Cosecha at Noble Hill

 

I am on vacation! Yay :) So it was only appropriate for my weekend to be filled with new and exciting places. The boyfriend was very "oulik" to take me to  Cosecha at Noble Hill. It's situated next to Babylonstoren and is one of those undiscovered gems.

We arrived early for our lunch booking so we decided to do some wine-tasting first. A very kind and welcoming host directed us to a beautiful tasting room with a very cosy fireplace!
 
For R30 you can taste eight wines and the fee is wavered if you purchase a bottle of wine. I really enjoyed the Sauvignon Blanc,Chardonnay and Merlot. Usually a Chardonnay is very fruity but Noble Hills' one is "less oaked" which dampened the fruitiness for me and made it a very refreshing wine to drink. They launched their new Estate blend on Friday which consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Wine prices start from R55.
 
It's one of the most informative wine tastings I have been on as you receive an entire folder which describes the wine for you a page per wine. So if you don't know anything about wine you can bluff yourself through the tasting ;)

After the wine tasting we went to Cosecha restaurant. Cosecha in Spanish translates to harvest. They try and grow as much of the produce they use to prepare the dishes.  I could not wait to start indulging.
 
We sat outside on a beautiful terrace that was decorated with the iconic cactuses and a neutral colour pallet. I loved the one wall that was decorated with loads of plants mounted to the wall. In the distance there is a pond where you can take your glass of wine and relax on some deck chairs. The restaurant also caters for children and for R45 they organise a picnic basket for them  which they can enjoy on the lawn and run around freely.

The entrance

My favourite wall

 

Outside seating

The terrace

My favourite person :)

 

 

 
The majority of their menu consist of "bocaditos" which is small plates of food made to share. This is my favourite way of eating. You get to taste loads of dishes and there is a great social aspect to it. The bocaditos range from R34-R65.
 
We decided to try the following

• Antojitos: Mushroom Quesadilla (R46)
• Tostadas: Chorizo and grilled pepper tortillas (R56)
• Ceviche: Prawn and avo (R56)

Complimentary tortilla chips and chickpeas on arrival!

On top you have the mushroom quesadillas and on the bottom the tostadas.

In the right corner is the ceviche and below the pork sandwich.

 
My favourite was the mushroom quesadilla. They serve it with guacamole and cream cheese. There is a mild kick to it from the chilli that they add but the accompaniments smooth out the sting beautifully. The prawn and avo ceviche was not flavoured enough with the citrus fruit that you expect from the ceviche and the portion too small for what you pay for.
 
Next time I look forward to tasting the bacon wrapped medjool dates(R62), black bean soup served with cornbread(R48) and bacon and leak empanadas(R34).
 
According to the Eat Out magazine the pulled pork sandwich(R62) was a must-try so we opted to share a main course as well. The boyfriend enjoyed this and I had to surrender my portion :) Other mains to try are fish tacos(R72), beef enchiladas(R85)  or grilled calamari served with sweet potato cakes(R74). All the mains are under R95.

I would recommend that you stick to the bocaditos and try as many of them as you can! This place is ideal for a social afternoon with a big group of friends!
 
I enjoyed a glass of Sauvignon Blanc (R21) and the wine tasting convinced the boyfriend, who does not like Chardonnay(R32) at all, to enjoy a glass of that. As we just finished our food the waiters delivered a large jug of Sangria(R95) to the table next to us and we were so bummed as we did not spot that on the menu. It looked so refreshing and I think it will only add value to your Spanish experience :)

Cactuses everywhere

 

The relaxing atmosphere of the restaurant is also reflected in the service. They waiters are very friendly and welcoming. Food arrives briskly and a waiter is always around if you need one. It was an awesome treat to bump into one of our friends that work at Cosecha! Hello Kobus :)

 

Large lawn to relax on and spend some time at the pond. They offer picnic basket at R295 for two people.

Our bill, including service, was R300 and this has been one of the most affordable restaurants I have visited in the winelands. This is the ideal place to escape to when you are blessed with a sunny weekend! Add a jug of sangria and a group of friends and you will leave completely satisfied :)

 

 

Visit them every day of the week, excluding Tuesdays, 10:00 - 17:00 (They also serve breakfast!)

Located on the Klapmuts-Simondium road

For bookings visit their website

Follow them on twitter @noblehill

 







 

Tamboerswinkel

 

I visited Tamboerswinkel for a late lunch when my mother came to visit me a few weeks ago. This was one of the places that have been on my “must visit list” for a while now. An "Afrikaans" place in the middle of Cape Town can only be refreshing!

The place was smaller than what I imagined but very cosy. Also a bit more subdued than what I expected but I do know that they host wine tasting events on Wednesday nights which I am sure will rock the boat a bit :)  Check out their Facebook for more information regarding this as well as what cellars will visit them the particular night.

The walls are covered with shelves that stock preservers and wine. They stock wine from Spookfontein and Creation who are wine farms from the area I come from. A glass of Spookfontein red has been a great unwinding activity post-test!

A great range of wines to choose from!

It was still a bit early to enjoy a glass of wine, as I still had to endure a movie with my mom later that evening and she giggles after 3 sips, so we opted to enjoy some delicious home-made berry ice tea! A must try if you visit them! The glass was filled with fresh berries - treat!

Join them for breakfast or lunch!

The camembert, bresaola and figs sandwich(R39) immediately caught my eye. Camembret and figs are a combination that will still be nice even if you put it on a stale piece of bread! Lucky for me my sandwich was fresh and delicious. My mom chose the  cauliflower, bacon and vanilla soup (R40+-). Silently I thought “age nee now I am going to have to share my sandwich with my her as how can that combination be nice!”. I was blown away. The sweet and salty flavours balanced each other out perfectly. It can probably be seen in the same light as French toast? They are not skimpy with the portions and everything is prepared freshly in front of your eyes.

They make sure the sandwiches are dead before they serve them to you!

 

We waited a while for our food to arrive but I can attribute this to the fact that they don't grab a pre-made sandwich out of a fridge and dish it on a plate. The bread is sliced in front of you and the soup is warmed up on the stove. It actually brings a nice homely feeling to the deli.

The table next to us enjoyed a hearty portion of the chicken, lentil and butternut lasagne. I hope that this will still be on the blackboard when I visit again as it looked delicious!

Tamboerswinkel is well priced and you will receive what you pay for.

For a honest, homey and hearty experience visit Tamboerswinkel!

 

Visit them at 3 De Lorentz street, Cape Town

Open Monday-Friday 08:00-18:00 & Saturday-Sunday 09:00-16:00

Follow them on twitter @TamboersWinkel

Contact them 021 424 0521 or theo@tamboerswinkel.com

 

 

The White Room at Dear Me

Chef Vanessa spoils Cape Town with her brilliant and innovative culinary skills, every Thursday night, at The White Room located in Dear Me.

The whole space is decorated in white and my favourite ghost chairs makes an appearance. I think the space is decorated like this so that all your attention is on the food only and that you focus all your senses on it.

My mother and I were joined by a friend of my mother, Celia, and her daughter, Ina-mari, so we made a great girls night out of it. These two are part of the culinary industry. Not only did they contribute to a great discussion about the food but also picked excellent wine which included Warwick's  First Lady.

 

 Here are the "9 episodes" we were spoiled with...

 

 

We started with...



 An olive sphere and freshly baked focaccia bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar served in pipettes. Ina-mari is a food-stylist and trained chef so she was such an awesome dinner date as she could explain to us all the different techniques Vanessa used such as the olive sphere which literally melted in your mouth.

Episode 1:Oyster topped with red wine vinegar  onion dressing  and trout roe. There were some crunchy vegetables underneath the oyster. This was great as I sometimes am not a fan of the consistency of an oyster but do enjoy the taste so the crunch added to the oyster was appreciated.

Episode 2: The Greenhouse Salad. You were instructed to lift the cloche and experience the aroma which I identified as toasted almonds.

Episode 3: The marron. Here you first had to lick the marron shell, then eat the marron and enjoy the seafood bisque. The bisque was one of the winners of the night.

Episode 4: The quail. Now I have mentioned this before but I have a big fear of birds and poultry that's still attached to bone. So when this little fellow arrived I had to keep my pose. Luckily enough it was a very tiny bone present. The quail was pared with a cucumber salad and seared vanilla pod. This was one dish I was not fond off as it did not bring anything special to the table.

Episode 5: Three tomatoes were infused with different herbs and you had to guess what you think they were...

Episode 6: Pork tail terrine. This was my mothers' favourite dish. The pork tail terrine is paired with pickled onion, mustard and artichokes. The mustard was too strong for me but I enjoyed and the pork terrine and artichokes.

 

Episode 7: Here you had to use some of our own man power. You had to use your pestle and mortar to grind the sesame seeds. A soy broth was then added to your seeds by a waiter. You then use the utensils to drop the raw kob and microherbs into the broth. This was a dish I enjoyed as I love Asian food.

Episode 8 : Good old fashioned egg, steak and chips. The twist was that the hollandaise sauce was enriched with truffles . Everyone cleared their plates and Ina-mari thoroughly enjoyed the special treat of the truffle hollandaise sauce.

Pallet cleanser: This tonic water and grapefruit sorbet was perfect after the rich episode 8.

Episode 9: Strawberry jelly, beetroot and basil granite served with vanilla yogurt cream was a refreshing dessert. I always order something chocolaty and usually shy away from anything jelly related ,as I overdosed on jelly as a child. This dish now broadened my future dessert choices except if a chocolate fondant is on the menu :)

The end: A chocolate truffle

This 9 course menu is an educative and innovative experience. This is not something I will do again as I was not in love with everything but it did broaden my horizon and I discovered a new appreciation for the effort and time chefs put into all their dishes. It was also refreshing to try dishes that are fresh and where carbohydrates were not the main food-group.

With this tasting menu the focus was less on substance and more on innovative techniques and therefore it will not fully be appreciated by everyone.

 The white room only accommodates 20 diners at a time as you could think how much preparation it takes to pull all 9 courses together. The atmosphere of the night was very rowdy due to fellow diners as well as one table that had child with them. We as table discussed that we would have preferred a more tranquil atmosphere that would have attributed to the "drama" of the 9 course experience.

This experience does not come cheap at R380 per person and R610 if you want the wine-pairing with it.  Unfortunately the  9 course tasting menu is ending soon but Graham, the awesome host of the night, said that Vanessa is already prepping for something great to follow.

If you can't reach so deep in your pockets ( thank you mom for my experience) then visit the  brasserie and pantry.  I have had the best eggs benedict there and they cater especially for vegans and people with dietary intolerants. Just let them know :)


Located at 165 Longmarket street, Cape Town
Visit them for breakfast 07:00-11:00 or lunch 12:00 -15:00 on Mondays to Thursdays & for the white room experience or alacarte dinner  on Thursday evenings. Bookings recommended.
Contact them at 021 422 4920 or info@dearme.co.za
Visit their website or follow them on twitter @DearMeFoodWorld

Original Ice Cocktail winners

Congratulations to 16139232@sun.ac.za and 15725472@sun.ac.za   who was identified as Elzette Hatting and Joandi Engelbrecht! Your treats will be arriving soon :)

Bon Amis at Bloemendal

For dessert I am always on the quest to find the best chocolate fondant. The current one must always top the previous find. For breakfast I am always on the hunt for the yummiest french toast.

I just finished an early test and breakfast was my main concern. Joined by my friend aka best hospital clinical partner we decided to take a drive to find a breakfast spot in the Durbanville Hills.

 

We stopped at Bon Amis. It's a well known café and  deli in the area. Bon Amis in French translates to good friends and this is definitely  a spot to come and enjoy with your loved ones.

 Now to be honest I have stopped here before. It was a Sunday afternoon and the boyfriend and I were on a late afternoon dessert quest. As we opened the door an elderly man was on his guitar providing some entertainment and unfortunately this did not excite me, so we drove on.

 

Luckily I can now say that even if the guitar guy is outside  the café again, I will not drive away as our breakfast was delicious and I found a great contender in my French toast quest.

The presentations of the dishes were great as they don’t use you standard, white 'run-of-mill' plates. It provides a more sophisticated feel to your meal.

 

Two large pieces of french toast (R55) with crisp bacon, cinnamon sugar and syrup were thoroughly enjoyed by us. For extra cheese they charged as R15 which I thought was a bit steep. Restaurants always do that with extra cheese?? Other breakfast option are the Bloemendal eggs benedict(R75), four egg omelette with wild mushrooms, blue cheese, onion confit and basil(R60) or corn and thyme fritter with fresh avocado, ostrich sausage and tomato chili jam(R60). Muffins and croissants are between R25-35.

 
The restaurant has a great patio which can be enjoyed during warmer days. I still want to visit again to enjoy some wine and platters when the weather improves. I can see some great social gatherings here in the future. Their lunch and dinner menu's feature salads(R75-R85), pasta(R65), burgers(R85-R105), seafood, steak and more.

Inside the restaurant is decorated in neutral colours with beautiful wooden tables decorated with striped runners, material napkins and mini cactuses.

The café has a great clean cut look to it.

We visited early so the café was not bustling yet.

 

 

Service was okay. Our waitress had a bit of an attitude and got irritated with us because we did not move stuff quickly enough when she brought our plates over. The food was good enough that this did not really contribute to our experience. I am convinced that this particular waitress is just a sour grape in the bunch.

 

On Saturdays and Sundays they serve breakfast buffets only. The flatmate has been to that and said that it was very nice. For R110 you receive the hot buffet, R95 the continental buffet and for R165 you receive both.

Located at Bloememdal wine estate on the M13, Tygerberg Valley road, Durbanville

Visit them

•  Tuesday - Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
• Friday - Saturday 09:00 - 21:00
• Sunday 09:00 - 17:00

Like them on Facebook

Visit their website

Contact them at 0219762682

 
p.s don't forget to enter my competition here that closes this Friday :) I had some of the cocktails again this weekend and they were delicious :)