Tag Archives: Vietnam

Vegetarian Pizza wins SA leg of Global Pizza Challenge 2014/15!

Global Pizza Challenge winning pizza 2For the first time a vegetarian pizza has won the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge, Colin du Plessis from the Lady Grey restaurant in McGregor having been named as the local winner at Hostex at the Cape Town International Convention Centre last week.  He has won cash, as well as a trip to Melbourne in March next year, to participate in the Global Pizza Challenge, being one of 16 international finalists from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Namibia, Italy, UAE, and Thailand.

Pizza makers from around the country, working in restaurants, stand-alone pizzerias, takeaway outlets, and hotels sent in their pizza recipes. A panel of internationally-recognised chefs evaluated the entries, and judged them on originality, balance, creativity, as well as their ‘excitement factor’.   The finalists were selected on the basis of their recipes, and the top 30 were invited to prepare their pizzas in a three-day cook-off held on the Global Pizza Challenge stand at Hostex.  Pizza lovers could enter in one of five categories:  poultry or meat, seafood, vegetarian, speciality, and dessert.  Colin’s winning pizza is named ‘Mary Queen of Scots’, reflecting the Scottish theme of his Lord’s Guest Lodge, Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Lizette’s Kitchen brings a touch of Asia to Hermanus!

I had heard about new restaurant Lizette’s Kitchen in Hermanus from a review by JP Rossouw and tried it a week ago with my colleague Carole.  It is a refreshing addition to what is generally an average collection  of restaurants in this seaside village.

The restaurant opened three months ago, and  is cleverly located on the traffic circle as one enters Voëlklip, a historic house built around the 1920s and was the first farmstead in Voëlklip, which everyone who has been to Hermanus will know.  It is a large property, which was lovingly renovated by Lizette Crabtree and her fiancé Scott, following prescriptions of the Heritage Council.  They did not use any decor design service, they said proudly, and it is one of the smarter restaurant interiors we have seen in Hermanus. The building is also the home of Scott and Lizette, laughingly telling us that they sleep in the garage.  The off-street parking area is neat and spacious.  The seating space is large, inside and outside, and the doors are stacked back so that the two merge.  One faces the traffic circle, with greenery behind it, and it has a very peaceful aura.  The roof has been newly thatched, and some interior walls must have been removed to create the open space.  One section has a bar counter, and further down one can see a lounge area with a fireplace.   At the till there is a Buddha, next to a vase of proteas.  There is a lot of wood – on the floors, the table tops, and the (rather uncomfortable) café style chairs.  Outside sheets of corrugated iron have been cleverly used to make planters in which jasmine is growing.  The waiters wear black shirts and pants, with a Hermanuspietersfontein branded apron.

Scott and Lizette met in Vietnam, where she worked in the kitchen of a large top hotel. They managed a $10 million boutique chain resort, but decided to come back to Lizette’s home country, although she never previously lived in Hermanus.

Outside a bar counter has been made from wooden crates, and Creation gets a plug, its branded crates having been used.  We were told that three wine estates have a special home at Lizette’s Kitchen, Boekenhoutskloof being prominent, its winemaker Marc Kent having a soft spot for the restaurant, and he has made umbrellas and other support available to the restaurant.  Interesting was a new Boekenhoutskloof brand Le Cap Maritime, which we heard about from Scott, which is served in Business Class on Emirates flights, and is now available (Sauvignon Blanc 2011 – at an inexpensive R25 per glass/R90 per bottle, and Shiraz 2010 – at R25/R100) at the Hermanus restaurant, having been made from grapes from Hermanus, and the label describing the brand as ‘A coastal venture by Boekenhoutskloof’. Lizette had met Marc a number of years ago, having worked as chef in Franschhoek at La Petite Ferme, and at Monneaux Restaurant, when Chef Reuben Riffel had left to open a restaurant in the UK. Lizette left for Vietnam, taking 20kg of Springbok as her luggage, and a case of wine each from eight Franschhoek Vignerons was shipped over. She hosted a South African promotion in that country, most of these wines now selling well in Vietnam.  Other favourite wine brands the restaurant supports are Creation, and Hermanuspietersfontein.

We were welcomed by the waiter Astin Jangle, and I asked him if he could print out a copy of the menu,  so as to not have to write down the whole menu.  He seemed very unsure about my request, and had to call on Scott for permission.  Scott initially was hesitant, saying we should see the menu on the website, as it changes so often.   When I mentioned the Rossouw review, he opened up, and told me that they did not know when JP visited the restaurant. They appeared annoyed that he had called it a Vietnamese restaurant, not having got the concept right, they felt.  Our Franschhoek connection, and knowing Boekenhoutskloof, helped to relax Scott, and he relented on providing a copy of the menu.   The menu is described as being Afro-Asia fusion, to describe Lizette’s South African roots and the influence that Asia, and more specifically Vietnam, has had on both their lives.

A nice touch was the rolled facecloths brought to the table, with a fresh fragrance, which the waiter could not identify.  Carole and I were both undecided about what to order, and had a lot of catching up to do, so Lizette volunteered to bring three courses to the table, our only proviso being that it should not contain chilli or be too hot.  Lizette suggested that we share the three dishes. Commendable was the black material serviette, although there are no table cloths, with only a cheap-looking place mat.  Carole ordered an alcohol-free Mojito, the Mosquito looking beautiful with a slice of watermelon and a piece of sugarcane.  We started with Saigon Summer Spring Rolls (R65), a combination of fried spring rolls with a bite, and fresh (i.e. raw, as we discovered, and therefore tasteless) rice paper rolls, served with three dipping sauces, being chilli jam, peanut, and Hoisin.   This was followed by the best dish, being Paprika Squid served with Tabbouleh, which was sautéed with lemon, and was served on broken wheat salad with Spanish onion and tomato (R65).

The third dish was Bun Cha, a traditional North Vietnamese dish offering three variations of pork, being pork rashers, pork patties, and (once again) pork spring rolls, with which came cold rice noodles, fresh herbs, and the Hoisin dipping sauce again (R75).  This was the order we had placed, and therefore we asked for the bill. The waiter begged us to try the dessert, being a very delicious lemon curd served with home-made shortbread and a slice of apricot (R30), even though we had not ordered it, and made it sound as if it was a special ‘gift’ offered by Chef Lizette.  Only when checking the bill that evening did I see that we were charged for this ‘gift’!

The menu introduction explains that it is varied, reflecting ‘our journey from Africa to Asia’, and that ‘the flavours are fresh and pronounced’, and that only the best local produce is sourced.  The Asian dishes are made using traditional recipes, and no seasoning has been added commendably, allowing the diner to add fish sauce, herbs, sprouts, soya, lemon, and more, to suit one’s preference of a sweet, sour, or salty taste.  One is wished ‘Chuc ngon mien’, a wonderful meal.   Most dishes are Vietnamese, but with some Thai and North African dishes too.  There is a bread and cheese section, a plate of mezzes costing R75; Pita wraps are available with fillings of beef, chicken and lamb, at R55; Artisan Flatbreads are served with options of chicken, pork ribs, lamb, goats’ cheese, and tiger prawns, at R52 – R65; salads are unusual, including Lamb Kofta, and Moor Lamb Kibbeh, both containing lamb patties (R78);   Noodle Bowl dishes, served with prawns or beef red curry, cost around R75; Tom Yum soup is R70 and a Vietnamese Pho Bo beef broth R50; Moroccan lamb shanks cost R130, and are served with Tabbouleh and a Greek salad; Thai style steam mussels in coconut and sweet chili cost R70; linefish steamed in bamboo, prepared with sesame, ginger and soya, costs R84; and a Vietnamese Heo Kho To interestingly contains braised pork belly stew with quail eggs R75.  The dessert list contains a mix of very basic South African treats (ice cream and Bar One sauce, brownies, cake) as well as Che Chuoi, a traditional Vietnamese warm sago, banana and peanut pudding, all very reasonable priced in a range of R22 – R35.

The wine list is part of the menu, and wines are listed under quirky headings, more creative than those used in the ‘100 Women 100 Wine’ so-called competition! So, for example ‘Refreshing, zingy wines’ are La Petite Ferme’s Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (R165) and Beaumont’s Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc 2011 (R200). ‘Rosé, not just for the girls’ lists Hermanuspietersfontein’s Bloos 2012 at R108, and Sir Robert Stanford Rosé 2012, at R135. The ‘Fat Cat Selection’ offers the Sir Robert Stanford Shitaz 2009 at R195, Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block at R320, and Bouchard Finlayson’s Hannibal 2008 at R350. Wines by the glass are very reasonably priced, ranging from R21 for Sir Robert Stanford’s Cutter’s Cove Chenin Blanc  and Helderberg Wijnmakerij Cabernet Sauvignon at R21, to Creation’s Syrah/Grenache R35/R145.  ‘Bubbles’ by the glass are by Krone (R30/R160), and Domaine Des Dieux Rose of Sharon (R150), and Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut NV costing R850 are also on offer.

While the waiter was very helpful and friendly, he disappointed when we wanted to leave in a hurry, to make a 14h00 meeting, and he told me that he could not bring the credit card machine to the table due to the portable one not working, which meant that I had to go to the bar counter.  When I got there, an older lady expressed surprise, saying that the credit card machine had been fixed that morning, and should have been brought to the table.   The duplication of foods in what we were offered, the raw spring roll, and the forced acceptance of a dessert we did not order were off-putting. The presentation of the dishes is very attractive. Conservative Hermanus and tourist palates may find the menu too Asian, with too few familiar dishes.  The venue itself is attractive, barring the bathroom, offers enough parking, and is not as crowded as the seafront restaurants in the village.  The food and beverage prices are reasonable, and it would be a great meeting place for out of town visitors to Hermanus, staying in Voëlklip in particular.

Lizette’s Kitchen, 20 on 8th Street, Voëlklip, Hermanus.  Tel (028) 314-0308.    www.lizetteskitchen.com. Daily from 11h00, lunch and dinner.

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

Marketing of Franschhoek wines in China has tourism benefit too!

China is the ‘promised land’ of future tourism to our country, once the English of Chinese tourists improves, and they start becoming self-drive tourists.  The work that the South African wine industry is doing in general, and at La Motte and Leopard’s Leap specifically,  will have a tourism benefit, as they cannot sell the products without communicating its heritage and values, says Hein Koegelenberg, CEO of both wine companies.

Hein started the companies’ focus on China four years ago, having withdrawn from the USA due to an agency problem in that country.  This freed up time and money to invest in Asia, Hein working with agencies due to the difficulty in communicating the brand message in this region, especially as our country is not yet well-known to the Chinese. Having developed a distribution network for marketing La Motte and Leopard’s Leap wines locally and in Europe, Hein used this ‘intellectual property’, as he calls it, to develop a distribution network in China. Creating a link to the end consumer is important, he said.   James and Michelle Tan, who have previously marketed Rooibos tea and Northern Cape minerals to China, were brought on board to guide Hein in selling into China.  One of the first projects was to set up a selection of wines in golf clubs, one of the places in which Chinese drink wine outside of their homes (they do not drink it at home), leading to a type of vinotheque, which stores each golf club member’s wine collection at the club.  Ernie Els, La Motte, and Leopard’s Leap wines and more were offered as a package of good wine brands to the golf club members.  A substantial target has been set for sales of Leopard’s Leap and La Motte by the Tans.  Agencies were appointed to sell the wines into China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Laos, the emphasis being on marketing specific brand varieties into specific regions.

Within China, Hein is using three distribution systems for his wines:

*   Aussino Wines China,  the company’s CEO Robert Shen being named by Decanter as the 16th most influential person in the international wine world, and with a network of 120 wine shops.  His company sells 150000 bottles of Leopard’s Leap and La Motte, being the only South African brands stocked, by agreement.

*   A joint venture with Yangzhou Perfect, the second largest direct sales company selling only organic products, and has a turnover of R12 billion.   It has 5000 outlets in the Yangzhou region, and 500000 – 1 million agents buy the products of the company, add an agreed mark-up, and then sell them door to door, much like Tupperware sells its products.   Given the tax of 50 % of wine imported into China, efforts are underway with Wesgro, WOSA (WInes of South Africa) and the Department of Trade and Industry to get the tax reduced (New Zealand only pays 30%), the saving in tax being earmarked for the marketing of South Africa in China. Perfect created a wine brand to test sales via its distribution network, and sells 1,5 million bottles. In marketing wines in China, Hein emphasised that Biodiversity is an important foundation, in that it reflects family values and heritage, as well as caring for the environment and for people.  Selling product only leads to it being price-based, which does not create loyalty.  Chinese wine drinkers are trusting imported brands increasingly, having been exposed to fake Chinese wines.  Hein said that 25 % of all Chinese wine sales are of imported wines. Imported wines are predominantly from France (35), from Chile (8%), Australia (8%), with South Africa at 3%.  Half of the South African sales to China are for Hein’s brands.  Wine imports to China are expected to double to 50% of total wine sales in the next five years.  China is the sixth largest wine producing country in the world, ahead of South Africa at eighth position.

Hein has formed Perfect Wines of South Africa, 51% owned by Yangzhou Perfect and 49 % by Leopard’s Leap. For this new venture they have created a new wine brand called L’Huguenot, with more sugar (5% compared to 4 % locally), and choosing wines that pair well with the more spicy Chinese food, being a 50%/50% Shiraz/Pinotage blend, a Chenin Blanc, and a La Motte-style Shiraz.  This new L’Huguenot brand sold 400000 bottles in the first ten days of its launch in China, about 30% of its initial sales target, which will grow to 2,5 million bottles.  The marketing of L’Huguenot, a brand name chosen specifically to link the brand to Franschhoek and its heritage, will also focus on the marketing of Franschhoek, and the Franschhoek Wine Valley association is working on how to do this in Chinese, probably starting off with a Chinese website page, as WOSA will be doing shortly.  Hein’s next challenge is to create a visible consumer interface for L’Huguenot, as he has just completed for Leopard’s Leap. His challenge is what to ‘pair’ with this new wine brand.

*   Hein has also created his own direct sales channel via a company he created, called Prestige Wines. He seeks corporate networks to link in to. The first network is with the Tsinghua University of Beijing, the largest business university of the city, with 3000 CEO members in its alumni club.  An agreement will bring four groups of 50 alumni each to Franschhoek a year, to grow to four groups of 100 over time, giving these influential alumni the opportunity to experience Franschhoek.  A group visited Franschhoek ten days ago, and they played golf, ate at Pierneef à La Motte, and were addressed by former President FW de Klerk, who pleaded to the businesspersons to bring investments to South Africa.  Hein told me at the Leopard’s Leap launch last Friday that they had signed up R1,5 million in wine sales from this lunch alone. They were shown the L’Ormarins Motor Museum, and had a hands-on experience with the harvesting of the vines and tasting of the wines.  A Golf Day which Hein had organised raised R1 million for the alumni bursary fund. Another project Hein is working on is providing a bottle of wine with every Mercedes Benz sold in China, this being the best selling car brand in the country.  A good working relationship has been developed with the 5-star Shangri-La hotel group, and a brand co-operation agreement will no doubt be put in place with them too.  Chef Chris Erasmus of Pierneef à La Motte is to travel to Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore later this year, Hein told me.

Leopard’s Leap sells its wines in 41 countries, with 20 % each sold locally, in the UK, and in Belgium/Holland. Sales to China are at 9%, and Hein is excited about the potential to double this.  The brand was started as a second label, taking up the left-over grapes of the three Rupert Franschhoek wine farms L’Omarins, Rupert & Rothschild, and La Motte, represented by the three leopards on the label.  The brand was created 12 years ago, and was initially only bottled and sold in the UK, with the assistance of Simon Halliday. Local sales started five years ago.

Hein believes in focus and excellence, and China will be his focus for this year, he said.  There are no new projects this year, with his focus on detail to achieve the goals. While Hein says that he has not had the time to learn Mandarin, he does have Chinese characters for his name and title on his business card.  He told me that his Chinese name is Gu Hai Ning, the last name meaning ‘calm ocean’, a description that he was given to describe his face.  Hein is the first to admit that the work and success is not his alone, and he praised his team of Wanda Vlok handling Marketing, Marius Kotze handling Sales, Leopard’s Leap winemaker Eugene van Zyl, and Kareen Neethling handling Logistics and Planning.  Grapes for the production of Leopard’s Leap wines are mainly sourced from Wellington, Ashton, and Perdeberg.

With the focus of La Motte, L’Huguenot, and Leopard’s Leap on the Chinese market, Franschhoek tourism players will need to start learning Mandarin, given the marketing benefit that the village is likely to experience in future.

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