Moyo at Spier – The ultimate buffet lunch

I remember the first time I went to Spier Wine Estate after Moyo opened thinking that it so doesn't fit in with Spier and it surroundings at all.  But just walking past the outside and going inside to experience it are two totally different things and after having lunch at Moyo's the other day I have so changed my opinion.  Its the difference between Spier's Cape Dutch and colonial look and the free spirit African feel under the ancient oak trees that make the two ideal bedfellows.  The restaurant offers different kinds of seating from casually under the massive trees, privately on the stilted platforms or communally under the marquee tent.  We went for the "under the tree" option.

 

As soon as you are seated the ladies come by to paint the traditional African dots that has become so synonymous with a visit to the Moyo restaurants throughout South Africa.  Although I noticed that there were a couple of South African okes around who weren't too keen on it, the women and especially tourists love it.  And just in case you were wondering about this South African man.  Yes, I had my face dotted as well.

A nice touch I liked very much was the process of washing your hands at the table.  A staff member goes around with a pitcher, bowl and towel and I couldn't help but snap a picture of one of the guests on our table having her hands washed. 

 

 

But seating, face painting and hand washing niceties apart.  We were here to eat and the test taste of a restaurant is in its pudding.  Well all their food really.  Did they pass this test?  The food was orgasmic so the appropriate answer would be yes, yes, yes...  In actual fact, this is the buffet lunch that all other buffet lunches should aspire to be like.

The menu is extensive and consisted of starter, mains and dessert options.  Lots of it.  I was especially impressed with the Impala steak, so much so that I went back to tell the chef that, while some of us returned for another helping of the pumpkin fritters and little bite sized brownies. 

 

I think it's wrong to write a restaurant post like this if you aren't close to the restaurant cause my mouth is watering right now.  Unfortunately I live 800km away otherwise lunch at Moyo would have been on the cards.   

Disclosure: I had lunch at Moyo at Spier as guest of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.  I received no additional remuneration to write this post and all views expressed are my own.

5 star meal - Lunch at Twelve Apostiles

Its not every day that I get to have lunch in a smart place like the 5 star Twelve Apostles Hotel and looking at me in my Batman t-shirt in the last picture I clearly wasn't ready for it either.  The Twelve Apostles sits overlooking the surrounding mountains and ocean on Cape Town's Atlantic Seaboard just a couple of kilometres past the upmarket suburb of Clifton.  The hotel with all its facilities is truly award winning and amongst their accolades are the following.

• Sliver's Silver Award: Won by Executive Chef Henrico Grobbelaar for his Finely Engineered Cuisine (2013)
• TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice 2013 Awards: Top 25 Hotels in Africa (14), Top 25 Hotels in South Africa (2), Top 25 Luxury Hotels in South Africa (13), Top 25 Hotels for Service in South Africa (24) (2013)
• Travel + Leisure (USA) 500 ‘The World’s Best Hotels’: Top 50 hotels worldwide (41), overall score of 93.71 (2013)
• Condé Nast Traveler (USA) Gold List: South Africa - Best Hotels & Resorts, overall score 95.7 (2013)
• American Express Platinum Fine Dining Awards: Azure Restaurant Listed (2013)

And these are just the awards won in 2013 already. 

Along with my fellow two bloggers on the Peninsula Tour we were taken to our inside table with a huge window looking over the veranda and out to sea.  The weather wasn't ideal to sit outside otherwise we would have.  The restaurant décor was muted with no bright and flashy colours except for the blue water glasses on the tables.  Stripes along with black and whites are the order of the day.  Being a Sunday afternoon the dining area also had live background music adding that extra touch of class.  Our waiter, it turned out as well, comes from my home town so all which is always a win.

We were set up with a set three coarse lunch and started with Norwegian Salmon with citrus cured, salmon civiché, green goddess, fennel salad, olice ciabata, and miso mayonnaise.  All of that is a mouth full to say but once the food goes into your mouth it truly a fusion of flavours like any Master Chef judge would be looking for.

The main meal was Beef Fillet with chalmar black eggplant, white carrot and roasted onion puree, variation of carrot and potato Nicola.  Melt in your mouth fillet pared perfectly with all the other flavours.  Its the kind of dish which makes you want to ask for more not because you're still hungry but because of the taste.  Enjoying this meal I can understand the American Express Platinum Fine Dining Award mentioned above.  My mouth is still watering

Dessert was Vanilla Creme Brûleé served the traditional way.  Eaten that way as well with a slow movement into your mouth, the closing of the eyes as you pull the spoon out again and a "mmmmmm" sigh straight after.

While taking the first picture in the post I caught the eye of a couple of people enjoying drinks at a nearby table.  They called me over (no, not because I was wearing a Batman t-shirt) and started chatting.  It turned out to be Horst Frehse, the hotel's General Manager (on the right) and Phillip Lategan, the MD of Journey Beyond, a big South African inbound tour operator.  Not long and the chat turned into a little photo session with myself and Shelley Pembroke, one of the other bloggers on the tour.  A special touch was that after our meal Mr Frehse came to our table himself to see if everything was satisfactory.  And satisfactory it was indeed.

Disclosure: I had lunch at the Twelve Apostles Hotel as guest of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.   I received no additional remuneration to write this post and all views expressed are my own.

The Ark in Joubertina

Most people travelling between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town either barrel down the Garden Route's N2 in eight hours or explore the area over a period of several days.  Sadly very few people travel through the Langkloof along this beautiful section of Route 62, better known for the part running through the Klein Karoo.  The Langkloof isn't a popular tourist destination, not because of a lack of beauty but rather because of its direct competition on the other side of the mountains.  This means that the tourism infrastructure isn't that well developed, but what is there is well worth a visit.  Farm accommodation on working farms, mountain trails, adventure outings and most importantly, good old farming hospitality.

 The biggest town in the Langkloof is Joubertina.  The town was founded in 1907 and named after W A Joubert who was minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Uniondale between 1878 and 1893.  At one stage the twon was a dry town meaning no alcohol was alloed to be sold in the town.  This meant that the hotel with its pub and off sales was built outside the town boundaries.  My grandparents lived in Joubertina for most of their lives and my mom grew up and went to school there.  We still have family on my mom's side who live in the Langkloof who we don't get to visit nearly enough.

 

On the road through the town visitors will find The Ark.  Its a place to stretch your legs, fill your tummy, get something cold to drink and get some information and direction to your next destination.

Travelling through the Langkloof back from Oudtshoorn early January, we stopped at The Ark for lunch.  I had a Langkloof Burger with beef patty, bacon, egg, cheese, onions and... wait for it... home made hand cut chips.  Probably the best burger I had during the whole 16 day holiday.  So next time you have to travel between the Western and Eastern Cape, why not change your regular route and take in some sights in the Langkloof?

Marilyn's Diner in Storms River

When one visits a small village or town you often expect some kind of quaint little restaurant or coffee shop and not necessarily a place filled with Cadillacs, 50's & 60's memorabilia, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and painted pink for added impact.  This is exactly what we encountered next to the Tsitsikamma Village Inn on our visit to Storms River Village.  Walking into Marilyn's Diner is like being whizzed back in time to a period of rock and roll, bold colours, chrome, neon rimmed signage and good times (although slightly before my time).

The owners have gone all out to create a restaurant that mirrors their passion for the time and their icons, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.  Everything in there could just as well have been right out of movies like Grease.  Walking through I saw everything from juke boxes to "Cadillac seats" and pictures of the King of Rock everywhere.  The one section of the restaurant even has a couple Caddies and Chevy's on display.

Family Firefly popped into Marilyn's after a long walk (long as in 4 hours covering about 11 or 12 kilometers) through the forest and had Sundaes and ice creams all around.  The perfect "meal" to have in such an unique place.  Next time I'll try their burgers.

Fish on the Rocks

Everybody loves fish and chips and every city or town has a good fish and chips shop on a corner somewhere.  But good isn't always best and for the best fish and chips around one has to head past the harbour at Hout Bay and down to Fish on the Rocks.  Africa's favorite (as they put it) fish and chips shop was started by the Brodericks 23 years ago and has become a very popular stop for both locals as well as national and international visitors.

The choice between hake, snoek, yellowtail, calamari and prawns make it quite difficult to decide what to order and my choice the day of our visit was deep fried snoek.  I can just taste that snoek again along with the smell of vinegar on the chips. Mmmmmmmmmm......

The best way to experience your meal at Fish on the Rocks is actually down on the rocks next to the restaurant overlooking the bay and mountains beyond.  Ours was a windy day but the Damselfly still wanted to go and sit on the rocks.  Even if it was just with a ice cream.

Bain Street Grill - Port Elizabeth

Over the last couple of years the area around Stanley Street in Richmond Hill has developed into a hub of restaurants, side walk eateries and deli's and has become one of the best places to go for a meal in Port Elizabeth.  One of the restaurants I have heard a lot about but hadn't had a chance to visit is the Bain Street Grill (32 Bain Street, Richmond Hill) just around the corner from Stanley Street.  But this was about to change when I made a booking to visit it with a bunch of visiting journalists.  My first surprise of the evening came as soon as we walked in the front door.  The Bain Street Grill is a small cosy restaurant (for some reason I was expecting a big "Spur" like place) with only about 9 or 10 tables which means that there are far less noise and much better service.  On the night we were there there was one waitress handling the orders for all the tables (and doing a very good job) while a second made sure drinks were delivered and topped up without anybody going thirsty. 

My second surprise came when we weren't handed menu's but rather was told that everything on offer is up on the walls.  This meant that there was a lot more discussion between everybody on what to have rather than the usual hiding behind the menu and peeking around it wondering what the others are having.  Another thing I liked about the restaurant was the open plan kitchen in which you could see the chef preparing the food and, even though he was probably busy as hell, he looked as cool as a cucumber. 

My big surprise was the food.  Priced lower than it's competition, the food was excellent and the portions generous.  No fancy garnishes and things (In Afrikaans we would say "fieterjasies"), just plain good food.  I thought that the vegetable kebab was a brilliant touch so in between the calories, cholesterol and carbs you do get something healthy in as well.  Although there were a lot of stuff on the menu that looked good I was recommended the Ribs beforehand and I wasn't disappointed. F-I-N-G-E-R  L-I-C-K-I-N-G good and "fall off the bone" soft.

One of the ladies had fish, Cajun Kingklip if I remember correctly.  My first thought was why order fish as a grill restaurant is often associated with meat, but according to her she would order it again any day. She also opted for the healthier option and had it with veg.

I'm not a prawn man myself but I have to admit that the Surf and Turf option of steak and prawns looked divine.  Other than big smiles and thumbs up I didn't get a comment on this dish though cause the ones having it had their mouths full all the time.  All in all I have to say that we had a stunning evening of good food and good company in an excellent and recommendable restaurant and I am honestly looking forward to my next visit to Bain Street Grill. 

We visited Bain Street Grill on a recommendation and not on invitation and paid for the bill

Breakfast at Lavender Blue

On the morning of Day 3 of the Mini vs Maxi Adventure across the Eastern Cape, Team Mini stopped at Lavender Blue outside East London for breakfast.  Apparently we weren't the only ones with the idea of filling up on bacon and eggs as the place was packed with locals and visitors alike enjoying their famous breakfasts.

Lavender Blue is a farmers market and restaurant and according to the locals is THE place around East London to have a hearty breakfast, specially over weekends.  On entering you browse the menu up on the black board and decided what you want.  You then mosey over to the casher, put in your order and pay for it before joining the dish up line.  The method works very well as each station is manned and the staff dish up your breakfast very quickly and efficiently.

Farmstyle Breakfast and orange juice. 'Nuff said.

Lavender Blue also has a fruit and veg section with most of the products sold there sourced locally and being organic, healthy and natural produce.  On the weekends there are also a number of stallholders selling things like jams & preserves, olive oil, ginger beer, sweet & savoury muffins and much more.  I kinda wish we had a place like this in Port Elizabeth...

Morgan Bay Hotel 6 course meal

Spending the night at the Morgan Bay Hotel on the Wild Coast during the Mini vs Maxi challenge, we also had dinner in the restaurant at the hotel.  The printed menu presented to us a 6 course set menu along with personal notes welcoming each guest that was booked for dinner on their name as well as other news from the hotel.

The starter was Caprese Puffs with Basil Pesto Drizzle.  My comment to my team mates after this course was that they could just throw a couple of these on a plate for me to be my whole dinner.  I'm not a big fan of cooked tomato but this was heavenly.

It was a good thing that I didn't request more of the starter, cause what came next was, in my opinion, even better.  Sweet butternut soup is my ultimate favorite soup, but the Morgan Bay Hotel introduced me to Roasted Red Pepper and Butternut Soup which was served with Bruchetta.  So what does that mean?  Well, its the taste of traditional butternut soup, but with the flavour of red peppers coming through with each spoon full.

The third course was called "From the Ocean" and consisted of pan fried Bream Meuniere.  By now I was starting to worry if I will actually have any space for the main meal, but one wants to taste everything and the fish did not disappoint at all.

The main meal was Red Thai Pork Curry on Pearl Rice and served with Roast Potatoes, Pumpkin with garlic chives and Broccoli au Gratin.  I'm not much of a chili or curry guy, so I was a bit unsure about this course.  It was perhaps just a tad too much for my tender taste buds, but my two companions absolutely loved it.

Dessert was a choice between Malva Pudding with Amarula Creme or Strawberry Jelly Jewels with homemade custard and all three of us went for the traditional malva pudding. 

Dessert was followed by cheese, biscuits and coffee and then, as we say in Afrikaans, "Magies vol, ogies toe", which translates to when the tummies are full the eyes want to close.

Farriagers Restaurant - Port Elizabeth

Being a family on a tight budget with a couple of Rugrats in tow, the grand total of our regular eating out experience is popping into KFC for the odd take-away.  There used to be a time when, as a tourist guide, I got to try out all kinds of restaurants, but now being mostly office bound it doesn't happen that often that I get to order off a proper menu.  Following my post on a sneak peak at the Kelway Hotel's newly refurbished rooms, I received an e-mail from the hotel's GM Shandré Main inviting me and the family over for dinner at the Farriagers Restaurant at the hotel as thanks for the positive article.  My reply, "You know that I'll do a review for the blog."

The Farriagers Restaurant is situated above reception on the first floor of the Kelway Hotel in Humewood, Port Elizabeth.  As it was a school night we had a fairly early reservation at 6:30 and was showed to our table by a very attentive and helpful Nandipa who also looked after us for the duration of our meal.  Although there were a couple of things that caught my eye on the menu, I decided to start with something I haven't had before and went for the Deep fried Sesame Camembert served with cranberry sauce and melba toast (R40).  As I cut off the end the melted cheese slowly poured out.  I officially have a new favorite starter.

The Damselfly started with Springbok Carpaccio with salad greens, basil pesto drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette and topped with parmesan shavings (R45).  Unfortunately she tucked in and consumed it before I could snap a photo which means that either she was ravenously hungry or it tasted good.  Her answer confirmed the latter.  Seeing that the Springboks were playing the All Blacks in town on the following weekend, she stayed in a patriotic mood and ordered the Casserole of Springbok Shank served on a bed of sun-dried tomato, mashed potato, seasonal veg and Juniper berry and bacon sauce (R115).  The meat was so soft that it literally fell off the bone.  I had a taste of the sauce and I have to say that its quite an unusual combination that can't help but work like a bomb.

I don't often make steak at home, so I opted for the flame grilled and basted T-bone steak and served with thick cut potato chips and seasonal veg (R96) done medium-well, just like I like it.  If there is one thing I have to fault out of the whole night though, it was the fact that there was no offer of a sauce with the steak.  Although with the basting on it wasn't really necessary, but you do get other folk who like a sauce with their steak.  No train smash though.

Now we're not big wine drinkers, but all of this went down very well with one of my favorite wines, a Robertson Chapel Natural Sweet Rose.  Ice cold, thank you very much.

 

Seeing that we had the Rugrats along its important to add that they thoroughly cater for kids as well.  Both had milkshakes that made me consider swopping my wine for one.  Chaos Boy who barely eat anything other than burgers had... a burger - thought I was going to say some exotic meal, didn't you - while Drama Princess had a plate full of the most succulent chicken strips I have ever seen.

With our tummies just about well and truly full, we thought to have a look at the dessert menu - just for interest sake.  Nandipa was quick, and rightfully so, to suggest that we try the restaurant's speciality dessert, the Wild African Cream and chocolate chip Cheesecake drizzled with mocha and berry infused choc sauce (R40).  Now there is a winner and a magnificent way to end off the perfect meal.  By now Drama Princess' eyes were blinking faster than a sos signal and we knew that it was time to head home without still having coffee as well.  All and all Farriagers Restaurant came through with flying colours and still with some change to spare.  If you live in Port Elizabeth and haven't been, I would suggest you give them a go.

Kitchen Cafe - Plettenberg Bay

So there the Damselfly and I were in Plettenberg Bay for the weekend.  It was cold, somewhat wet plus we had a couple of unfortunate hiccups during the day.  For the Saturday night we had a 19:00 reservation at Kitchen Cafe in the Main Street but was seriously contemplating staying in bed with the heater on for the evening and chilling with a pizza or something.  How glad am I that we didn't!!  Manager Gerry met us at the front door with a very big smile and led us straight to one of the prime tables right by the fireplace.  I was quite impressed specially seeing that there wasn't a lot of empty seats left in the restaurant at the time.  We ordered our drinks and with the fire cracking close by the feeling slowly came back in our fingers and toes.

Our waiter Tyron came by with the menus and gave us a couple of recommendations.  What I specially liked was how he has had just about all the items on the menu himself and could describe it all to us whenever we had a question on an item.  Often I find that waiters have never actually tried the items on the menus themselves and he told us that it was the owners policy that the waiters had to know the food they serve to be able to give you first hand information.  For a starter I decided on the Butternut Soup while the Damselfly had a Starter Calamari.  The soup was perfect and most importantly, hot.  I just hate getting a soup on my plate and its only luke warm.  The Damselfly remarked how the starter calamari didn't come with the normal tartar sauce, but with a sweet chili sauce.  Although she found it unusual, it turned out to be the perfect compliment.

After only having a light lunch I was in the mood for some meat and the Sirloin Steak was a great call as a main.  It was perfectly done and served with chips (thin, crispy on the outside and soft inside) and rocket leaves.  My sauce of choice for the evening was a lip smacking port and mushroom sauce.  I just couldn't wait to tuck into it and the knife just sliced through it like nothing.  Perfect!

The Damselfly was a bit undecided on what to have and was uhm'ing and ah'ing about possibly having the mussels.  This is where Tyron stepped up to the plate (in a matter of speaking).  He highly recommended the Chef's Choice for the evening.  Seared Norwegian Salmon with Asian Stir Fry and Kikkoman Sauce.  Believe me, she wasn't sorry that she ordered it.  It wasn't just nice, she absolutely loved it.

We decided not to have dessert (I don't think the ladies at Weighless would have approved if we did anyway), but settled for a coffee instead.  The best part of Kitchen Cafe is that they don't just have the regular menu to choose from but also serve pizza and sushi, having recently welcomed a new Sushi Chef to the restaurant.  They also have a very well stocked bar which I just had a peek at on the way out the door.  That sherry on the end would have gone down very nicely on a cold night...