Flavour Cape
Chicken in Cape Town

She learnt at a young age that travel means opening your mind to new flavours, so occasionally she steps outside Cape Town to do just that. She’s a full-time journalist (and occasional copy editor) who has worked independently in Cape Town since 2000, but don’t expect to see daily updates. This blog is about personal impressions on the side, or expanded versions of commissioned work, once family and work is out the way. The wine trade, wine tourism, travel, restaurant reviews, chef profiles and editing cookbooks are special interests. She likes to know why people make or market what they do, and where they’ve been along their journeys. At Cape Town’s newest brasserie, minimalist décor is in keeping with a prudent approach to food and a no-frills style of presentation. He decided to become a chef after a game-changing dinner with brother James at Fergus Henderson’s St John nose-to-tail restaurant in London (their British father loved offal). At lunchtime, the fish sandwich is a must: it is either hake or angelfish, deepfried in batter, served on sourdough, plus homemade tartare and red pickled onion. The crispy pig cheek is richness itself, using pork fat to create a confit centre, which is slow-roasted to crunchy crackling and served with crisp, raw radish, creamy mustard and herby greens. Mussels out of their shells, with buttered leek strands and salty bacon lardons, is comforting in a brothy stock. His pop-up restaurant was in a Cape Town wine shop. In keeping with the food, the narrow interior of La Tête is minimalist, with stark white walls and white pinboards, a concrete floor and wooden ceiling fans. It’s a busy street, well worth a taxi ride to experience the Indian tapas and interior décor inside. The restaurant and bar’s patterned walls and a blue-and-white tiled staircase lead up to Sally Chapman’s wallpaper of hand-sketched birds on the landing, near a hanging group of cages. Treasured Indian postcards and other auction finds co-exist with old marble fireplaces and modern mosaic dining tables. It is an appealing spot to enjoy fresh oysters with a carrot juice-infused Cape Malay dressing on a summer evening. Oxford Dictionary defines a thali as a metal plate on which Indian food is served, or a type of set meal at an Indian restaurant. Meat and vegetarian options both start with a cleverly crunchy potato and chickpea chaat snack with pomegranates. So you could have lighter grilled meats such as minced lamb kebabs, steamed fish with tangy dressing or tamarind-spiced pork belly next. She built a very modern gravity-flow cellar, which she could not have done in Bordeaux, with all its wine traditions and restrictions. When we built the wine tasting room upstairs we created the bar counter from the farm’s Cape granite stones. We wanted guests to look at the view from outside but have shade from pergolas. We wanted a short and catchy name that explained what we were and connected us to Avondale Estate. Yet we are just off the N1, closer to Cape Town than to Stellenbosch.