Thursday, November 19, 2015

This Week's MENU - Tuning the Vine, Kyoto Gardens, Great Domaines Trade Wine tasting at Bocca, 30th Anniversary of Kathy Raath Promotions and Van Loveren wines, Elgin does make great Chardonnays, This week’s recipe -Rohan's Chocolate Nemesis

MENU
The weekly Cape Food, Wine and Lifestyle E-Journal
60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005, Cape Town, South Africa
Phone: +27 21 439 3169  Cells: +27 83 229 1172 (John)  +27 83 656 4169 (Lynne)
email: John / Lynne
Night view across the mouth of Cape Town harbour
In this week’s MENU:
 Elgin does make great Chardonnays
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Some fun events this week and some really great ones coming up later in the week. Don’t forget to book for the Champagne Festival at the Vineyard Hotel of Friday evening. We are going to be there having fun and enjoying the French Champagnes
I Tune you my Vine (Cape vernacular!)     We started our week last Wednesday at Tuning the Vine. This is the second time this very successful event has been held in Cape Town and there will be another on the 9th of December. You book, there are 3 starter locations in town, you get an arm band, a glass to keep and you walk from venue to venue to taste wines all over the city. To book go to http://www.quicket.co.za/events/11656-innercitywineroute/#/schedules It is cheaper on early bird tickets. Read On
Great Domaines Trade Wine tasting at Bocca     Back to Bocca in Wale Street for this trade tasting of some really good imported wines from France, and Spain. There was a couple of wines which were really familiar to Lynne, who used to drink them when she lived in London, and their prices are not expensive given the current Rand exchange rate. We hope to see them appearing in good wine shops and on restaurant wine lists soon. Read On
30th Anniversary of Kathy Raath Promotions and Van Loveren wines     This was held at Weinhaus und Biergarten (formerly &Union), just along the road from Bocca, so it was a short walk to a very good social evening and the opportunity, if you had the stamina, to taste the whole range of Van Loveren's wines. Great canapés were served by Zest Catering too. Oh those crisp fries with truffle mayo..... Read On
Kyoto Gardens for dinner      We had a business meeting at Kyoto Gardens on Friday and our colleague bought us dinner afterwards. They have slightly changed their menu to (the more usual layout of) starter, main course and dessert format and we had a great meal with well paired wines. It can be expensive but the price is worth paying for such fresh seafood and Japanese dishes. See what we ate
Elgin does make great Chardonnays     Last night, we took part in another Elgin TweetUp and were not surprised to be impressed by the wines we tasted and tweeted about. You can follow us on Twitter if you want to: Johns twitter handle is @mainingmenu and Lynne's is @MenuLynne We will be doing another Elgin TweetUp in Elgin on the 2nd of December. Thankfully, they are offering transport.
Our wines of the evening were the Paul Cluver 2014 Estate Chardonnay (Lynne has already ordered some!) the Richard Kershaw Clonal Selection 2014 which is a 5 star Platter, the Sutherland Chardonnay 2012; Elgin Vintners 2012, made by Kevin Grant and very good value, and the Oak Valley 2012, which keeps impressing us.
This week’s recipe might just suit your pre-Christmas entertaining. It's an easy peasy but rich dessert. You can use other biscuits if you like, amaretti, ginger nuts etc etc.
250g dark chocolate - 250g butter  - 2 medium eggs - 85g caster sugar - 250g Digestive biscuits - 60g walnuts or pecans - 60g glace cherries - 150 ml brandy
Melt the chocolate with the butter, either in a bain marie or in the microwave. Do not let it get very hot.  Beat the eggs with the sugar till fluffy and add to the warm chocolate. Stir till incorporated then add the brandy. Break up the biscuits and nuts and chop the cherries. Add them all to the chocolate mixture. Pour into a buttered smooth mould and refrigerate. Turn out and decorate with cream, cherries and nuts.





18th November 2015
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