Tag Archives: Ferran Adria

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 15 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Ultimate Braai Master Season 3 is being filmed, with the announcement that two changes are taking place: the series of 15 episodes will be broadcast on e.tv for the first time, from 11 September onwards, and a third judge, Chef Petrus Mudetlela returning to South Africa from London, has been added.  Fifteen braai teams are vying for the prize package of R500000 in cash, a Renault Duster 4 x 4, two Big Green Eggs, and a holiday tour of India.

*   The impact of the European High Court’s decision on Wednesday to allow private individuals living in Europe to have outdated and inaccurate personal data removed from Google searches on request is unclear, potentially leading to the ‘whitewashing’ of profile information.

*   The USA has overtaken France as the country with the highest wine consumption, at 29 million hectolitre, closely followed by France, Italy, and Spain. Worldwide consumption declined by roughly 1% between 2012 and 2013, with consumption in the European countries and China declining too.  By contrast, consumption in South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil increased in the past year.  Despite the decline in volume, the value sold increased slightly to reach €26 billion, with 71% being still wine in bottles and 17% sparkling wine.

*   Regarded by many as the best chef in the world, Ferran Adrià closed down his number 1 World’s 50 Best Restaurants elBulli in Continue reading →

Top Spanish Chef Andres Condé moving to Cape Town, joining Harbour House Group!

Andres Kitchen Vixen Screen-shot-2012-09-15-at-3.03.13-PM-300x209Amazing news for the restaurant scene in Cape Town is that Chef Andres Condé , who worked at the former elBulli, the former number one restaurant on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, is moving to Cape Town in June, and joining the Harbour House Group of restaurants belonging to Michael Townsend, as Group Executive Chef.

As his first priority Chef Andres will focus on La Parada, the two tapas restaurants based in Kalk Bay and on Bree Street, and will revamp their menus.  If La Parada weren’t already the most Spanish tapas restaurants in Cape Town, they will now become super-Spanish and genuine tapas restaurants.  He will also work with the Harbour House restaurant teams in Kalk Bay and in the V&A Waterfront.  He will not be involved with the Lucky Fish restaurants in the Harbour House Group.

Chef Andres won an award as best young chef in Navarra, a Spanish wine region.  His prize was an internship at the former elBulli near Roses in Catalonia, a Michelin 3-star restaurant run by Chef Ferran Adrià, who many would say is the world’s most creative chef, being associated with Molecular Gastronomy, and having written cookbooks.   The internship was for two months, but Chef Andres stayed for more than six years!  He worked in Continue reading →

Culinary trends: 20 years past, looking into the future!

Ferran Adria Culinary Conclave Ryan KingLooking at the past 20 year’s of our country’s democracy yesterday, I chose an article written about a recent ‘Culinary Conclave’ (or Indaba or Kosberaad, as we would call it) held by one of the world’s greatest chefs, Ferran Adrià of the former El Bulli, for inspiration for today’s blogpost.

Adrià and fellow chef Andoni Luis Aduriz invited 15 ‘gastronomic journalists‘ from around the world (none from our country) for a two day discussion about the past 20 years of gastronomy.  Each attendee was requested to present the gastronomic trends over the past two decades in their country, the impact of gastronomyFerran Adria Culinary Conclave group Ryan King original_ferran-conclave-group on society and culture, how the media has changed and influenced gastronomy, and how the definitions of ‘great cuisine‘ and ‘dining experience‘ have changed.

These were some of the gastronomic trends identified: Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Stanford’s Springfontein Eats has a spring, a culinary Overberg oasis!

Springfontein Eats interior 2 Whale Cottage PortfolioIt was restaurant reviewer and now Platter’s  South African Wines 2014 publisher JP Rossouw who told me about Springfontein Eats outside Stanford, asking me at the launch of the wine guide whether I had already eaten there.  Having spent the past weekend in Hermanus, I drove to the restaurant on Saturday, finding a culinary oasis, with former 1 star Michelin Chef Jürgen Schneider preparing a lunch feast justSpringfontein Eats Chef Juergen Schneider Whale Cottage Portfolio for me!

I had booked for lunch and was the only patron in the restaurant, despite it being a long weekend.  The restaurant opened two months ago. Springfontein was bought by Jürgen and Susanne Schneider as well as by Johst and Jen Weber in 1994, then a cattle farm. The farm had belonged to David Trafford’s father in law, and it was suggested to them that the abundance of water, the terroir, the limestone soil, the nearby ocean location, the difference in daytime and nighttime temperatures, and the slope on the farm, would be ideal for wine production, which advice they followed and they started planting vines eleven years ago.   They were laughed at initially, being ridiculed for the ‘vinegar’ that they would be producing, but they have proven their critics wrong!   Springfontein is the oldest wine farm in Stanford.  They sold their grapes to Hamilton Russell and to Rupert & Rothschild initially, until they started making their own wines 7 – 8 years ago.

The road to Springfontein is not the easiest to find in Stanford, one driving down Stanford’s main road, and then turning left into Moore Road, and carrying on straight, the road becoming a gravel one and taking one to Springfontein 5 km along.  The road signs are tiny, not brown tourism ones, as I had expected.  Gravel roads are not my favourite, due to a childhood experience of a car accident on such a road, but the condition of the road was reasonable.

Three cottages on the farm have been transformed into guest accommodation, and the Springfontein Winery wine cellar was built.  The old homestead was transformed into Springfontein Eats restaurant, the most recent of the facilities on the wine estate to open.  I asked Chef Jürgen why he would leave a lucrative and successful Michelin star graded restaurant Strahlenberger Hof in Schriesheim they have run for 18 years,  Continue reading →