My experience at Vrede en Lust..........15-03-2011

On the 15^th of March 2011 (yes I know it was a Tuesday) two of my dear friends namely Simone Dekker and Sean Collins, tied the knot on a sweltering hot day in the wine lands.

I had been to Vrede en Lust many a times for wine tasting but as you might know if you have been to the farm yourself, the tasting area is at a different location as to where the wedding receptions take place. My friends are actually from America, hence why they got married mid-week as lots of their guests were here on holiday with them from the States. This farm has a luxurious Manor House and 3 cottages which sleep 22 guests in 11 luxury double rooms.

The actual ceremony and the reception both took place on the farm itself so we didn’t have to drive anywhere else after the ceremony. The ceremony was held outside on the lawn with the most spectacular view of the mountains behind the altar. After they said their vows and promised their eternal undying love to each other they went back into the Manor House to take care of the legal bit. While this was happening we were welcomed on the lawn in front of the Manor House and served “champagne” and wine by the friendliest staff ever! I wonder if these guys were being paid according to the amount of liquor they served because you couldn’t even place your empty glass down on the table without there being another waiter close by to refill it! So you can imagine that this was an extremely festive wedding! J

As they announced that the newlyweds were about to come down from the Manor House, everyone gathered around, armed with rose pedals to sabotage them as they came down the stairs.

While sipping on our wine they also served the nicest canapés. As the sun set and the bridal party finished up their photographs we were moved to the reception area.

A massive white marquee tent decorated so romantically with fairy lights made you feel like you had just entered a fairy tale! After all this evening was the happy beginning of the Collins’ fairy tale! Everything was decorated in crisp white, embraced by the soft glow of the lighting. The presents to all of the guests from the bride and groom were Vrede en Lust bottle openers for the guys and different flavour jam for the ladies.

While deciding beforehand what they would serve at their wedding, they knew that they didn’t want a buffet dinner. In my eyes, the only meal that can pass as an acceptable buffet is breakfast. However when they sampled items from the wonderful Vrede en Lust kitchen they were stuck between the line fish and the fillet. They knew none of their guests were vegetarians so at least they didn’t have to decide on a third option. Instead of offering you a choice between one or two mains like many other people do, they decided on a 4 course meal, all served to their guests at their seats with no options.

The First Course was nice and light in the form of a Caprese Salad: cocktail tomatoes, marinated pearl mozzarella and basil pesto. I have had many Caprese Salads before but this one was exploding with flavour!

For our Second Course we got served Grilled Line Fish, with fresh herbs salad and lime atchar dressing. Unfortunately I forgot to ask them which line fish it was but this was also divine!

The Third Course was Roasted Fillet of Beef, with leek and wild mushrooms ragout, potato rosti and balsamic syrup. I am usually a gal that prefers the fresh light taste of line fish to the slightly heavier richer taste of steak but oh my word!! This piece of meat was absolutely fantastic!!! The accompanying side orders complimented the beef so well it was as if they were made for one another! But then again, when you pair mushroom with steak you can never go wrong!

By the time dessert was served I was a bit too full to thoroughly enjoy it but the bit of it that I did taste was brilliant! This Belgian Chocolate Espresso Bouchon, with white chocolate marmalade ice cream and spicy orange preserve dessert consisted of gooey chocolatey goodness! And of course then there was still wedding cake as well!!

We left about two in the morning and everyone else was still going strong! This venue is truly amazing for a wedding! It has the location, the views and the most amazing food!!

They also have a smaller restaurant on the farm that serves breakfast and lunch called Cotage Fromage. The next morning after the wedding most of the guests (including myself) enjoyed a delicious much needed eggs and bacon babbelas breakfast here.

Yours in fun & weddings,

Elly D

Vrede en Lust Wine Farm

Intersection R45 & Klapmuts Road, Simondium

Franschoek

Winery & offices: 021-874 1611

Cotage Fromage 021-874 3991

http://www.vnl.co.za/

My Experience at San Marco..........22-07-2011

I have always been quite skeptical about buying into deals and specials so I am not registered with sites like Group On and Ubuntu. My boyfriend however is and he came across this pasta special at San Marco. So we got our friends together and we gave it a go. I have never heard of San Marco but figured it couldn’t be too bad if it was located in the Waterfront. The special consisted of: pasta (choice of 5 different pasta’s namely Bolognaise, Napolitana, Chili Arrabiata, Fresh Basil Pesto and Sage & Parmesan), 1 scoop of Gelato and a drink (Coca-Cola, Mineral water, 300ml Peroni, glass of Chenin Blanc). All of this for only R29 (valued at R123)!!

Seeing as this special was quite a steal it makes one think that they are obviously struggling a bit with the colder winter season and hence trying to get new customers. This works in concept because if it wasn’t for the vouchers we would never have considered this place. If we will now become regular customers is another story.

When all of us had arrived it took a while to get the waitress’ attention. She knew we were there for the vouchers so I am not sure if she immediately had a pre conceived perception of what it would be like serving us. Little did she know she should not judge the book by its cover as we would never be able to just have one drink per person!

After we ordered our drinks it took a while to be brought to us. Most of their tables are situated outside hence why they probably struggle with clientele in the colder winter months. Some of the other waiters were standing around and it didn’t really seem like they were helping each other out. We managed to get one of them to move a heater closer to us after another table had left. Later on what seemed like the manager also brought out some blankets.

The food at least arrived quite soon after we had ordered. I was really not impressed with my food but to be honest I didn’t expect too much seeing as I had only paid R29 for it. With each pasta dish you had a choice of tagliatelle, penne or angel hair pasta. I chose the angel hair with my Bolognaise because I thought that that would be the one with the least amount of pasta in it. In hind sight I should have probably gone for penne instead. I merely choose the Bolognaise because it was the only one that wasn’t vegetarian. I understand a vegetarian pasta is obviously cheaper than one with meat in hence why the meaty ones weren’t included in the special. Towards the end of my meal I just fished out the few pieces of meat that was left as the ratio between pasta and meat was very much in the favor of the pasta. The taste of the bolognaise itself wasn’t too bad. Most of us had the Bolognaise but one of my friends had the Fresh Basil Pesto pasta with angel hair and she thoroughly enjoyed it!

The gelato’s were probably the highlight of the evening! The only problem was that I ordered the wrong flavour so ended up having gelato envy!!  Some of my friends had the Tiramisu and Chocolate flavours which were both absolutely divine!! The Tiramisu gelato had pieces of soft biscuit in it which made it totally delicious!! It was almost like they had mushed up an actual Tiramisu and added it to the gelato. The Chocolate gelato was thick and full of heavy chocolate flavour which made it super yum as well! It actually reminded me a lot of woolies’ chocolate milkshakes. I had the Stracciatella gelato with chocolate flakes which was VERY disappointing. It didn’t have enough chocolate flakes and the vanilla gelato tasted extremely watery! The waiter was generous with her scoops of gelato though which made up for everything.

Overall I would say that the only reason I went was because of the Ubuntu voucher. The service was also not the greatest and it’s not even like the waitress’ “award winning” personality made up for it. I would not go there again unless it was just for dessert (the Tiramisu gelato) as I also saw a lovely piece of baked cheesecake (my weakness) fly past me.

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

Shop No. 128, Lower Level
V&A Waterfront
Cape Town
021-418 5434
sanmarco@telkomsa.net

My experience at Kitchen Cowboys.....1-04-2011

I had never really heard of Kitchen Cowboys until one of my best friends organized one of our Girls Nights with them. Kitchen Cowboys initially started out as a cooking institute for guys only, run by world renowned chef Pete Goffe-Wood. I believe they allow women to partake in the cooking program now as well. They also have a stand at the old biscuit mill market where they sell their legendary Steak Rolls and Pork Belly Pies. Their reputation exceeds them as one of my work colleagues can’t stop raving about these Pork Belly Pies. I am yet to try one of them! The Kitchen Cowboys Canteen is situated in Woodstock behind the Upper East Side Hotel and is open during the day for lunch. They are not really open at night as they are not a restaurant but you can organize a dinner experience there where Elize will be your host for the evening. They have a max of about 18 odd people that they can accommodate at night. You can take your own wine, on which you will naturally be charged a corkage fee.

To start with they served us canapés, which consisted of Salmon & Cucumber Nori Rolls with Soy dipping sauce and Goats cheese Tartlet. The canapés were all delicious except for some of the tartlets which were slightly burned.

For mains we had their 8 week matured Steak with White Wine Mustard Sauce, pan-fried mushrooms and Mash Potatoes served with Greek salad, Ceaser salad and freshly baked bread. For the vegetarians amongst us they served Butternut risotto with crispy sage.

Oh my goodness!! The steak was so delicious and soft!! Done medium rare to perfection! I can now see why their Steak Rolls at the Biscuit Mill is so popular! The mash was like something I have NEVER tasted before! It was so creamy and tasty, almost like a rich porridge/pudding. So divine! Even the salads were really good!

Elize was a marvelous host and made us feel really at home. She is one of those people where what you see is what you get! No bullshit. My friend and I ended up having quite a long chat with her in the kitchen and she is so funny! I can’t wait to make a turn by the Biscuit Mill or at The Canteen for that matter to sink my teeth into their perfectly soft steaks again!

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

20-22 Brickfield Road
Saltriver, Cape Town
021-424 2626
chef@kitchencowboys.co.za
www.kitchencowboys.co.za

My Second Experience at El Burro..........14-07-2011

A friend was visiting recently from her worldly travels and we thought what a great excuse to go for some Margarita’s and Tortillas. You might have noticed that I have blogged about El Burro before but that was just after they opened. Although I enjoyed myself then I didn’t get to experience the whole Mexican vibe as I was detoxing at the time, so no Tequila. Hence why I decided to go back and have lots of Margarita’s. J

I have been following El Burro on twitter for a while now so every day I see their updates about their nice winter specials and in particular the goat stew. I have never had goat’s meat before so I really wanted to try it.

Needless to say I had the Cabrito (Spanish for young goat) Taco: Tender pieces of kid slow braised for 6 hours in a toasted almond, walnut, coriander seed, cinnamon and tomatilla sauce. Served with a fresh cabbage and carrot cold slaw, refritos, red rice and your choice of flour or corn tortillas, and of course salsas.  I opted for the soft flour tortilla version. I gave some other people at our table a taste and a lot of them thought it tasted like lamb. I suppose only a trained palette will be able to distinguish the two as most people don’t eat goat regularly. It does however taste way richer than lamb. I am not sure if that was just the way in which they cooked this goat and the sauce they used or if goat generally is a rich meat. Unfortunately though I was so hungry by the time we got to El Burro that I munching down on too many of the complimentary nachos and chucked down tons of frozen Margarita’s (made with Olmeca Blanco), so by the time the food came I was already kind of full.

Regardless I am glad I ordered the goat as I really enjoyed its full flavour. The coriander comes thru quite strongly in the taste. I took the rest home and had it for lunch the next day. I was going to assembly the tortilla there but figured it would be soggy by the next day so asked to get all the bits taken away instead. The tin foil duckies are cute but tinfoil is not exactly that practical when you want to take away a few smaller ingredients. The only bad habit I find with Mexican food is that you still taste it hours after you have eaten it.

One of my friends had the Chicken Enchilada (also available in pork): Filled flour tortillas covered in mild roast tomato and chilli sauce, topped with queso fresco and baked, served with a side salad. He thoroughly enjoyed this meal.

I remember last time when I was at El Burro the toilets weren’t to clean but this time I see that it was much better.

They also have half price lunch specials during the week for these cold winter months.

Yours in fun & Tequila,

Elly D

81 Main Road
Greenpoint
021-433 2364
hola@elburro.co.za

My Experience at Amalfi..........13-06-2011

We decided very last minute to plan a trip to the UK. The trip was mainly to go see an electronic DJ playing live at Victoria Park at a music festival! J

We figured while we were going to England we might as well stay and see a bit more of this historic country. As we were staying with a friend just outside of London in Reigate, we travelled into London quite often. We dedicated one day to being total tourists and took the Big Bus Tour of London. When you do not have a lot of time on your side and you want to see as much of the landmarks as possible this is the best way to do it. So after seeing some of the main attractions like the Big Ben, London Eye, Tower and London Bridge, we found ourselves looking for a place to have a nice dinner at. This time I didn’t quite feel like spending the remainder of the sunshine (that’s right I just used the word sunshine whilst talking about England) in a dark dingy pub. Why is it thought that all the pubs in England are so dark and all of them have carpets which results in all of them smelling like beer as you enter?!!

Anyway, while we were sightseeing during the day we drove thru the area known as Soho and thought this place looked quite hip and happening. So there we found ourselves back in Soho looking for a bite to eat. We popped our heads into a few places and eventually decided on this quaint little Italian restaurant called Amalfi! Only once I had returned home did I discover that Amalfi is actually a coastal town in the province of Salerno in the region of Campania, Italy.

One thing that still amazes me every time we go to Europe is how different the dining out experience is over there compared to over here! I don’t need to tell you this as you know over here in sunny South Africa going out for dinner can be a whole night event. You first have a couple glasses of wine before you order you food and you take your time in between courses. And if you wanted to you could savor the last bit of the night long after you have finished your dessert. Over there this would not be the case! As they seat you they almost expect you to immediately know what it is that you want to drink. Then as they bring your drinks order they expect you to place your mains order. The first time we went out for dinner over there I was totally caught off guard! Thank goodness that time we went to this particular place to eat their ribs so I didn’t really have to think about what to order. I am not really someone that likes to be put on the spot so deciding what I would like to eat does not happen in a milli second as I am also quite picky about what I put in my mouth. I hate having food envy so I want to make sure I order the perfect meal for me. Therefore I will ALWAYS ask questions! But don’t worry, I am not one of those totally annoyingly difficult customers, I just like knowing the details.

We skipped the starters and went straight onto mains. Can you believe I have never had risotto!! So I figured there isn’t a more perfect time then to have it at this proper Italian restaurant. I ordered the Risotto Frutti di Mare: Classic southern Italian risotto of squid, mussels, prawns and clams, finished with chilli, tomato garlic and olive oil. It was delicious!!! It had the perfect balance between creamy risotto and the meaty goods with an amazingly complimenting sauce! Devine!! My boyfriend had the Spaghetti Polpette: Beef and pork meatballs with garlic and herbs, in a rich tomato sauce. I only briefly tasted it as I didn’t want to ruin the creamy seafood risotto taste with the taste of saucy meatballs. Although it was nice I think it was a bit too plain for the restaurant we were in! If you are going to serve such an ordinary dish it should be exploding with flavour! I wanted to feel like I was in Italy while I was there. Which was well possible, seeing as there was a lot of different types of accents being spoken and our waiter was imported straight from Italy! Shame he was so cute.  A short stocky grumpy (in the Italian way) old man!

If there is baked cheesecake on a dessert menu I struggle to resist and the same goes for my boyfriend and tiramisu! So needless to say I had the Cheesecake: Creamy baked cheesecake with red berry compote and he had the Tiramisu: Italian dessert with light sponge soaked in coffee liquor, layered with mascarpone cream. My cheesecake was good, definitely satisfied that creamy craving but I could get better in South Africa as baked cheesecake is one of our local specialties, but the Tiramisu!! I think you will definitely struggle to get one that beats that tiramisu! It was AMAZING….

Overall a very lovely Italian experience in the heart of the gay centre of London! Definitely a place I would go back to if we had to pop by Soho again.

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

29-31 Old Compton Street
Soho, London
020 7437 7284
http://www.amalfi-restaurant.co.uk/