Tag Archives: Jacques de Jager

Restaurant News: Grande Provence takes Franschhoek to Hong Kong!

Super-talented Executive Chef Darren Roberts of Grande Provence in Franschhoek recently returned from a week-long visit to Hong Kong, at the invitation of the exclusive Hong Kong Country Club, where he presented the best of South African cuisine as well as Grande Provence wines to the top echelon of Hong Kong society in the Country Club’s Grill Room.

The Hong Kong Country Club is so exclusive that it has a 30-year waiting list for membership, and it costs $3 million to join.  The Country Club has a number of restaurants on its estate.  It regularly hosts unique culinary events for the enjoyment of its members.

Chef Darren is a hidden secret of Franschhoek, and the Grande Provence marketing department does not do justice to his talent in his creative menu items, bringing a unique combination of ingredients together, and even more importantly, he has the most amazing ability to make his food look absolutely beautiful and mouth-watering.

He is an Australian, who worked in Sydney and Melbourne before he went to work as Pastry Chef at L’Heiner Konditorei in Vienna.  In London he met his South African wife Amanda, and this brought him to Johannesburg, where he ran his own restaurants.   He returned to Melbourne, working at The Half Moon restaurant, and then ran the kitchen at an exclusive private lodge on Denis Island in the Seychelles.   Seven years ago he returned to South Africa, as Chef at Fancourt Hotel in George.  Early this year he joined Grande Provence, taking over from Chef Jacques de Jager, who had placed the restaurant on the 2009 Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards list. Chef Darren says: “I am truly passionate in my commitment to learning about new food cultures, then blending the various techniques and ingredients in my own way, to create a unique and distinctive fusion.  This pays homage to and often references the great culinary classics, while hopefully, taking diners on a wonderful and exciting culinary journey”.

Chef Darren presented an 8-course Tasting Menu at the Gala dinner in conclusion to the week-long dinners he cooked at the Hong Kong Country Club.  I was lucky enough to taste some of the dishes on his Hong Kong menus.  The Tasting Menu for the Gala dinner at the Hong Kong Country Club Grill Room was as follows:

*   An amuse bouche of scallop ceviche, served with sweet and sour vegetable spaghetti

*   A Honey Roasted Quail salad was served with Belgium Endive, rainbow of baby beets, candied walnuts and a Fynbos honey vinaigrette.

*   Springbok Tartar was served on Springbok Carpaccio, topped with a quail’s egg, with truffle dressing.  (The tartar had a dominant vinegar taste, too strong for my liking). 

*   Essence of Karoo lamb served with poached barley, butternut, rosemary souskleijte and pea shoots followed (Poured at the table, lovely combination of elements).

*   Fresh line fish, truffle du puy lentils, chorizo, black pudding, baby calamari tubes stuffed with sticky beef cheeks was served.

*   Thrice cooked Kroon duckling and Natal lobster tagine, dates, and green estate olives served with walnut and preserved fig arancini.

*   Chocolate and Amarula calzone with orange sorbet and a white chocolate vodka shot.

*   Prince Albert Regal cheese served with sugared olives.

I also tasted the pork belly served with an apple and mint cottage pie, pea puree and braised cabbage, my favourite course of those that I tasted, which was on the a la carte menu which Chef Darren served on the evenings running up to the Gala Dinner.

Darren was in awe of the special XO Sauce, a highly regarded sauce in the Orient, which he learnt to make in Hong Kong.  It is made of scallops, dried shrimps, and chilli.  This he served with Namibian red crab, scallops, oysters, red roman and Natal lobster, a heavenly but very filling dish.

Chef Darren has built a number of his Hong Kong menu highlights into his current menu at Grande Provence, allowing visitors to taste his Springbok Tartar and Carpaccio, Essence of Karoo Lamb, Duckling and Natal Lobster, Pork Belly, and Chocolate and Amarula calzone, in addition to a number of fine dishes on the Grande Provence menu.

The Restaurant at Grande Provence, Grande Provence, Franschhoek.  Tel (021) 876-8600. www.grandeprovence.com

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

Eat Out Top 20 Restaurant Awards shortlist highlights Cape Culinary centre

The eagerly awaited Top 20 shortlist for the 2010 Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards has just been announced.   Five of the twenty top restaurants are in Cape Town, two are in Franschhoek, and new SA Gourmet Capital is Stellenbosch, with five finalists.   Fifteen of the Top 20 Restaurant list are from the Western Cape.

The Top 20 List follows:

Cape Town:   Aubergine, The Greenhouse, Jardine, La Colombe, The Roundhouse

Stellenbosch: Restaurant Christophe, Jordan’s Restaurant with George Jardine, Overture, Rust en Vrede, Terroir

Franschhoek:  Reuben’s, The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français

Paarl: Bosman’s at Grande Roche

Somerset West:  Restaurant at Waterkloof

Knysna: Zachary’s at Pezula

Johannesburg: DW Eleven-13, Linger Longer, Roots

Pretoria: Mosaic

KwaZulu-Natal: Hartford House

Two weeks ago we posted a prediction of the Top 20 shortlist, and correctly predicted the inclusion of Bosman’s, Restaurant Christophe, Jordan’s Restaurant with George Jardine, The Greenhouse, Jardine, Mosaic, Overture, The Restaurant at Waterkloof, Roots, Rust & Vrede, The Roundhouse, The Tasting Room and Terroir.   We are surprised at the inclusion of Reuben’s Franschhoek, due to service issues, and of La Colombe, as its chef Luke Dale-Roberts works at the restaurant in a consulting capacity now and is opening his new restaurant The Test Kitchen in November.   A welcome surprise is to see Bosman’s on the shortlist again, after a long absence.  Surprise exclusions are Giorgio Nava’s Carne and 95 Keerom Street (he is a darling of Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly!), and of Bizerca Bistro, which controversially won in the stand-alone Best Bistro category last year.   As predicted, previous Top 10 winner Jacques de Jager of Salt (ex-Grande Provence), and previously shortlisted Top 20 Rudi Liebenberg of the Cape Colony restaurant at the Mount Nelson Hotel, did not make the 2010 Top 20 shortlist. 

The Eat Out Top 10 Restaurants will be announced at a gala dinner on 28 November.

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

Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards’ finalists: a prediction

On 23 September Eat Out will announce its Top 10 Restaurant Awards list of twenty finalists.   Ten of these will be chosen by three judges (Abigail Donnelly, Peter Goffe-Wood and Arnold Tanzer), and announced at the Eat Out 2010 Restaurant Awards gala dinner at the Westin Grand Hotel on 28 November.

To live up to my reputation in having been nominated for the SA Blog Awards in the “Most Controversial Blog” category, I have done a prediction of some of the Top 20 Restaurants we might expect on the list, as well as those that will fall off the list, in my opinion.  I have also predicted which restaurants will make it onto the list for the Eat Out Restaurant Awards 2011.  It is important to note that Eat Out specifies that a chef must have been with a restaurant for a year, to be selected for consideration for this prestigious award, the “Oscar” of the Restaurant industry.

Top 20 list

1.  Rust & Vrede (chef David Higgs) in Stellenbosch: I predict that Rust & Vrede will make the number one slot of the Top 10 list, given that Luke Dale-Roberts is no longer at La Colombe full-time.   David’s food is consistently good, creative, and the restaurant made it in the top 100 on the Top 50 Restaurants in the World list earlier this year.  David Higgs is one of four chefs preparing the meal for the Restaurant Awards’ dinner, and this is a sure-fire predictor of being on the Top 10 list

2. Overture (chef Bertus Basson) in Stellenbosch: Consistently good, and always re-inventing his restaurant, Bertus deserves better than joint 10th, which happened in 2009.  Definitely a Top 10 contender

3.   Mosaic Restaurant in Pretoria (chef Chantel Dartnall):  Chantel is also a chef at the Restaurant Awards dinner, so an automatic Top 10 contender

4.   The Roundhouse in Camps Bay (Chef PJ Vadal) : not everyone’s favourite due to the arrogance of the management, but the fact that the chef is cooking at the Awards dinner is a sure predictor of Top 10

5.   Restaurant Christophe, Stellenbosch (chef Christophe Dehosse):  no glitz or glamour in terms of its interior, yet the Spookhuis is steeped in history.  Christophe is charmingly French, and is a hands-on chef both in the kitchen and inside the restaurant.   His food is excellent.

6.  The Greenhouse at the Cellars,  Cellars Hohenhort Hotel, Constantia (chef Peter Tempelhoff) : Peter is a favourite on the Top Restaurant list, and has been on the Top 10 list twice, at the current restaurant, and at Grande Provence before that

7.   Jardine’s on Bree Street, Cape Town (chef Eric Bulpitt):  Eric is cooking at the Awards’ dinner, so an automatic Top 10 candidate.  He is also about to return from Copenhagen, where he spent 6 weeks in the kitchen at Noma, to gain inspiration. Noma is the top restaurant of the Top 50 restaurants in the world.

8.   Jordan’s Restaurant with George Jardine, Stellenbosch (chef George Jardine) – last year’s move to his new restaurant at Jordan Winery no doubt cost George Jardine a place on the Top 10 list, a shock, as he had been number 2 on the list the year before.   He had announced the move to Stellenbosch for personal reasons, and the judges had clearly taken this into account.  George Jardine has been on the Top 10 list for a number of years, whilst at Jardine’s.  George Jardine’s food preparation is excellent, but as at Jardine’s, the restaurant interior leaves a lot to be desired.

9.   Bizerca Bistro, Cape Town (chef Laurent Deslandes):  Bizerca seems to be every chef’s favourite restaurant, when they are not cooking in their own kitchen.   Last year the industry laughed when the restaurant received a ‘consolation prize’ Best Bistro Award, a category not announced previously, and having no competition in it (9th Avenue Bistro in Durban was also on the Top 20 list, and made Top 10)

10.  Terroir, Stellenbosch (Michael Broughton):  Terroir has won numerous Top 10 awards, and seems to be a favourite of the judges.

11.   The Tasting Room, Franschhoek (chef Margot Janse):  the restaurant seems to have a love/hate relationship with Eat Out, in that it was left off the Top 10 list for three years, from 2004 – 2007, and that it had to endure the humiliation in sharing 10th place with Overture on the Top 10 restaurant list last year (a first for Eat Out in having a joint winner), indicating that the judges did not want to offend any of the two restaurants, but it became an insult to both restaurants instead.  This created a Top 12 Restaurant list in reality, and the judges will be sure to not lose face to make compromise selections again this year!  The interesting contrast is that the restaurant has featured in the Top 50 Restaurants in the World list, but for the first time another South African restaurant overtook it, La Colombe making it to an unbelievable 8th place on the international list.

12.   Grande Provence, Franschhoek (chef Darren Roberts):  Chef Darren is a highly talented chef, and has been around the block for 20 years in South Africa alone, but has been sadly neglected by Grande Provence’s Marketing department.  He has just returned from a week cooking at the Grill Room at the Hong Kong Country Club, one of the most exclusive eateries in the city, sharing his menu and the wines of Grande Provence.  (POSTSCRIPT 21/9:  Chef Darren says that his restaurant is not eligible for the 2010 Awards, as he only started in January, therefore not giving him a full 12 months at the restaurant, a requirement for the Awards).

13.    A Durban restaurant – to not be seen to show Cape Town and the Cape as the center of the cuisine universe, a restaurant from this city is normally selected by Eat Out.  The choice of 9th Avenue Bistro has raised eyebrows for its inclusion in the Top 10 list in the past, especially for its location in a parking lot.  The owner/chef appears to have left in the past year.

14.   To be politically correct, a Johannesburg restaurant also needs to be on the Top 10 list.  Roots at the Cradle of Humankind has been a winner for a number of years.

Other potential Top 20 short-listed restaurants could include The Restaurant at Waterkloof in Somerset West, Bistro 1682 at Steenberg, Delaire restaurant at Delaire Graff, 95 Keerom Street (see why for Carne below) and Bosman’s at Grande Roche (once the top restaurant in the country, but it has been left off the shortlist for so many years now).

Restaurants not making Top 10

1.   Reuben’s in Franschhoek – winning Top Chef and Top Restaurant in 2004, Reuben’s has not made it back on the Top 10 list since 2006.  Too many service-related complaints have dogged the restaurant, and Reuben will have to make sure he does not stretch himself too thin when he takes on his biggest challenge yet at the One&Only Cape Town from October.

2.   Carne was on the Top 20 list last year, and fortunately for Eat Out they did not select it to the Top 10 list, given our disclosure of the restaurant’s dishonest claim that all its meat is from its Karoo farm and is organic.  Carne has since removed this claim from its website.  However, owner Giorgio Nava is a most charming and determined man, and has a close relationship with Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly, who refused to respond to our allegations about Carne’s claim, even when it was proven to be correct!  I therefore predict that 95 Keerom Street will receive a ‘consolation’ Top 20 nomination in its place.

3.   Cape Colony at the Mount Nelson Hotel –  Chef Rudi Liebenberg made the Top 20 list two years running, whilst at The Saxon in 2008, and the Mount Nelson in 2009.  It is unlikely that the restaurant can make the Top 10 list, given that it is undergoing a major renovation as well as a re-invention of its menu currently, and will only open again in November.

4.   Salt restaurant – coming to the restaurant at the Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay, from Grande Provence, for which he received a Top 10 listing, chef Jacques de Jager’s presence is so low key at Salt that I regularly phone to check if he is still there.  His wonderful cuisine hand one knows from Grande Provence does not seem to have made the journey to Cape Town yet, in that his menu and the food quality is disappointing!

5.  La Colombe – given that ex-chef Luke-Dale Roberts has moved to a consulting role at La Colombe, it is unlikely that the restaurant should make the Top 10 list.  This is re-inforced by Luke’s announcemnet (on 20/9) that he is to open his own restaurant The Test Kitchen at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock in November.

Bubbling under for Eat Out Top 20 in 2011

Given the new restaurant openings in the past few months, a number of exciting contenders are on the potential Top 20 list for 2011, as they will have operated for a year by then:

1.  Pierneef à La Motte at La Motte in Franschhoek – wow, wow, wow, and that was only after having been open for 2 days!   Top 10 for 2011 for sure.

2.   Indochine at Delaire Graff– I thought that the original Delaire restaurant would make Top 20 this year when I first visited it a year ago.  But it has lost many staff members, including a talented sommelier and Maitre’d, and service and food reports are not as positive as when it opened.  The new sister restaurant Indochine has great potential, and could make the Top 20 list in a year.

3.   Richard Carstens opens at Tokara Restaurant next month, and has been an Eat Out Top 10 chef six times.   Hopefully he has staying power to last a year at the restaurant.

4.  The Bombay Brasserie at The Taj hotel.

5.   Reuben’s at the One&Only Cape Town – this is a ‘grown-up’ and sophisticated Reuben’s, yet has some of Reuben’s favourite dishes, such as calf’s liver.

6.   The Test Kitchen at the Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock – given that Luke Dale-Roberts has been named the world’s 12th best chef in the world in 2010, this is a no-brainer for his new restaurant, set to open in November!

7.  Grande Provence does not qualify for the 2010 Awards, as Chef Darren Roberts has not been at the wine estate for a full 12 months.  He would be a natural candidate for the 2011 Top 20 shortlist.

We would love to have your nominations and predictions before 23 September, as well as comments about ours – please e-mail me at info@whalecottage.com

POSTSCRIPT 15/4: It has been announced that David Higgs has resigned and will leave Rust en Vrede in mid-June.

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

Restaurant Review: Salt restaurant is too salty!

In summer I had a wonderful crayfish special lunch at Salt on a hot summer’s day, and wrote a glowing review about it.  A visit to try the winter special lunch of 2 courses for R 140 and 3 courses for R 170 was disappointing, in that it lacked the evidence that Top 10 Chef Jacques de Jager, who was previously at Grande Provence, was in the kitchen or had compiled the winter special menu. 

The hostess Taahira, with a very low cut dress, wanted to seat us in the furthest corner and not necessarily at the window, but our lunch was purely business, and therefore we did not need to be “hidden”.  Being the only patrons initially, about a week prior to the start of the World Cup, we were then allowed to choose any table we liked.  My guest Darren said that the table we chose was the one Daniel Craig sat at in the movie “Flashback of a Fool”, large parts of which were shot in Cape Town.

Darren and I both had the three-course special, and chose a different course each – one has a restrictive choice of two options per course.   A quick page-through the new a la carte menu designed by Jacques was also disappointing, as I expected the creativity that he has become known for, and was recognised by Eat Out as a Top 10 chef in November, would be reflected in the menu.   It was my first visit to the restaurant since De Jager introduced his new menu after taking over the Salt kitchen.  I had expected a heavy French emphasis in the menu, especially as the waiter Michael had told me on my previous visit that the staff were learning all the French terms in the menu – I could only find the French terms “moules mariniere”, “souffle”, “mussel veloute”, “ballottine”, “ratatouille”, “bouillabaisse” and “parfait” on the menu.

We did not order wine, but one can pay an extra R 25 in total to have the courses paired with a wine per course (Paradyskloof Chenin Blanc 2009, Paradyskloof Pinot Noir 2008, and Vriesenhof ‘enthopio’ 2005), making the meal far better value. 

We were served a choice of two breads: ciabatta and a light wholewheat bread.   An amuse bouche was brought to the table, consisting of pork rillette, truffled pea puree (nice touch of colour on the plate, but too salty) and the cutest looking poached quail egg.

My cream of butternut soup was served exactly how I like it – thick and creamy, and the Gruyere-crusted toast was a lovely match – this was my best dish of the three, yet I missed Jacques’ creative touch.  Darren was happy with his lentil salad with bacon, feta and croutons, which looked very healthy to me, but he felt that it could have done with a dressing to liven it up.

I was disappointed with my braised lamb, probably due to the rich sauce it was served with, which dominated the dish.   The sauce is not mentioned in the menu.   The sweet potato mash it was served with had a pronounced green colour – a bit worrying, as I have never seen it served this green before.  It lacked the taste of sweet potato.  Darren’s cob served on cannellini beans and sauce mittone was another healthy choice (after his lentils), but was too salty, and the carrots and celery were undercooked, he felt. 

My chocolate parfait looked pretty, decorated with two strawberries, the plate decorated with four orange segments.  The menu says that they were marinated, but what it was marinated in was not mentioned.  Darren’s pear frangipani tart was served with cinnamon ice cream, but the pears were not ripe enough and the pastry hard.

Michael was efficient in looking after all our needs, and impressed us when he rolled down an outside blind when he saw that Darren was affected by the glare of the sun.  He only got it wrong when he brought the bill in response to a request for more water, and he asked my how I wanted to pay as soon as he put down the bill, without allowing me to look at the bill first.  Taahira sent a copy of the menu to the table, which I had requested to prevent me from having to write down the menu, in a roll held together with a brown ribbon – a professional touch.

I would find it hard to recommend this Winter Special, due to it lacking excitement, it not reflecting any of the dishes on the standard menu, and it offering far less value for money as a winter special, compared to the 6-course Myoga or the 5-course (plus amuse bouche) Cape Colony specials, for example.   The Salt view and decor is far superior to those of Myoga and the Mount Nelson though.   

The August winter special will offer the following choices: vol au vent or cured beef carpaccio; baby chicken or linefish; pavlova or citrus pudding.

Salt restaurant, Ambassador Hotel, 34 Victoria Road, Bantry Bay.  Tel 021 439-7258. www.saltrestaurant.co.za  Open Mondays – Sundays, lunch and dinner.  The winter special is not available on Friday and Saturday evenings.

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