Cape Town Food

Went out looking for a great little coffee place to wile away a wet Worker's Day this last friday, and after a little search on dining-out.co.za (since its been so long since I've been in the cafe culture of Cape Town - hiding as I have for the past year paying off horrible debts) I found the perfect place in Obs. 

Well to be honest the perfect place I wanted to go was the Queen of Tarts, but being bad with a map, I couldn't find it - I found it after breakfast - but it'll have to wait for another rainy slow morning. 

Mango Ginger, on Lower Main near the bottle store in Obs, just up the road from Cafe Ganesh, etc, is a really great little coffee shop. With a name such as this, I was expecting exploitative hippy establishment, a-la the host of commune stores that seem to proliferate around Plett and the rest of the Garden route. I was gladly surprised by an amazing bakery and coffee shop. 

I had the scrambled eggs, with rosa tomatoes, and mushrooms. My breakfast partner tried the french toast made with croiscants, served with banana and honey. I tried some of that too... heaven. The coffee is great, more french than dutch - very light and breakfasty... not over roasted and bitter - a perfect early morning pick me up. 

The restaurant is welcoming, the staff is friendly (too friendly perhaps? we were being served by 3 waitresses simultaneous at one point, and the place was full - I can't fault it thought, its nice to be so well looked after and it certainly wasn't intrusive, but when we were helped at the right times there was a whole squad to help us with our order and deliver the food - a novel approach to be sure). 

They take debit and credit card, which is great (perhaps I'm a snob but I don't like walking around Obs with a big bank roll) - check your bill, I had to remind them of two coffees they hadn't included - its an informal affair with items being written down and then rung up - they deserve every cent due to them, its an awesome little spot and I could happily spend a morning or afternoon hidden there chatting with friends over great coffee and wonderful fresh and tasty food. 

Mango Ginger Bakery and Coffee Shop

105 Lower Main Road
Observatory
Cape Town
Tel: 021 448 2500

I've been very bad, and not said much on this blog for a while. I'm going to do my very best to rectify the situation, and get blogging in a much bigger way about food.

I've still got lots of great photos and stories to upload about the box of goodies from Eat-In, as well as some of the adventures I've been having around the WC checking out great places for food and foodies.

But I just wanted to quickly recommend a really cheap, quick and enjoyable restaurant that I've noticed is struggling, when it really shouldn't be, and I thought I'd just encourage anyone reading the blog, or ultimately searching on the net for a great Chinese buffet in Cape Town.

I generally don't like buffets. I find them strangely intimidating, whilst at the same time disappointing because often the food is not at its best, not really hot and fresh, and often a general let down.

Not so at Chopsticks in Durban Road in Little Mowbray in Cape Town. This road is blessed with a cornucopia of great restaurants, and you can see why the spoilt-for-choice residents of this little corner of the city would struggle to decide what to each.

In the general area are such greats (and not-so-greats) as Sakura, Greek, Fat Cactus, Chai Yo, Curry Quest, Bruegels, etc. A very competitive little street to do business in.

Chopsticks has an excellent Chinese buffet, offering spring rolls, two choices of soup, prawn chips for starters. You just help yourself. The starters are freshly prepared, and constantly replenished through the night; not much gets to stand around and the kitchen staff keep a careful eye on what's there to be eaten so that things are always ready for table.

The mains offer a lot of options for meat lovers and vegetarians alike. All the classics of sweet and sour chicken and pork, as well as various chop suey, vegetable and tofu options about. The sticky ribs are awesome as well. Several types of rice and noodles are available as well.

Bowties are on offer for dessert, which last night we enjoyed over a large pot of green tea (only R10 for four cups, a classic way to end a meal).

The waiters are friendly, a lot seem to be students, and the drinks are very reasonably priced, and they have a fairly decent budget wine list. I'd say that you can also bring a bottle of your own along, they do charge R20 corkage though.

Which is fair considering the entire buffet costs R58, a real steal for a three course meal. You can also order off the menu, and apparently they have a buffet over the weekends which costs more which includes sushi on offer (sushi is of course available through the week as well).

The R58 buffet is available Monday to Friday. The restaurant can feel a bit empty, which is one of the reasons I want to promote this restaurant because based on the friendliness of the staff and owners, the wonderful food and the good service, I'd expect this place to be packed, especially in such trying financial times as many people are experiencing.

As Sian pointed out to me, Chinese food goes through fashions, and at the moment its in a dip. Probably true considering the myriad of Chinese restaurants offering sushi. This is unfortunate, since traditional Chinese food, well prepared such as at Chopsticks is a wonderful taste sensation. The food is fresh, not fatty and really filling.

They have a bar and smoking area if you so require.

Full details available at dining-out.co.za

Chopsticks

97 Durban Road
Mowbray
7700

Tel: 021 685 0876

Labels: Buffet, Cape Town, Chinese, Mowbray, specials, sushi

I'm so glad that Henré Rossouw said what I've been thinking for a long time: that South African wine critics have simply no class.

I'm a long time reader of Wine Magazine, and over the years the arrogance has gotten to me on varying levels. Reading Rob Morris' article, where he unjustifiably slams a farm that is making good efforts to improve itself and its brand, is classless and baseless. Perhaps he should remember his years a varsity drop out before mommy from publisher's Ramsey, Son and Parker got him the job at Wine Magazine.

Morris, and Christian Eedes (with whom he's been known to waste a Friday lunch hour drinking free wine at Greek in Mowbray), exemplify a real weak point in South African wine journalism: namely the idea that great wine journalism is snobbish and slams all who try.

I am certainly no fan of the 'everyone deserves a certificate' attitude of many in our post-modern world: but I think people who spend their lives writing copy for a magazine like Wine Magazine in a suburb as plat as Pinelands should watch what they say (I know, I lived there once, as I did in Stellenbosch: At least people who live in the winelands have some class!)

    On Monday this week I got a mail from Eat-In magazine, asking if I'd like to help in the nomination process for small producers of food! Would I ever! A goodie box to use and enjoy, coming up with a decision on what would be worthy to be nominated came through to the office today, and I intend to get cracking tonight on trying out the various products; some established boutique brands (like Nomu) as well as some other relative unknowns makes it look like its going to be an interesting week of experimenting and tasting what's on offer.

To find out more about the Eat In RMB Private Bank South African Produce Awards check out the Eat In website: www.eat-in.co.za

To whet everyone's appetite, here is the whole unboxing process from this morning in the Cape Town Food office (I loved the green bow! too precious):

Labels: Award, Eat-In, Nominations

As a food lover you sometimes have to face down the scary fact that there are only so many calories you can safely consume in a day, without gaining weight.

Perpetually on diet (or at least thinking of one), I know that I need to track what I'm eating to maximise the taste per calorie, and rather than wasting vital calories on stupid everyday things like milk, I'd rather turn to great flavours like grapeseed oil or my chili reduction.

To help with that I discovered a really helpful site, run by The New York Times company no less, called Calorie Count plus, with a database of foods, recipes, etc and their requisite calories. You can track your activity (i.e. exercise or lack thereof) as well as weight; an excellent dieting cookbook. I'd suggest taking the data of your calorie intake into excel and draw a trend line, because sometimes it can seem like your calorie intake is going up, but in fact your general trend is downward.

It also analyses what you eat, makes healthier suggestions if necessary, and also rates the healthy-ness of what you are eating.

All of this coupled with thousands of pre-calorized recipes makes it the perfect stop for a loving foodie on a bit of a detox or diet period. 

Check the site out at: http://caloriecount.about.com/

Labels: diet, websites

I've been breading up a storm a lot recently.

On Saturday I baked a bread, which we ended up having with fondue that evening, along with a great wine, Ingwe 2004.

Considering how much bread, and other food stuffs cost, due to the global food crisis, a really important issue in its own right, I've been trying to prepare as much as I can from scratch. Its a lot cheaper (and I hope a lot healthier) knowing where all your food comes from.

This loaf, which you can get a sense of the size from a standard Defy roasting dish, cost me around R5 to make, and weighed around 850g.

There is a lot of the word 'around' when it comes to bread making, because SO many factors come into play, such as the moisture content in the flour, the heat of the water added.

Essentially I made this bread with:

• * Approx. 500g of Nutty Wheat
• * Approx. 150g of White Flour for kneading and sorting
• * Half a packet of Instant yeast
• * Approx. 500ml warm water
• * 2 Tbsp sugar
• * 1 Tbsp salt

The trick I'd say to bread is playing around, watching food channels and seeing how they make bread. Also DONT have your water be too cool or too warm. Too warm, the yeast dies. Too cold, the yeast never activates.

Generally I use about 150mls from a boiled rested kettle, and the further 350 from a cold tap. The water should be LUKE warm. What this actually means is one of those horrible kitchen tricks; luke warm to my mind is BODY temperature; that is pretty hot actually.

You NEED sugar so that the instant yeast has something to feed on, otherwise you'll have a bit of an issue. The sugars in the flour will take a long time to rise.

I also added a couple of table spoons of linseed. This added a really healthy seed taste.

Considering how cheap it is to make your own bread, I encourage everyone to make there own, and save a couple of rands a month in the process.

Labels: Bread

Myself and Sian, Ez and Alan went to the Cape Times Wine Affair at the V&A last night.

This event has now officially become my favourite on the wine calendar of the Western Cape. Why? Simple... the quality of it all.

The Wine Affair moved from the Market Square to the new Parking Lot opposite the Victoria Wharf mall. Very clever and practical, and easy access to the rest of the waterfront, and a nice high view into the amazing African Renaissance stadium being thrown up a few hundred meters away.

The venue was a LITTLE warm; i.e. it was boiling hot at first; I've noticed this now at most festivals, with the exception of the Stellenbosch Wine Route Festival. I suppose warm is better than cold; but it is a bit poor. As the evening went on the temperature seemed to adjust (or at least I stopped caring) and it wasn't as noticeable.

What makes the Wine Affair so great is its exhibitors; so many great farms, the big labels and the boutiques, from all over the province made a showing. There are always a couple of farms you'd like to see, but the event offers a real treat for those looking to explore new wines from old favourite labels, as well as being surprised by wines from undiscovered wine makers.

For me the find of the show wasn't a wine, but rather a region; the wines from Rawsonville near Worcester are really getting quite excellent; every interesting and different from what you are used to; I've resolved to driving out there soon and getting more of a taste for the region - a lot of the wines coming out of their seem to be EXCELLENT everyday table wines; maybe not as "dignified" as some of the Paarl and Stellenbosch estates, but certainly up and coming.

I was particularly impressed by the balanced ranges coming from the region. I'm sure they've been making great wines for years; but for someone whose only really followed wine for 5 years it was great to find something new at a show you've been to before.

Balance is what makes the Wine Affair so great. The balance between food and wine, cheaper and more expensive, famous and new is perfectly struck. The entire event has a mildly curated feel which I think is at times lacking in events in SA, and it makes so much difference.
Had some amazing oysters at the Wild Peacock stand. I took their card :)

There was a lot of food at the show, a lot more than at most wine shows, with sushi, meat, fish, cheese, etc. Its fantastic to have both palate cleansers and great fresh food with wine; its the way wine is supposed to be enjoyed; and really gives you an opportunity to let wines open up in context.

Even Fisherman's Choice, the old Waterfront favourite, had a stand, and was serving some of the best calamari I've tasted from them in years.

Val de Vie's shiraz was perfectly paired by golden cardamom chocolates they had at their stand. They also have a wine called Polo which is a fantastic red blend for the table.

There were so many great wines at the show. De Klerk from Rawsonville. (Family name prejudice there I fear :) ), McGregor, De Grendel, Boekenhoutskloof, the list goes on...
Ooo, and I didn't have any, but Krone was there, from Twee Jong Gezellen; when I drank it at Winex it convinced me to buy a case of it at this last new years.

Raka and Asara's wines are also tasting a lot better on my palate than they have in the past; must have something to do with my new prelidiction for shiraz; thank you Sian!

How can I sum up this show? Unmissable!

I recommend it to anyone for next year; it really is the best way to spend a cold May evening, with great friends, great wine and food, and a wonderful festival of the good life.