The season is nearly upon us and we have “Darling of the Cape” opening on the Upper Deck at the Waterfront, next to Panarotti’s. I have also just seen an advert for Dairy Crest’s ice cream cafe in Auctionmart road……………
The no name Cafe and Takeaway in Main just after what used to be the Protea Hotel, has closed, the owners have relocated to Cape Town and I know of at least one person who swears that their bacon and egg sandwiches were the best you could get. St Elmo’s have opened their doors on the other side of town offerng yet another option for Pizza.
Talking about ‘a question of taste’, Scarab Village hosted a mini carnival of food on 11 October. Although poorly attended ( poor marketing on the part of the organisers) it was seriously enjoyed by those who did attend. Food on offer ranged from Mauritian Curry, South African Cuisine from Cafe Ambrosia, home-made pasta, Ice-cream from Dairy Crest, Portuguese tasties like trinchado and choriso & smoked mussel pasta from Café François. Entance fee was R30 for which you received a plate on which to load your tasty samples. Where can you eat a meal with variety for just R30? Sedge Mobile Meals where the organisers and hopefully next time the marketing will improve because it was a worthwhile experiment.
What I love about food is the way that food accidents can often cause the creation of a classic dish. One may start cooking a dish like an apple tart, drop it on the floor and voila, classic French Tarte Tatin. I recently waited to cook classic mussels a la portugaise but was unable to get may hands on some fresh mussels. I could only get smoked mussels, the result has been a pasta dish with smoked mussels and choriso sausage that is fast becoming a signature dish in our Bistro at Café François.
Let us have a post for the next ‘carinval of food’ before time and we will give you asmuch exposureas we can. We are slowly building a word of mouth network and are trying to pull both the B&B’s and other service providers into what hopefully will become a Food Route. We have just set up http://www.tasteofknysna.com with Plett on a Platter to follow. For the B&B’s we have http://www.stopoverknysna.com and besides free listings we also offer free features to anyone who gets involved and helps to get people talking. Could I not set you up with a Guest Editors account so you can post a few articles when you get a moment to spare? These you can file under Cafe Francois and over time it will come to serve as a profile that will give visitors an idea of what to expect.
Eskom power is out on Sunday in Sedgefeild. So why bother cooking Sunday lunch at home. Café François is serving a lunch special. Not only are we serving our famous Eggs Benedict but we are cooking up a storm for lunch. Lemon rubbed roast chicken with garlic. Leg of pork slow roasted in milk. Roast potatos and Leila’s famous spinach and sweet potato. Dessert will be a special surprise. All I can say is that it involves flambé’d fruit and custard. See you on Sunday.
I just had a thought about trendsetting in the eating/restaurant world. Take away food has always been popular but how a take away chef. Planning a dinner party? How about getting a chef to design a menu and coach you through the cooking of a gourmet meal? Nothing beats home cooked food but how about taking all the glory yourself and learning a few kitchen skills at the same time. Contact Ryan at Café François and let’s see what we can organise.