but there are a few of these little beauties left.
If [...]
Posted in Niblets. Tags: elgin, lam, lam chenin blanc viognier blend, lammershoek, tru-cape 4 Comments read more »
Light and space is the first impression you get walking in the door of Dear Me.
This old building has been tastefully and sympathetically refurbished so that old stone and brick walls are exposed and light floods down the stairwell from the upper floors.
The ground floor hosts the restaurant, and as you climb up through the [...]
Posted in Restaurants Tags: Dear Me, Longmarket Street, Tjing Tjing, Vanessa Marx 15 Comments read more »
It’s Franschhoek Oesfees time again at the Solms Delta Wine Estate.
This is a huge celebration marking the end of harvest and it involves lots of music, good times, plenty of wine and a wide selection of authentic traditional food.
The whole event is being by MC’d by the utterly fab Soli Philander.
Concerning the food, as Shaun [...]
Posted in Niblets. Tags: cape jazz shiraz, langarm, lekkerwijn, oesfees, Shaun Schoeman, soli philander, Solms-Delta, vastrap 6 Comments read more »
The Greenhouse Restaurant in The Cellars has cranked up a gear or two.
It is now relocated in the space that used to house The Cape Malay Restaurant.
The Cape Malay has gone back to the main building, and The Greenhouse has taken pride of place in the open, airy and pleasant surroundings of a conservatory style room [...]
Next Monday sees the annual celebration of The Feast of the Grape in the Durbanville Valley, 20 minutes outside Cape Town.
Trample grapes with your bare feet,make wine, make jam, listen to live classical music, tour winefarms on a 4×4, have a picnic, dine in top restaurants, olive tastings, cellar tours, and that’s just for the adults.
For [...]
I came upon this recipe in one of the first Moro books about three years ago and have with great excitement anticipated the arrival of autumn in the Riebeek Valley with its hot days, balmy evenings and bounty of figs, black grapes and pomegranates to prepare this dish. It stirs something inside of me as [...]
From the people who brought you The Neighbourgoods Market in the Biscuit Mill
- Superette.
It’s a casual breakfast/lunch spot. Food and ingredients are fresh from Farm to Fork,
and the menu changes daily.
The traffic thunders past outside on Albert Road, and Superette attracts a youthful crowd drawn
from the local creative industries. Photographers, architects, designers drop by for [...]
We have all seen them. Artists pictures hanging up in restaurants, sometimes with price tags attached, sometimes well………… just hanging there.
Is it a good idea? Does it work for the artists? or the restaurants?
I went along to The Grand Gallery Boadicea in the Grand Cafe and Beach last night to see an exhibition by artist Daryl [...]
The growing year is over, the harvest is safely in, it’s time to relax and celebrate with Nitida Wine Farm in beautiful Durbanville Wine Valley.
This holiday weekend sees a two day harvest festival which starts this Sunday, March 20th at 16:00.
Sterling EQ, comprised of 4 lovely musical lassies, will have you dancing on the lawns with [...]
Marita van der Vyver’s Summer Food in Provence is really a great read.
This book is full of recipes which revolve around family eating and everyday cooking.
As Marita says herself; “We don’t have the time, money and energy to make complicated and pretentious dishes using expensive ingredients”.
That’s where the beauty of this book lies.
There is a [...]
7 Vodkas, 7 Judges, and journalist Janine Stephen’s, who braved the Salt Vodka Bar in Bantry Bay to report on the results and goings on.
Blind tasting vodka is no task for the fainthearted.
You are tasting a liquid that is supposed to be clear, odourless and flavourless.
But vodkas do have a distinct nose and flavour.
A good vodka is [...]
The Picollo Mondo restaurant at the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton has just been announced as the Lindt Sweetest Establishment in South Africa 2011.
Andrew Atkinson is the Executive Chef and is delighted they won.
Andrew didn’t just use chocolate in the dessert oh no, he went the whole way and incorporated chocolate into a starter and a [...]
We’re delighted to welcome Jos Baker to Spill as a regular contributor.
Dubbed a “National Treasure”, Jos is one of South Africa’s best known and most respected writers and food critics.
Orgasmic. That was our meal at Overture. But what else would one expect from a chef /patron who is passionate about food; lives it, breathes it [...]
Posted in Restaurants Tags: bertus basson, craig cormack, hidden valley, jos baker, lands end wines, morgenster, overture, sophia's, spill, stellenbosch 4 Comments read more » |  |  |  |
