I have enjoyed attending the Taste of Cape Town, run in our city for the past four years, and the first one in Camps Bay, as well the one in Mowbray last year, were particularly enjoyable in respect of the large number of diverse participating restaurants and wine estates, as well as easy and ample parking.
Every year the venue has changed, and this year the Restaurant showcase will be held at the Green Point Cricket Club. Inexplicably, the dates for the event were moved from April, which would have meant better weather, to today until 8 May, and no wine estates are on show, compared to their presence in the past years. The ‘Taste of…’ showcases are held in major cities around the world, and the one in Cape Town has been organised by Justine Drake since its inception.
The 14 participating restaurants are Bistro Sixteen82 (Chef Brad Ball serving sticky five-spiced free-range pork belly); Il Leone Mastrantonio (its chef Daniel Toledo serving a selection of Italian specialities); Jordan Restaurant with George Jardine from Stellenbosch (Eat Out Top 10 George Jardine will offer barrel-smoked kingklip fettucine, Chalmar sirloin, foie gras bourguignon, as well as a buffalo milk yoghurt mousse with Valrhona chocolate); Nobu from the One&Only Cape Town (serving yellowtail sashimi, pork belly with spicy miso, and Japanese halibut with den miso); Pierneef à La Motte’s chef Chris Erasmus will offer Cape Bokkom salad, smoked lamb’s rib with pickled tongue, dried pear dumplings and verjuice poached pear, and milk tart; Simply Asia; Wang Thai; Societi Bistro; Planet Restaurant at the Mount Nelson with Chef Rudi Liebenberg; GOLD; Taj Cape Town; Fyndraai Restaurant from Solms Delta, with chef Shaun Schoeman; and Savour Restaurant at 15 on Orange.
One can try three dishes at each stand, and one uses crowns to the value of R5 to pay for the dishes, each dish having a different crown value. Additional attractions are the Eat In Small Produce Market, which will have Buffalo Ridge mozzarella, preserves from Oded’s Kitchen, Tasha’s fudge, La Petite France camembert, and Willow Creek olive oil to taste, amongst others. Pick ‘n Pay’s Fresh Living Theatre Chef’s Theatre will offer chef’s demonstrations, including Pete Goffe-Wood talking about SASSI, and one can learn how to make canapés at the Pick ‘n Pay Wine & Canapé Experience. The Grolsch Beer Academy and the Johnnie Walker Whisky Theatre will offer liquid refreshments.
POSTSCRIPT 8/5: After struggling to find parking anywhere reasonably close by on Friday evening, we went to the Taste of Cape Town yesterday at 13h00, a good time as far as parking went, but a day-time visit with relatively fewer people did not have the same magic as all my previous evening attendances, mainly because one enjoys bumping into other foodlovers. I was impressed to see so many top chefs hands-on in their food preparation, in what must feel like a production line for them, being George Jardine of Jordan Restaurant, Stefan Marais of Societi Bistro, Chris Erasmus of Pierneef à La Motte, and Brad Ball of Bistro Sixteen82. 
I spent my R100 on 20 crowns on Jordan Restaurant’s Aged Chalmar sirloin and foie gras bourguignon (left), on Bistro Sixteen82’s Sticky five-spiced free-range pork belly with salted caramel and apple celeriac espuma (right), as well as on Societi Bistro’s chicken liver parfait on toast with pineapple chutney. I was surprised to see a number of wine estates exhibiting as well, not having seen any information about them on the website: Arumdale, De Wetshof, Hermanuspietersfontein, Idiom Wines, Neil Joubert, Noble Hill, Peter Falke Wines, Quion Rock, Rickety Bridge, Steenberg, Thelema, Van Loveren, Wedderwill, and even Jorgensen Distillery, which is on the list but which I did not see. 
There was a stand for Whale Tale Ale, which I had never heard of before, but which I must connect with.
The Eat In Small Producers’ Market was spread over two tents, and they are a little lost, not being in the flow of the restaurants and wineries. 
I enjoyed meeting Wayne Rademeyer of Wellington’s mozzarella producer Buffalo Ridge, Tina Bester of the Queen of Tarts, tasted excellent frozen yoghurt from an aptly named Scoop, and was impressed with the fresh organic vegetables from The Drift, owned by father and son team David and Bruce Jack of Flagstone Wines.
Taste of Cape Town, Green Point Cricket Club, 5 and 6 May 18h30 – 22h30, Saturday 7 May 13h00 – 17h00 and 18h30 – 22h30, and 8 May 12h00 – 17h00. Entrance costs R70 with a wine glass, or R160 for a wine glass and crowns to the value fo R100. Book at www.tasteofcapetown.com or www.computicket.com.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
