Bread & Wine Restaurant reviewed. (27-Aug-10)
Perhaps it is a strategy to corner every aspect of the eating market but Susan Huxter, arguably the person who has made the greatest contribution to putting Franschhoek on the culinary map, heads two restaurants, equally excellent but diametrically opposed when it comes to what is served on the plate.
At Le Quartier Francais Tasting Room, about which I will write more in the weeks to come, the kitchen’s goal is to surprise, challenge and delight with inventive methods and combinations. At Bread and Wine, on the nearby Môreson Wine Estate, the goal is to elevate the traditional approach to bread baking and charcuterie and cooking using the best available ingredients.
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Casa Labia Cafe reviewed August 2010 (20-Aug-10)
On hearing that Antonia Labia, who I knew as PR person for The Mount Nelson Hotel, was leaving PR to study interior design, I thought her a little dilettantish.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Today, as the creative energy behind Casa Labia, she has exquisitely restored her ancestral Muizenberg residence and created a cultural centre that is available for hire as an event’s space. If ever someone has combined interior design and public relations disciplines to good effect, she has.
The place is beautiful. There are great works of art collected by the first Count Natale Labia and his wife Ida, daughter of Sir JB Robinson. Once inside, one is transported to 18th century Venice in a lavish yet tasteful environment.
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Harlequin Restaurant, Parow reviewed. August 2010 (13-Aug-10)
CUE the soundtrack to The Godfather. This is the sort of restaurant where you’d expect big wristed men to be slicing garlic with a razor blade or where the slightest deviation from the way things have always been done is met with an offer to correct that one simply cannot refuse. After all, when you’ve been in business for more years than most restaurants in town, you’re at the top of the food chain.
The upper level of Harlequin restaurant on Voortrekker Road, Parow as you enter is now the smoking section. Even on the Thursday lunch time we dined there they were busy with local business folk.
Usually we sit in the sunken non-smoking section which, when it was built, must have been something to behold – Italian balconies and scenes painted on the walls. If you know Pizzeria Napolitano restaurant in Sea Point you’ll get the idea.
Today it just looks tired and out of place.
Only an amoeba wouldn’t have a real image of Italy from TV, at the movies or, for the bookish amongst us, from the library. Yet, because it is so deeply unfashionable, it becomes desirable, quirky even in a retro-revival.
We may think that the lanky octogenarian owner is the boss here but I tell you he isn’t. The Don in this restaurant is in the form of the women, dressed in chef’s jackets, who take the orders. Ignore their advice at your peril as I have done in the past.
One, especially greedy evening I enquired if the oxtail was a large portion. “Have the lamb shanks”, she said, but against her advice I went for the tail. It was incredibly delicious and off-the-bone soft but didn’t even address the first level of my greediness.
When we returned, after asking what was recommended, I ordered the lamb shanks. The name is a bit of a misnomer because, unless very tiny, the usual portion is one shank, and plenty to eat. Elsewhere it should be listed as lamb’s shank.
We were served sheep shanks, two of them for R110! Each aubergine coloured joint was large enough to use as a club.
The shanks where presented on a large oval platter in a rich, gelatinous gravy. A bowl with linguini was served as the side dish. This dish could have served four other diners. I was unsure how to tackle it at first, but soon, after carving the succulent meat from the bones, I mixed it all into the pasta.
Years ago there was a themed restaurant where one playacted at being medieval. It was a hideous place but I loved being able to pull at whole roasted chickens with my hands and stuff my face the way a savage might at his first meal after much marauding.
My table manners have only improved slightly. I now try to be elegant by only holding the bone with one hand while pulling the tender flesh with my front teeth and stop sucking the marrow the moment neighbouring tables turn around and glare at my slurps.
I enjoyed this dish so much it made up for the poor starter of shrimp cocktail (R40) served with Marie Rose sauce in a wilted lettuce leaf, still waterlogged after being badly thawed.
The two orders of Wiener Schnitzel R70 with chips were also huge and enjoyed and the portion of swordfish (R95), beautifully prepared.
Just as we were about to leave, a man, the splitting sideway image of Marlon Brando in later life, sat down and started counting money – piles of it, hundreds and hundreds of hundreds tied into bundles. I feared an imminent shootout imagining myself splayed across the back walls like spaghetti with tomato meat sauce. Maybe I watch too many movies.
Harlequin, 281 Voortrekker Road, Parow. 021-939-1993
When Brian Berkman isn’t watching mafia movies, he assists clients with media liaison. See www.brianberkman.com or follow BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter. • Permalink • Comments [1]
Buitenverwachting Restaurant reviewed. August 2010 (13-Aug-10)
I’ve been to this estate many times and originally felt irritated at having to drive around the cows grazing, past the horses, the winery and other historic buildings before reaching the restaurant.
Now I look forward to that trip as it helps me transition into a calmer frame of mind, one better able to enjoy such bucolic surroundings.
The restaurant, a partnership between the Mueller family who own the farm and chef patron Edgar Osojnik, has again been refurbished. There are now beautiful timber floors in the sitting room.
Unfortunately, the previous wood-burning fireplace has been removed. They’ve arranged candles where the grate once stood, which may create atmosphere in the dark but during the day looks like the votive counter in a church. This is a smart restaurant serving smart food. I was impressed that chef Edgar wasn’t in the kitchen when we dined.
Although I enjoy his company and Teutonic temperament and looked forward to seeing him, it indicates that he trusts his deputies in the kitchen to serve the same standard of food that he would. This should be the case in every restaurant.
As an aside, while I’ve heard only good things about the Bistro at Steenberg, I was asked not to visit the restaurant when the exec chef wasn’t personally available.
Buitenverwachting's Nuptials food and wine pairing menu is a collaboration between restaurant managers Etienne Borman and Nick Tenvelden and the chef.
While I recognise the skill and investment in equipment required to create spumes, gels, pearls and other culinary tricks, I’m not impressed by them and the sooner chefs turn their backs on deconstruction or “molecular gastronomy” as Heston Blumenthal puts it, the better.
But don’t get me wrong about eating at Buitenverwachting. Despite this distraction and their perceived need to be inventive, you will eat superb cuisine at every turn.
The nuptials menu will be up or down sized to suit you. You want six courses but aren’t very hungry? The kitchen will produce mini versions for you.
The trio of soups (R68), served in shot glasses as a starter, is magnificent. The tomato soup is so tasty you’ll also wonder how it is possible to concentrate flavour so much without even a hint of excess acidity. Equally you’ll marvel at the roasted garlic soup that tastes the best part of the way garlic smells while roasting – sweet and heady.
The subtle spinach soup is a welcome contrast. I don’t think the addition of roasted pork belly adds to the experience.
The soups, with the exception of the tomato, pair well with the estate Blanc de Noir. The puff pastry baked Salmon Trout (R90) with buttercup yellow Hollandaise and fennel potatoes is delicious and a perfect pairing with the Rudero ‘Robusto’ Chenin Blanc.
When I saw Monkfish Osso Bucco (R105/R155) on the menu, I expected either the fish to be cooked with veal in that classic tomato, carrot meat sauce or the fish, which is wonderfully meaty to be cooked in a tomato and carrot sauce.
The surprise is the way the fish is cut resembles the cut of veal. I was delighted by the accompanying squid linguini which is witty and tasty – expect squid bodies filled with tentacles of ink-coloured pasta. Perfect!
More perfect, however, is the veal (R140/R215) – grilled medallions of veal with a sublime morel-sweet corn risotto and chive jus that like Anton Ego in Ratatouille, reminds me of the best of home.
It is paired with the Whale Haven Pinot Noir ’99 chosen for the warm vintage that brings greater ripeness to the fruit.
Buitenverwachting, Klein Constantia Road,Constantia. 021 794 3522 www.buitenverwachting.com
When not enjoying pastoral scenes, Brian Berkman assists clients with public and media relations. See www.brianberkman.com or follow BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter.
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