At the moment a Foodfari
Trip Start
Unknown
1
4
23
Trip End
Ongoing
Cape Town,
Western Cape,
South Africa
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Up early as still getting used to the change of times zones.Got to bed about 11-ish last night which is a bit early by normal standards but absolutely knackered after first day.
The restaurant we went to was great. Called 'Chenin' after the most popular wine variety grown in the land. The menu was as i hoped lots of local stuff both food and plonk. So for the moment the safari can wait and we'll have the Foodfari.
I was keen to try the Springbok (figured if you can't beat them in footy then you can at least eat the bastards) so got chatting to the owner/chef, young chap called Craig. He was originally from Jo'burg, but after spending a few years in London decided when he returned to SA to open up shop in Cape Town coz he reckons that its the safer than either Jo'burg or Durban. You can walk around the streets at night here quite safely (we think).
Anyway they only had one serve of Springbok left after a busy lunch and he wouldn't recommend it as he thought it looked like a 'chewy' piece.But we're still keen, so off he goes and gets us a complimentary tasting plate with a green salsa. Cooked medium rare it was still pretty good, much like venison as you might expect, but not as gamey/rich as 'roo. Quite nice.
We settled for starters of Kudu (antelope) carpaccio and Angel Fish fishcakes. Both delicious.
The Kudu came with a very local caponata sauce and was great. For mains i had slow roasted local duck with a touch of aniseed and on celriac mash. Bloody marvelous. We had a bottle of the local '99 Nedderberg Pinotage with the mains and it was excellent. Never had a SA Pinotage before. Much bigger wine than the ordinary pinot noir's with excellent fruit and nice soft aged tannins and vanillas from the oak. Anyway place recommended particularly after Craig decided to give us another complimentary tasting of local dessert wines with the sweets. All bloody fantastic. Finally wandered off to the remnants of the fashion and body painting extravaganza with a nice buzz.
Lots of people there in a carnival like atmosphere. Great introduction to SA night life. got some photos which i'll upload later.
By the way the meal and wine only cost about R700 for three so at about $AUD33 was fanatstic.
As you may have guessed Gemma has brought her laptop and after getting some WiFi broadband yesterday you can Skype us on 'Gemma.Huggins' best time for you and us is about
5.00 pm ASET as for us that's 8.00 am CAT (Central Africa Time).
Today we're off to Simonstown via Cape Of Good Hope to view the famous penguin colony there
and continue the Foodfari with lunch at "Bertha's" which comes highly recommended (by Craig as well). Off to breakfast.
