Tag Archives: French Connection

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The 2014 Beautiful South wine tasting event in London, a collaboration between Argentinian, Chilean, and South African wine producers, is to be reduced to 250 exhibitors, fifty less than last year, to reduce the dominance of South African wines.  Beautiful South will be held at the Olympia on 10 and 11 September.

*   The Hermanus FynArts Festival 2014 takes place from 6 – 16 June, as an ArtsFest and Winter School. The organisers describe it as ‘a 10-day celebration of South African arts with a focus on the visual arts’, with 20 art exhibitions.

*   World renowned Copenhagen restaurant Noma, the world’s number one restaurant until 2012, is moving to Kikunoi restaurant in Kyoto early next year for two months, working with Chef Yoshihiro Murata, Noma owner and Chef Rene Continue reading →

Western Cape restaurants lead the Diners Club International Winelist Awards 2013!

Diners Club Winelist Awards 2More restaurants in the Western Cape than in any other province entered and received a Diners Club International Winelist Award 2013. At the 30th Awards function held for the Western Cape at the Vineyard Hotel on Wednesday,  MasterChef SA Judge and Tsogo Sun Chef Benny Masekwameng announced the 38 winners in the Diamond, 30 in the Platinum, 26 in the Gold,  and 2 in the SilverDiners Club Chef Benny Whale Cotatge Portfolio Award categories, 96 awards in total.

Veteran wine critic Dave Hughes chaired the judging panel, which included fledgling judge Chef Benny, restaurant guide editor JP Rossouw,  wine judges Christine Rudman and Fiona McDonald,   Winestyle.biz owner Nikki Dumas, and the Cape Wine Academy head Marilyn Cooper.  He said that it was fitting that the Awards ceremony was held at The Vineyard hotel, the Newlands area having been the first in Cape Town in which grapes were grown, but soon Continue reading →

Franschhoek Bastille Festival: bigger and better this year!

The Bastille Festival is Franschhoek’s largest event, in its ability to attract visitors to the French Huguenot village, with 3000 visitors per day expected to enjoy the best of its foods and wines.  This year the Bastille Food and Wine Marquee has a new location and is bigger than ever before.  French wines will form part of the Bastille Festival for the first time this year, the Festival celebrating the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, this coming weekend on 14 and 15 July.

The Bastille marquee of 1300 m² has been erected in its new location in the parking area between the church and town hall, with its entrance off the main road, connecting the centre of the Festival with the other fun activities on the main road, which significantly competed with the marquee wine and food tastings last year.  The Le Franschhoek hotel’s Dish restaurant (selling quiche, French flag fudge, and French chantilly meringues), Haute Cabriere (Moules Belle Rose), Reuben’s (serving Beef Bourguignon and wok-fried squid and chorizo), Allee Bleue (salmon and smoked chicken baguettes), Backsberg (lamb ciabatta), Bread & Wine (porchetta sandwiches), Cotage Fromage (veal and foie gras burger), French Connection (steak rolls), Le Quartier Français (Bunny Chow, chocolate brownies), Mont Rochelle (Boerewors rolls, chicken wraps), Allora (shawarmas), Solms-Delta (Cape barbeque), Val de Vie (vol au vent), and Wild Peacock (oysters), and other local restaurants and wine estates will be selling their foods and offering their wines to taste in the marquee, at the cost of R150, which includes a tasting glass and a booklet of wine tasting coupons.

For the first time a VIP marquee will be available at the higher entrance fee of R395, which will allow one to rub shoulders and exchange tasting notes with the following 10 winemakers and their wines from the Rhône-Alpes region in France:

  • Gilles Barge, Domaine Barge (Cote Rotie, Condrieu)
  • Jean Luc Monteillet, Domaine De Montine (Grignan Les Adhemar, Cotes Du Rhone, Vinsobres)
  • Gilles Verzier, Vignobles Verzier, Chanteperdrix (Cote Rotie, Condrieu, Saint Joseph)
  • Nadia Fayolle, Domaine Des Martinelles (Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage)
  • Yves Cuilleron, Cave Cuilleron (Cote Rotie, Condrieu)
  • André Mercier, Vignerons Ardechois (Vins D’ Ardeche, Cotes Du Rhone, Cotes Du Vivarais –photograph)
  • Dominique Courbis, (St Joseph, Cornas)
  • Yann Chave, Domaine Yann Chave (Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage)
  • Pierre Mollier, Mas De Bagnols (Ardeche, Cotes Du Vivarais)
  • Laurent Vial, Domaine Du Colombier (Crozes Hermitage, Hermitage)

Two wine tastings of these winemakers’ wines, with the best of Franschhoek wines too, will also be held, at Grande Provence on Saturday and Sunday 14 and 15 July at 9h00, at the cost of R395, which includes the entrance ticket to the Bastille Marquee too.

Many wine estates will also host French inspired activities at their farms. Grande Provence, for example, will host an art exhibition focused on Le Monde front covers. For lunch it will serve Vichyssoise soup (R45), Boeuf Bourguignon (R90), Moules Marinière (R55), and a selection of French cheeses. At dinner guests will be offered a French inspired 3 course meal at R320 per person.

The main road will see many of the  restaurants and shops, decorated in blue, white, and red in keeping with the theme, offering food, beer, and wines for sale from their shop exteriors. Reuben’s, for example, will sell white truffle infused bean cassoulet soup, French onion soup, Puglia cheeses, Lynx wines, Jimmy Jagga ciders from KWV, Peroni draught, Jack Daniels, Boschendal sparkling wines, Deluxe coffee, and fresh fruit and vegetables outside its restaurant.

Alongside the fun food and wine events, the largest and longest running boules competition, the Waiter’s Race, Franschhoek minstrel parade from Solms-Delta, fencing, barrel-rolling, a farmer’s market, a craft market, children’s activities, and a French food market will be held over the weekend too, reports The Month. In addition, there will be 10 km, 25km, and 55 km mountain bike trails on Sunday 15 July, as well as a 12 km Salomon Bastille Day Trial Run on Saturday 14 July, from the Drakenstein Prison to Franschhoek, to commemorate freedom, the prison being the ‘home’ of Mr Nelson Mandela towards the end of his incarceration, and the prison he was released from in 1992, when it was still called Victor Verster. On Friday 13 July James Stewart will perform at a pre-Bastille Festival dinner with a French theme at La Petite Ferme.

Bring your berets and full purses, dress in the French colours, and enjoy two fun-filled days in Franschhoek, focused on its good foods and wines.  Book early, as the Saturday marquee entrance number is capped, and was sold out prior to the event last year.

Bastille Festival, Huguenot Road, Franschhoek. 14 and 15 July, 12h00 – 17h00. www.webtickets.co.za. Tel (021) 876-2861

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

The Kitchen at Maison Sweet and Col’Cacchio Franschhoek Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to The Kitchen at Maison Estate in Franschhoek, which did not charge for a slice of their new foie gras parfait, served with a delicious home-made grape jam, which I took home as a take-away after a coffee and tapas lunch.  I only noticed that they had not charged for the parfait when I had returned home and checked the bill, and called the Manager Julian Smith, to make him aware of his error, and offering to pay for it on my next visit.  He said that Chef Arno Janse van Rensburg had decided that I should not be charged for it.  This is one of the special touches of Maison.

The Sour Service Award goes to Col’Cacchio Franschhoek, and its Managing Partner Elizabeth Rossouw, who threatened to call the police when we refused to pay for an inedible Tiramisu costing R35!  It was covered with a toffee sauce, and consisted of mainly (artificial) cream, and had barely any finger biscuits, no coffee, no liqueur, and no mascarpone.  Despite sending the dessert back after one spoonful, it appeared on our bill.  Ms Rossouw arrived at the table, called me by my surname, even though we have known each other for years (we stopped going to French Connection when she managed it, due to her aggressive and unfriendly nature), as a sign of respect she said, and said that she had tasted it and it was perfect, and that we must pay for it! The Tiramisu was a compromise dessert choice when I had to return my first choice ‘Meringa’ Eton Mess type dessert, which was served with ice cream rather than cream, and without the fresh berries, contrary to the menu description, even though I had taken the trouble to check with the manager Andrew that it contained real dairy cream. No one came to the table to proactively inform us that the cream had ‘melted’ due to the heat of the kitchen, which was the ‘creative’ excuse provided by manager Andrew when I asked for him about the ice cream!  Despite my visit and experience being shared on Twitter on Monday, I have not received a call from the Col’Cacchio head office or from David Foster, the owner of the Franschhoek branch, regarding the misleading menu descriptions of at least two of the Col’Cacchio Franschhoek desserts.

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.