Sunday brunch at Winchester. From Next 48 Hours
FOR nine years Maurice Gawronsky and his band have entertained folk on Sundays at The Winchester Mansions Hotel and for as long the hotel has provided brunch cuisine as plentiful as it is delicious.
Our visit on Sunday proved that band and kitchen remained in fine fettle, but over the years my tolerance for music over conversation has dwindled to the point that I found easy chatting difficult.
Being the glutton I am, I couldn’t pass up the breakfast offering when tempted by the option of eggs to order and an omelette station. Unlike other brunch offerings that conflate breakfast and lunch, here both are served fully but simultaneously.
I managed to skip the healthful fruit and cereal options for the pukka English breakfast complete with baked beans and porkers. Those more sensible than I would have stopped there...
The starters section could stand alone as a Mediterranean anti-pasti buffet with amazing salads featuring roasted zucchini and artichokes, a delicious sweet marinated shrimp dish, dolmades and roasted peppers while the main course dishes included roasted pork and lamb joints, lamb with creamy mushroom and tomato sauce, Malay-style chicken curry and crumbed and deep-fried calamari rings.
Baked swordfish was utterly delicious. I intended to sample about four other dishes but couldn’t. Equally, the dessert buffet just taunted me without reward.
Individual crème brules called my name, pink, coconut-covered lamingtons sang out like sirens on a distant rock and white-chocolate covered cheese triangles beckoned. Defeated but not yet deflated, I needed to walk along the beach front with the wind ahead. R180 per person.
Winchester Mansions Hotel, Sea Point.
www.winchester.co.za
021434-2351
Jacqui Daya is a deli in Main Road Newlands that has the usual deli fare but also a sushi bar.
There are a few cloth-covered tables at which to sit and a delicious selection of ready-made meals on a weigh and pay basis.
I was very pleased with my selection of spicy moussaka and penne pesto, a large plate full weighed-in at R65.
Philip Thraves ordered a toasted chicken mayo sandwich with a number of changes - he didn’t want butter on the bread and only the slightest amount of mayo which they perfectly complied with. Bread is supplied by Knead Bakery which is probably our best bakery in the land.
021-685-5383. 205 Main Road, Newlands.
Once in New York at one of those Third Avenue market days, I had a sweet crepe that was so lightly delicious those memories came flooding back to me while at Crespella in Lower Main Road, Observatory.
The special of the day (aubergine with garlic and Greek yogurt) in a crepe was so amazing I immediately followed it with the Thai chicken green curry crepe.
What impressed me about both was the care taken in preparing the crepe and ingredients.
The crepe was freshly made and the fillings had been cut in such small pieces that they filled a crepe perfectly.
So often one bites into a wrap and everything oozes out.
Crespella, Cnr Collingwood & Lower Main Road, Observatory.
[18-Jul-08]
Brian Berkman
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