Waterkloof

Waterkloof was supposed to be my ultimate birthday treat. Interesting cuisine from a michelin-trained chef with the most

Gravad trout with drops and flowers at Waterkloof

spectacular view of False Bay. The restaurant for me was a typical example of a restaurant doing fine dining but forgetting that you need to deliver on flavour and not just presentation. Also, when I go for fine dining I look for inspiration and a certain type of perfection not just in food but in the experience. I am a huge fan of promoting great suppliers and supporting charities. Yet I have to say I was surprised to see bottles of olive oil on the table with Morgenster labels on then and a streetsmart flyer sitting on the table throughout lunch at a fine dining restaurant.

 

We had three courses each. Starters of gravad trout, kingklip mousse and oxtail ravioli. The gravad trout was a funny dish. Big pieces of fish and lots of drops of sauces with flowers. There was a lot of art on the plate not much flavour. Not quite sure why you would make a mousse of kingklip given its delicate flavour and beautiful texture. Oxtail was ok, but slightly

Oxtail ravioli at Waterkloof

 

on the bland side. Sadly the starters were a lot better than the mains. We had sirloin steak which was dry and bland, sole tempura and quail. The experience with the sole tempura was probably the lowlight of my lunch. It was soggy. I asked the waiter (who turned out to be the restaurant manager) if there is something I am missing here and he said no. I asked him to confirm that the tempura is meant to be soggy. He actually said: “yes we serve our tempura soggy”. After considering it for five minutes I decided to send it back to the kitchen and have something else. The chef sent his apologies, the fish had been fried at the wrong temperature. I appreciate the honesty of that. Mistakes happen. What I got was the tuna with potato risotto. The tuna was a big raw chunk that had been deep fried on the outside and the potato risotto was more like potatosalad. The dish was salty and heavy. In contrast, the deserts were actually flavourful and well prepared. It made me think that maybe the chef’s michelin-starred experience lies in pastry.

Tempura at Waterkloof

 

The view at Waterkloof is amazing, if you manage to get a table with a view. The day we visited there was a big group of people in the (actually quite small) area with the view. We were instead looking at paintings of diabolic characters attacking Cape Town.

Waterkloof,

Sir Lowry’s Pass Road,

Somerset West

tel: 021 858 1292

 

Diabolic paintings at Waterkloof

 

 

Red pepper and goats cheese tarte tatin

Very easy but sounds fancy pants. Works well as a starter.

You need:

4 red peppers roasted and peeled cut into eights lengthwise

Olive oil

Really nice vintage balsamic vinegar

About 100g nice crumbly goats cheese

Black pepper and sea salt

Puff pastry

rocket to serve

Line the bottom of four ramekins with roasted peppers. drizzle some olive oil and balsamic vinegar onto them. Cover them with goats cheese and season with salt and pepper. Cut ramekin sized circles out of the puff pastry and cover the peppers and cheese. Bake in a 210 C oven until puff pastry cooked. Serve with rocket and some more of that vintage balsamic vinegar.

Kyoto Garden Sushi

I took a very suspicious mother in law out for sushi last night and made a conversion! Don’t think I have ever had to fight for my share of pickled ginger before. This with a first timer. Our meal started with a lovely complimentary platter of clams, eel, cabbage, edamame. Tasty tasty. The miso soup had a beautiful long lingering flavour and the tempura was light and crisp. The sushi was good but not great even though the granny did become an addict. Compared to Minato (which is, in addition to this place, claimed by some to have the best sushi in the Cape) I found the rice to be better (it didn’t fall apart), but the fish itself to actually be less fresh. The prawns I would even describe as floury. My vote still goes to Willoughby’s for the best sushi.

Will need to go back to sample some of the fish dishes as they are often raved about by fellow bloggers. This time we already reached our financial limit with the sushi + miso soup + tempura. R500 for two felt a bit steep.

Kyoto Sushi Garden
11 Lower Kloofnek Rd, Tamboerskloof
021 422 2001

Custard

Oh so much better than store bought : )

250 ml double cream/ 350 ml single cream skip water

100 ml water

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 egg yolks

1 vanilla bean/ 1 tsp vanilla essence

Cut vanilla bean lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Whip double cream and water together add vanilla bean and seeds and heat carefully. Don’t let in boil. When the mixture starts to steam take it off the heat and let it cool. Take the vanilla bean out and put it in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar or just discard it if you are lazy.

Whip egg yolks and sugar in a separate bowl until well combined. Add cream mixture and mix well. Pour back into pan and heat carefully stirring pretty much constantly. Don’t let it boil. When it starts to steam pay extra attention to stirring. It is ready when it coats the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge  covered with cling film.

Societi Bistro

I had read rave reviews for Societi Bistro and was very keen to try it out. Cam was less keen (maybe pretentious name?) so I dragged him there on Friday. I had also driven past it and I have to admit I was starting to doubt the reviews as it is on quite a busy street. (Orange street which leads on to the highway). Glad we went. The busy road doesn’t disturb you half as much as I expected when you sit in the candlelit courtyard filled with laughter and conversation.

We had calamari for starters which was tender and lovely. I had a seafood pasta for main course which for once was perfectly cooked and nicely spicey. Cam had the room temperature springbok with couscous, which surprisingly for couscous wasn’t dry and actually was nicely seasoned. For desert we had a crème brulée and two spoons. Delight. The food was great and decently priced but what I really liked was the broad selection of wines by the glass. Service was witty and attentive.  A winner.

Sorry no pics due to dim lighting in courtyard.

50 Orange Street
Cape Town
021 424 2100
Mon-Sat 12pm-11pm

Quinoa and rice pilaf with trout

250g cherry tomatoes

Quinoa and rice pilaf with trout

 

1 onion , thinly sliced

2 sticks celery sliced

1 tsp cumin

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

100g basmati rice (brown or white)

100g quinoa

bunch of dill , chopped

500ml chicken or vegetable stock

pan-fried trout

salt

Heat oven to 180C. Put the tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Roast for 15 mins, remove and set aside. Fry onion, celery, cumin and garlic in a large pan, then season to taste. Fry on a medium heat for 10 mins until golden. Add the rice, quinoa and stock. Cover with a lid and cook for 12-15 mins or until the rice is soft. Add the tomatoes and dill. Serve with pan fried trout or other fish.

Thai-ish Red Cabbage Salad

“Ish” because it is developed from scratch by me. Asian flavours dominate but it is not Cam-spicy.  You can of course add chillies ; )

Salad:

1 red cabbage finely sliced
1 onion  sliced finely
1 chili sliced finely
bunch of coriander roughly chopped
Sauce
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 grated lime zest
squeezed juice of one lime
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup peanut oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tsbp palm sugar/ brown sugar
2cm ginger grated
2 tsp salt

Heat up all sauce ingredients and stir until sugar dissolved. Combine with other ingredients in a bowl and let the flavours develop for at least an hour in the fridge. Tastes even better the next day

The Test Kitchen

It was time for a lunch time splurge and who better to enjoy it with than my new housewife buddy. We went to the Test Kitchen in Woodstock to enjoy some fine dining. The Test Kitchen is located in the same complex that hosts the Biscuit Mill Market on Saturdays. High ceilings, exposed brick and a completely open kitchen give it quite a cool industrial vibe. We sat pretty much in the kitchen and it was entertaining to watch the chefs in action. Boy was there was a lot of sous videing going on.

The menu is short with a few Asian- influenced starters and fiveish mains followed by sorbets for dessert. We had a cherry tomato tempura with blue cheese sauce and hake with olives, butterbeans and raisins. The starter was as fiddly as it sounds, but I think neither one of us was convinced that cherry tomatoes work as tempura. The thin tempura crust did little to complement the unseasoned burst of cherry tomato juice. The blue cheese sauce also could have done with some more blue cheese.  The hake was nicely cooked but the rest of the dish was not balanced in flavors. The sweetness of the raisin overwhelmed the delicate fish as did the liberal use of olive oil. Clearly a lot of technical skill went into these dishes but the taste was not quite there. At 180 for my meal with a glass of wine it was definitely a splurge. Think worth another try though but doesn’t make it to my favorites this time around.

021 447 2337    

Tue to Sat: 12.30pm to 2.30pm and 7pm to 10pm

Shop 104 A

The Old Biscuit Mill

375 Albert Road,

Woodstock, Cape Town

Bircher muesli

Tasty breakfast treat. Along with our freshly pressed juice this is how we start our day. Requires a bit of planning though as you need to prepare it the evening before.

For two

1 cup rolled oats – resident oat snob tells me they should be steel cut (normal ones are just fine!)

handful dried apricots/peaches

raisins

1/2 cup apple juice (freshly pressed) (if not a cloudy one)

1/2 cup of yogurt

1 grated apple

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix everything together in a  bowl and cover with cling film. Let it soak overnight in the fridge. Enjoy in the morning with a handful of toasted nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts for us today)

Chicken glass noodle salad

This is a remnant of our honeymoon in Vietnam. I have been missing those light flavourful salads.
Lots of work I admit it, but worth the effort : )
For two:

chicken vermicelli salad

Chicken prep:
2 medium chicken breasts
1 medium onion roughly chopped
1 bayleaf
2 cloves of garlic sliced

Other prep
200g glass noodles
1 large carrot cut into julienne strips (the thinner the better, might want to consider using a normal peeler if you don’t have a julienne peeler)
4 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Sauce:
3 tbsp ground nut oil
juice of 4 limes
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp salt

2 shallots finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
Oil to fry (canola, sunflower, groundnut… not olive)

To serve:
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp crushed toasted cashew nuts
2 chillies sliced
bunch of roughly chopped coriander
bunch of roughly chopped mint
bunch of roughly chopped thai basil/ normal basil if you can’t get thai

In a large pot combine the onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, and water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the chicken breasts and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove chicken from water and cool completely. Shred the chicken. I find this quite a nice way to prepare chicken breasts for salads. They retain a lot more moisture.

Soak glass noodles in cold water for five minutes. Drain and place into boiling water and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and allow to cool.

Combine all the sauce ingredients.

Combine rice vinegar, sugar and salt and boil julienned carrots for two minutes. Fry shallot and garlic in rapeseed oil. As they turn brown pour in dressing and bring to boil. Take off heat. Add noodles. Allow to cool and add carrots, nuts, seeds, chillies, herbs and chicken.