Wine-tasting and dinner at maze

10 May 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, CTG recommends, cape town, food, food interrupted, lifestyle, restaurants, south africa, 1 Comments

Eric from One&Only Cape Town

It was with much excitement that Frances Sauvage, Chris Rawlinson, Therese and myself found ourselves handing our keys over to the valets at One&Only Cape Town for an evening with Eric, renowned sommelier and dinner at Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, maze. Just read Eric’s story:

“Eric moved from the Northern Cape to Cape Town in 1994/1995 and got a job at a bottle store. The bottle store was often quiet, so he used to read the back of wine labels and this is where his interest in wine developed. He managed to get his hands on a John Platter guide and through studying it, learnt more about the topic. Via the John Platter guide, Eric heard about the Cape Wine Academy and over time, Eric entered himself for courses at the Cape Wine Academy at this own expense. Eric left the bottle store and joined Woolworths as a shelf packer. He requested to work in the food & beverage section, and eventually his path crossed with Alan Mullins, legendary wine consultant for Woolworths. Alan took Eric under his wing, and the rest is history. Today Eric lives in Woodstock with his mother and his children, and he’s studying for a Diploma in Wine through the Cape Wine Academy.”

How fantastic is that! Our gracious hosts, Etienne and Adele, informed us that first we’d have a brief tour of One&Only Cape Town’s cellar, which holds over 5 000 bottles - just think about that! It’s a collection that took over 7 years in the making, which makes it older than the hotel itself.

Into the cellar, Frances leading the way

The most expensive bottle of wine in the collection is the Cheval Blanc from France, which will cost you a cool R17 000. So we ordered 5 bottles of that, just to kick off the mood.We proceeded to taste 4 different types of wine, including a Pinot Noir, a Cab Sauv, a Gewurtztraminer and a Chardonnay. Eric really put the pressure on the tasting notes which caused Etienne and Frances Sauvage to giggle like naughty children in the corner.

The Glen Carlou Pinot Noir

For starters we all sampled various dishes including wood fired prawns (amazing), Kentucky Fried Quail and Coleslaw (delicious) and the ultimate dish from the starters if you ask me, the soft-shell crab claws, which we all eyed greedily (oh you have it, no no, please, go ahead through gritted teeth).

For mains I ate the roasted kingklip on crayfish risotoo with bouillabaise sauce on a bed of garlic and parsley mussels. It tasted as good as it sounds. The others ate from the impressive meat selection – I will most definitely be ordering a steak next time. maze is, in fact, a grill restaurant, so steaks are their speciality.

The fillet

We were then granted the special privilege of a kitchen tour by maze head chef Phil Carmichael. Frances could not control herself, and proceeded to ply him with a slew of questions, from ‘What do you cook for yourself when you’re at home?’ and ‘What’s your last minute backup plan if you stuff everything up?’. Phil handled her like a pro, citing ‘A cheese and tomato sandwich’ and ’spaghetti bolognese’ as his answers.

with Phil Carmichael, the head chef at maze

Post kitchen tour we were presented with a spread of various desserts. The maze breakfast was an unusual if delicious take on cereal (unbelievably good, you have to try it), while the chocolate orange fondant was just out of this world, as was the peanut butter and jelly ice cream bar. The raspberry sorbet was refreshing and delicious, and the vanilla rice pudding was gentle and creamy. With all that wine in us, there was little conscience left to stop us pigging out, which is exactly what we did. And it was awesome!

Mmmm dessert

With our coffee came these tiny moist squares of brownie goodness, as well as some handmade orange turkish delight jellies.

Brownie delights!

There wasn’t room in my stomach, but I made room. The service was out of this world! It also looks awesome. The triple volume ceiling and the oversized lightbulbs create a sense of drama.

Frances Sauvage holding a Baked Alaska also creates a sense of drama

I’m definitely going back! Who’s with me? Click here to book yourself a dinner at maze.

Just order your own Soft-shell Crab Claws. I’m being serious.

CTG Restaurant Reviews: S1mz goes to Mint

04 May 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, cape town, food, lifestyle, restaurants, south africa, 5 Comments

Meet S1mz. S1mz is CTG’s Restaurant Critic. S1mz can eat anything and still stay thin. S1mz looks like a chill bro but is also deceptively belligerent. S1mz likes his meat minced, not his words. And S1mz accompanied me to Mint, at The Taj. In his words…

“I’ve eaten in many hotels over the years, and so it was that Cape Town Girl and I entered Mint, the casual, all day dining venue at The Taj Hotel in Wale Street in Cape Town. The main feature, and one of the first things you see when entering, is a beautiful glass fronted wine cellar with stainless steel frame. Stark and contemporary, beautiful in its unapologetic display. The lighting is nice, imposing steel shades which hang like copper artichoke hearts from the double volume ceiling. But the furniture is a let down. There is no excuse for using oak veneer tables and chairs, even if the chairs are covered in a cream and olive damask. It just speaks of a lack of inspiration.

However, we were at Mint to eat and so we settled quickly into a bottle of Eagles Nest Merlot and a starter of truffle scented asparagus soup and glazed foie gras with berry compote. The soup was presented with great theatricality and poured at the table from a small carafe, steaming and impatient, into the bowl which had been primed with truffle oil. The delicate flavors had been handled with great respect and blended comfortably to complement each other, almost to the point of feeling under seasoned, but I couldn’t commit either way I’m afraid.

The glazed foie gras was delicious, a little more heat would have given it a crispier crust but the flesh was superb, pink and soft, with the texture of over-ripe camembert. I found the berry compote too sharp as an accompaniment though, it dominated the finish and cleansed my palate far too quickly. I personally like to savour this dish so avoided adding too much of the jammy sauce.

The service to this point was superb. I have to make mention of the maitre d’ Hilton and his team because they were perfectly on point. They were attentive and chatty without being over bearing. I love eating in a place where the staff are happy, it makes for 50% of the experience and Mint is no exception. They appeared genuinely proud of their menu, their kitchen and their floor.

Because Cape Town Girl likes a story she ordered the ostrich steak with mash and calvados sauce, as this dish was recommended by the restaurant earlier that day on Twitter. To be fair, it was very good. The meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare and the accompanying calvados sauce was so good we ordered another bowl. Calvados is an apple brandy from the French region of Lower Normandy and the jus which the spirit was added to had the required gentle meatiness adding a touch of salt. It was delicious and the kitchen had clearly taken their time on the reduction.

Not so lucky on the risotto though. It was over cooked and consequently stodgy and soft. It wasn’t a mess, and I wasn’t offended by it, but I mentioned it politely to Hilton and he clearly took it as an affront because he wrestled it away from me, insisting it was not even the smallest imposition to remake the entire dish. Mint is big on truffle oil by the way, they appear to use it wherever they can and the gentle scent was evident from the moment my meal was placed in front of me.

I expected the obligatory 30 minute wait, which is half the time I take to bumble my way through this dish, but amazingly I had a fresh bowl within 10 minutes. Small, firm little rice grains with a soft bite and a rich creamy parmesan sauce arrived, much better than the first. With the little shitake mushrooms entwined in an orderly heap under a basil leaf blanket. Cape Town Girl beamed with pride, and then she took a photo.

Hilton was clearly on a roll by now, because he would not allow us to order just one dessert. He delivered a platter of the entire dessert menu to our table. It was ridiculous. I will try to summarize the experience in the interest of brevity:

Cappuccino creme brulee: Don’t mess with creme brulee. I want custard with a crisp burnt sugar top. That’s it. This was covered in swiss meringue.

Chocolate mousse with Grande Marnier: Damn fine heavily laden cocoa bitterness. Recommended!

Cheese cake with berry sorbet and compote: I don’t remember eating this. Not a good sign.

Chocolate fondants: Too dry, fondants should explode in a mountain of hot chocolate. Avoid it, unless you enjoy disappointment.

Cappuccino ice cream: The highlight of the dessert trolley. Creamy, silky, smooth yummy deliciousness. I want some now…

Macaron: Cape Town Girl ate this. She was critical of it. That’s how she is.

To conclude:

Mint is a great restaurant with passionate people running it. I had a great meal at very reasonable prices. Cape Town Girl was scintillating company and that definitely allowed me to feel less dull, but all in all I will definitely go back because they run a happy space. It’s part of the inner city rejuvenation and it is well run. In a sea of mediocre offerings they deliver a great menu, well prepared food and at good value. For these reasons alone it deserves your support.”

To book a table at Mint call +27 (0)21 819 2000 or click here for contact details. To follow @S1mz on twitter, click here.

Guess the location: Cape Town

05 Apr 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, cape town, lifestyle, restaurants, south africa, 6 Comments

This is taken from my table at my favourite restaurant at the V&A Waterfront, where I am partial to the Oysters and the Poached Pear, Blue Cheese and Toasted Almond Salad. Can you guess where it is?

Eat here: Deli Delish in Hout Bay

30 Mar 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in cape town, lifestyle, restaurants, 1 Comments

Am not one for leaving the city bowl. Quite frankly, the thought of it frightens me. All that space in the suburbs is appalling. And beyond… all those ‘highways’ and ‘open plots of land on the side of the road’ - what’s with that? Nothing like the 5 000-apartment pile-up that is the city bowl. You can understand why a city girl would quiver when she was invited by her ‘Hout Bay Friend’ to have lunch with him… in Hout Bay.

As if leaving The Bowl wasn’t bad enough, Hout Bay is like a whole new level, because when you’re there you don’t feel like you’re in Cape Town. You feel like you’re on holiday. And for someone who a) never leaves Cape Town and b) never goes on holiday, this is massive. Even more massive is the fact that I actually made it there. In the flesh. And it wasn’t even that bad!

We ate lunch at Deli Delish, and it was very delish. I had the butternut, ricotta and chickpea salad – I give it 7 out of 10. The DD is a very cosy place with ecclectic decor – the bathroom is done up like an old library, complete with taxidermied springbok with a jaunty hat.

Library Loo at Deli Delish

Jaunty bokkie at Deli Delish

And the outside area is both sheltered and sunny – perfect place for chilling with a book for the afternoon. The only gripe I had was the strange lady who allowed her dog to eat, sleep and walk all over the table. Am confused. Is this a Hout Bay thing? Do dogs have the same rights as people in Hout Bay? Can someone enlighten me? Or are poodle puppies the new oysters – ‘to be eaten alive, while fresh?’

Mmm... Puppy Salad!

Confectionary obsession of the moment: Macaroons

28 Mar 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in CTG, Coffee Club, cape town, restaurants, things to do, 13 Comments

I sampled a Vanilla macaroon from Myatt Cafe at the Waterfront today. It was like a puffy, creamy vanilla-filled soft crumbly biscuity pastry. It was gone in 5 bites, but those bites will stay with me forever.

Macaroons from Myatt Cafe

Inner city travesty.

16 Mar 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in Coffee Club, cape town, lifestyle, restaurants, 3 Comments

Lazari.

Been experiencing a major problem lately. Am not sure whether you are familiar with the fine brunch dining establishment that is Lazari. Those native to Cape Town will know it… it’s hidden in the inner city on the upper Westside (yes there’s one in the new Cape Quarter 2 bla bla but that is not REAL Lazari), and it’s an extremely popular morning coffee / brunch / lunch / afternoon tea venue, partly due to its eggs Benedict and partly due to its pink cupcakes. But lately, whenever I arrive at Lazari, both the Benedict AND the cupcakes are sold out, and a conversation of this kind usually follows:

Me: Mmmm I’ll have the eggs Benedict.
Waiter: Sorry, sold out. It’s on the board.
Me: But it was sold out last week when I came too.
Waiter: You must get here early, it’s very popular.
Me: Earlier than 12 on a Sunday? Have you lost your mind?
Waiter: I know, it’s hectic. Sorry.
Me: Okay can I have one of your pink cupcakes then?
Waiter: Uh, also sold out. Sorry. It’s not your day.
Me: They were sold out last week too!
Waiter: We do recommend that you phone ahead and book a cupcake.

And there you have it friends. We live in a city where you gotta call ahead and book your cupcake.

Me: But I don’t use the phone.
Waiter: You’re using your phone now?
Me: Yes but I don’t phone. I don’t use it to phone.
Waiter: Well you could always come in earlier.
Me: Earlier than 12 on a Sunday? Have you lost your mind?

And so forth. All this has taken a terrible toll on my mental health as have had to go elsewhere for cupcakes. By elsewhere I mean ‘beyond Gardens Centre and surrounds’, which means I usually end up driving in circles around Lazari and then driving home. So have been in state of panic. If you see mad-looking girl in underwear driving around looking like great white that’s been interrupted mid-frenzy, give her wide berth. Maybe toss biscuit in the window.

Close encounters with the culinary kind: 15 minutes at Aubergine on a Thursday

12 Mar 2010, Posted by Cape Town Girl in cape town, dating, lifestyle, restaurants, 5 Comments

Friends and I were out and about in the inner city last night, looking for a quick bite, something comforting and filled with carbs. I suggested we try a little eatery I drive past often on my way home, but have never properly investigated. It looked like a sedate little affair. It was called Aubergine, which to me implies comfort, rich colours and rounded edges, much like the vegetable. It sounded like a restaurant you could hug. I imagined they’d make a good moussaka. Have I ever been so wrong?

Aubergine. Beautiful.

We should have known things would get awkward when the head waiter looked at us askance when we announced we didn’t have a booking.
“Not a problem. Take a seat at the bar while we make up your table,” he said.
We ordered drinks while we waited. Not being a ‘drink every night’ kinda gal, I ordered a Coke Zero and gamely paged through the winelist, some 400 bottles strong. After the first 3 pages I felt drunk. We were then told our table was ready.

But it wasn’t so much ‘ready’ as ‘reclining in splendour, awaiting our presence’. The way it was laid out was a work of art in itself. Which is when the warning bells went off.
“It doesn’t look like they serve pizza here,” friend whispered into my ear, hoisting self onto seat made from the hair of baby angels, no doubt. Then the menu came and all doubts were cleared. Aubergine was not, in fact, a ‘restaurant you could hug’. Aubergine is an experience in dining akin to a complicated full-day spa treatment. Filled with food equivalent of hot rocks and flotation tanks and sorbet in between meals. Basically, you’ll want to plan a meal there, preferably weeks in advance so you can get excited for it. But to stumble upon such a magical food wonderland was really too much on a very pedestrian Thursday night, and we decided to leave, completely overwhelmed.

Mindblowing. A whole other level of eating out happening here.

Figured honesty was best policy. Informed head waiter of our surprise at finding selves in symposium of culinary wonders, and that we would return some day, once we were better prepared, and better dressed. Waiter looked from male companion to me, and made eyes as if to say ‘Don’t worry, not many men get our food’ and very graciously said he understood. We made our exit quietly, and ended up in Saigon, where we ordered Tom Yum and prawn California rolls – unintimidating and comfortingly predictable – and, always up for a good gimmick, marvelled at fact that you could order a massage while you eat (cue slappy-slap-slap sound as masseuse pounded patrons intermittently throughout evening). Last night wasn’t the night for Aubergine. But we’ll be back. Soon. Very soon.