I remember the first time I dined at Moyo. It was at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg and I was brought to tears by the national and African pride I felt at the décor (shattered mirror and coloured tiles, curvy walls, Moroccan lanterns), the Afro music, the brilliant service and face-painting/hand-washing ritual.

The fact that my cousin Avron was involved in the business made me even more so.
The first time I went to Moyo at Spier my breath was taken away like a wonderful punch to the stomach.

They had expanded their restaurant concept into an outdoors fantasy of tree houses and festooned tents. This was Robin Hood meets King Shaka.

At Eden on the Bay in Bloubergstrand, they’ve gone for the height of the Melrose Arch branch with four levels but introduced something new with the surf board tables and toetsie pool in which to dangle one’s toes.

There is nothing separating these tables from the beach and the sea beyond and with floor-to-ceiling windows, there are sea views from most vantage points.

The Bloubergstrand branch is a large space and it felt sparse when we arrived. After hands were washed and faces painted and we’d enjoyed the complimentary selection of bread rolls and dips, it was time for serious eating.
It was so great to see Skilpadjies (R39) on the menu. These traditional braai delicacies of liver wrapped in caul before being grilled were unfortunately overcooked.

My main choice of Tagine Seven Vegetable (R 80) was perfect though. I loved that the couscous absorbed all the flavours from the pumpkin, peppers and zucchini and melded with the spicy ginger and garlic notes.
This dish was the winner of the evening which was a little disappointing considering a lamb tagine and Seven Steps Linefish topped with Cape Malay flavours (R115) were also ordered.

Continuing my affair with gourds, I ordered the Butternut Cheesecake (R38) with caramelized pumpkin. The combination wasn’t as dreamy as I hoped and I found it too wet, as if it hadn’t been defrosted well enough. Perhaps I’m being overly critical?

After all, there is free live music, the previously mentioned sea views, excellent service and a wonderful environment. The menu is exciting and offers a wide-variety of pan African dishes - perhaps it was our unlucky night.
Moyo at Eden at the Bay. Cnr Otto du Plessis & Big Bay Boulevard, Big Bay, Bloubergstrand, 021-554-9671 .

You may recall me suggesting that R60 was too costly for even the finest cup of coffee. Allow me to say that R40 isn’t too much for the finest chocolate.
The De Villiers Family of Hermanus has launched DV Artisan Chocolate. I love it. Even those of us who regularly invest in fine hand-crafted chocolate will be impressed by these.

The reason is that they have selected just five estates from which to purchase beans and in producing single varietal chocolate (all 70% cacao), the authentic flavour of the bean is what sings through.
Try to put what you think you like about chocolate out of your mind. The analogy to winemaking is apt – the regular chocolate you get in bars on the shelf in cafes is in this analogy boxed wine that is made from grapes collected from all over. DV Chocolate is like wine from a single block of Chenin grapes from a sought-after estate.

The first bite is bitter and then the fruit flavours in the bean come to the fore. In the Madagascar chocolate from the Sambirano Valley, I could taste the citrus and vanilla tones while in the Trinidad chocolate a nutty, malty flavour lingered. Look out for it at your favourite Deli.
www.dvchocolate.com
028-316-4850

When Brian Berkman isn’t ignoring his diabetes, he writes about luxury travel and dining out. See www.BrianBerkman.com and follow BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter.

Now that Franschhoek is the culinary capital of South Africa, it is much harder to find a quality restaurant that is also easily affordable.
The Grillroom is Chef Matthew Gordon’s latest (next to Reuben’s) and the food is good and reasonably priced. The chargrilled Caesar Salad (R64) is a meal in itself.

I like that they use free-range chicken and cut cos leaves into fork-friendly pieces.
A well made Caesar salad is one of my benchmark dishes when evaluating a restaurant and theirs is near perfect.

When a nearby table was served the mussels in MCC (champers) sauce, I couldn’t resist ordering it too. Our brilliant waiter cleverly recommended a glass of MCC to accompany the dish. Although we were served bread when we arrived, I ordered another two portions to drink up the last of the sauce – a superb tonic that tasted of the sea, garlic, cream, parsley and MCC (R70).

JP’s rib-eye steak (R105 for 300g) with pepper sauce was fabulous. They serve steak on wooden boards (which fell out of favour because it was believed that bacteria couldn’t be cleaned out of the timber grooves) but my complaint was that the meat got cold too easily.


A stellar pepper sauce, good onion rings and good chips can be expected.
As good as the steak was, in terms of flavour it was beaten by my portion of seafood tagliatelle (R85) which was meaty with prawns, calamari, mussels and line fish, all held together in a tomato basil sauce.

Each item was correctly cooked and well flavoured but when eaten together they produced something greater than the sum of their parts.
The pear tart tatin (R38) gives Matthew Gordon away as a chef with a classical training who also runs a fine-dining restaurant while the chocolate springrolls (R44) will meet any chocoholic’s desire.

For those who also care about provenance, the chocolate comes from Huguenot Chocolates in Franschhoek, which is part owned by the Gordon family.
Matthew’s passion for provenance is also demonstrated by the meat supplier he uses for the restaurant (and which patrons can purchase for cooking at home) and the photographs of old Franschhoek as a farm village.
You can also eat his food at Haute Cabriere and The French Connection.
The Grillroom, Heritage Square,
1 Main Road, Franschhoek.
021-876-2548 www.thegrillroom.co.za

Our Pleb Panel tasted six 2009 Sauvignon Blancs. The six of us liked the KWV least yet would be happy to pay more than the R34 asking price for it. I thought it a good pool-side wine.
The best wine was La Motte’s Pierneef organic, scoring 4.4/5 (R103), which one Pleb described as “mind-blowing and erotic.”
I think it’s a perfect food wine.

Next best was Creation (R80), scoring 4.0/5, which is my personal favourite. Also scoring 4.0/5 was La Motte’s Sauvignon Blanc (R63).
I purposefully wanted to compare two SB’s from the same estate but they are very different (according to the label, the Pierneef grapes come from the Walker Bay region).

The surprise disappointment, given the numerous awards that their SB’s have garnered, was Constantia Glen which scored 3.6/5. At R105 we Pleb’s felt it didn’t deliver value. R90 was the highest we’d pay for it but three Plebs thought it worth something in the R30’s.

Welmoed (R42) scored 3.0/5 with some describing it as watery and boring.
Thanks to Isabelle Laubscher, Dalene Le Roux, Shawn and Sandy Engler and JP Fluckiger for putting their livers on the line.

When not eating and drinking, Brian Berkman assists clients with public relations campaigns. See www.brianberkman.com or follow BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter.

Sugar and milk combat bitterness in coffee. You don’t need it in the good stuff. This, and other bon mots, came flowing from David Donde, first celebrated by coffee lovers at Origin Coffee before leaving and beginning a new adventure at TRUTH.Coffeecult.

David drives an old-fashioned Truth-branded pick-up truck. He also decided to recondition a 1963 cast-iron roaster rather than go for the spanking new. He is quirky that way.

Looking through his hospitality credentials that cover farming free-range chickens, opening The Barnyard Farmstall in Tokai and owning the Post House in Greyton, his move now to small (five coffee varietals as different from Origin’s 100) artisan estate suppliers and roasting small batches at a time, makes sense.