I spent an hour in therapy discussing how vulnerable I felt after my Dell D600 hard drive crashed which may give you a sense of the week I’ve had. At R3000 odd it would cost a fortune to recover the data and when the techie told me that only partial recovery was possible, I opted for broke and relied on my 20-day old backup.

If you’re anything like I am you’re getting a gazillion emails a day, so even backing up every week means a significant loss. I’m about to buy a DVD writer so that I, like my friends do, can burn DVD’s I take out from the Video shop and avoid the stress of old backups.

There’s been some interesting food this past week. I met Joel and David at Origin Coffee in Hudson Street, De Waterkant.  BBDO honchos Nic Bednall and Ian Merrington were propping up the bar when I arrived, and pronounced it the Best Coffee in Town. These guys are patently passionate and committed to coffee and I enjoyed the flat-white cappuccino I had very much. I could have done without the Making of Coffee 101 as I’ve heard it many times before from my client Pedro Abrunhosa of The Coffee Club. At 9.30am on a Wednesday the place was packed and there was a real vibe such as imagine at Central Perk in Friends of Frasier’s coffee local. I loved the shiny collection of Tea caddies, the in-your-face roaster as you enter, the various images created in the foam (I had a fern but I’m told the heart is sweet too), the fact the baristas wear aprons and generally the vibe of the place. I’ll definitely be back.

Lunch was at Mowbray Golf Club with my mentor Basil Rubin. My oxtail was delicious and the prices are extremely reasonably. As Basil took me out I don’t have the till slip to check the exact price, but I recall it being under R30 which is amazing value.

We were chatting about the first chapter from my book Stamina – Travels with my Tummy which, it turns out didn’t impress the marketers at Two Dogs in its current form. I’m reworking the format but also looking for other possible publishers.

I had lunch with my client Diane Armstrong from Out of the Blue at Balducci. They’ve made some changes there – the prettiest is the move to table to floor napery which elevates it from Café to Restaurant. They’ve also incorporated an eye-level pizza oven which brings warmth to the interior. The biggest change, however, is the appointment of 26-year old Fernando Roman as executive chef.  He worked at Jinga and Shoga previously and rates himself in Mike Basset and Bruce Robertson’s leagues. I started with their famous butternut salad  and then had the seafood pasta (kingklip, calamari, mussels in a cream white wine but Diane’s dish appeared more in-keeping with the chef’s credentials: a tian of aubergine and other goodies topped with tempura prawns.  

Diner was at The Nose Bar. (I’d eaten there two weeks previously, also on a Thursday) when it pored with rain and had the oxtail which was brilliant. Although not as wet, I opted for the fish pie (it is owner Cathy’s grandma’s recipe) with smoked hake and kingklip on mash in a spicy clove béchamel. Loved it. In keeping with the comfort food expected from a gastropub – the word PR JP (not the same one) is hoping people will adopt – I ordered the bread and butter pudding. After Balducci placed my pronouncement about their sushi being the Best Ever… in the advertising material at the airport etc, I’ve become a little more careful of making absolute statements but the bread and butter pud at Nose Bar brings me close to doing so.

I like being among the first to try new restaurants and was miffed at not being invited to Jardine’s opening. We had dinner there on Saturday. I ordered the crayfish risotto which, while delicious, didn’t have the characteristic crustacean taste. I enjoyed the gorgonzola and spiced pear as a dessert but was amazed at JP’s rhubarb crumble dessert. I can see what the fuss is about and look forward to having the tasting menu on the next visit. I was most impressed by the maitre’d who I could immediately tell was in a league of his own. When I asked where he’d worked previously he said The Savoy Grill, London. It shows.

Dining with you Brian is always an indulgence of gastronomic proportions!  How long do you think it will be before South Africans embrace gastro pub dining without thinking they're preparing themselves for some kind of tummy malfunction?!  I am going to take the bull by the horns and just come out with it: The Nose Restaurant & Wine Bar makes the best bread & butter pudding ever…not to mention the best selection of local wines!