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MENU
Main Ingredient’s weekly E-Journal
Gourmet Foods & Ingredients
Eat In Guide’s Five time Outstanding Outlet Award Winner
www.mainingredient.biz - http://www.adamastorbacchus.com/
+27 21 439 3169 / +27 83 229 1172
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A pastoral scene near Darling
In this week’s MENU:
• On Line Shop
• This week’s Product menu
• Our market activities - Neighbourgoods, Long Beach
• La Mouette Autumn Menu
• Antonij Rupert tasting rooms
• Luan Nel paintings
• Graham Beck’s Game Reserve wines
• Wine and Food Events
• Wine courses & cooking classes
To take a look at our Main Ingredient blogs, follow the link:
http://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com/ because to tell our whole story here would
take too much space and you can also read earlier blogs. Click on underlined and Bold
words in the text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs, pertinent websites or
more information. Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu
Main Ingredient's On Line Shop is performing very well. We are continuing to update
it with new products and with photographs of products. Please do not pay until we

2. have confirmed availability and invoiced you. When you make an eft payment, make
sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us your order and we
will send you the final invoice once we’ve made sure stock is available. Click here to
see the shop.
This week’s Product menu Many of you know us for our Italian and French
gourmet products, but we also have special Oriental products like black rice from China,
Japanese mirin, dashi tuna stock and Shichimi Togarashi spice, Thai tamarind and shrimp
pastes and Indonesian Sambal oelek and Kejap manis sweet soy sauce..
We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing the things
we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and wonderful gourmet
foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious
ready-made gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our
website. We can send your requirements to you anywhere in South Africa.
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old Biscuit Mill’s wonderfully exciting,
atmospheric Neighbourgoods Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday
between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip: Some visitors tell us how they struggle to find parking.
It’s quite easy if you know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park. We
will be back at the market in Long Beach Mall, Sun Valley, Fish Hoek on Friday March
22nd. Our April dates will be Fridays 12th and 19th.
Well, after a quiet and family oriented Easter, we are back with a bang. We had a family
lunch on Good Friday; Lynne cooked a gammon and we had it with salad, roasted
butternut puree and potato salad. Dessert was a panettone bread and butter pudding,
and we ate far too much chocolate over the very long and cold weekend. It seemed that
winter had arrived far too early and we even lit a fire on Monday night and were peeved
at all the rain we have had. However, yesterday and today we enjoyed marvellous
weather and the forecast for tomorrow is equally good. Please let it last over this
weekend.
Autumn is upon us, eat out well On Tuesday night, we ventured out to try La
Mouette’s new Autumn menu, very good value indeed at R185 for six course. Henry
Vigar, the chef, is extremely talented at putting together a great selection of food and
we ate heartily. We started off with a complimentary glass of Moreson’s Miss Molly Cap
Classique, nice and crisp and citrusy, and Mari brought us a bowl of their truffle
croquettes, which we can never resist, as an appetiser. The courses are small but, when
you have finished, you feel as though you have eaten a very large meal. One favourite
was definitely the classic mushroom risotto – rice of the perfect texture, creamy and full
of mushrooms and then, as an added surprise, on the side are some lovely crisp battered
deep fried mushrooms, a great innovation. John had the excellent roasted chicken
alternative. The pan fried line fish was actually a very fresh piece of hake, not a line
fish but well received. This will change daily according to what is fresh and available.
And we also loved Henry’s witty homage to the Waldorf salad. Click here to see the
photos and the menu. You can do the menu paired with wine for R295. We were happy
to pay corkage and drank two wines from our cellar, a Winter’s Drift Chardonnay and
Morgenhof Estate Red 2002.
The Good Cape Earth and the Sweet Life Anthonij Rupert have just launched
their Terra Del Capo tasting room and range of wines and we were invited to try them
both on Wednesday. The farm was bought from Graham Beck wines a year ago. The
Terra del Capo Tasting Room, situated at the entrance to the property, was designed to
showcase the company’s Italian-inspired Terra del Capo range of wines which were a
passion of the late Anthonij Rupert and which the family see as his legacy. Wine
aficionados can enjoy bespoke wine tasting experiences of the Cape of Good Hope here
and the Anthonij Rupert Wine range in the original Manor House on the farm, restored to
its former glory and now home of the Anthonij Rupert Wines Tasting Room.

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On arrival, we were treated to a taste of their new L’Ormarins Brut Cap Classique n.v.
and then went upstairs to the tasting room, where we tasted three whites : Terra del
Cape Pinot Grigio 2012, Protea Sauvignon Blanc 2012 and Protea Chardonnay 2010.
These were followed by three reds: the Terra del Capo 2010 Sangiovese, 2011 Protea
Reserve and Terra del Capo Arne 2008. We especially loved the well balanced and fresh
Pinot Grigio which will retail around the R60 mark and the Sangiovese which is complex,
spicy and full of delicious fruit. R75. Did you know that Sangiovese means the Blood of
Jupiter? Many of these grape varietals are grown on a very different trellis system called
Chandelier Escelot, where the vine is grown up a single post in a wigwam style as this is
wind resistant and easy to harvest from on steep hillsides.
We were then served the magnificent antipasti lunch and then were driven up the road
to the Manor House to taste the Anthonij Rupert wines in that tasting room. Click here
to see the pictures and menu.
Guided by winemaker, Dawie Botha, we tasted two of their white wines - The Altima
Sauvignon Blanc and the Cape of Good Hope Serruria 2010 Chardonnay and later we
managed to get a taste of the Semillon. Then came four serious reds. The entry level
Optima 2009 red blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc with a soupçon of
Cinsault was delightful with sweet unctuous fruit, lovely depth of flavour and a long end
with notes of good wood and soft tannins, all artfully integrated. R125 at the cellar
door. The Anthonij Rupert classic Bordeaux Blend 2007 is a little rich for our pockets at
R750 a bottle but is a very well made wine and scored 95 points in Wine Spectator, the
highest score a South African wine has ever got – so far. It is full of violets, cassis, dark
plums, liquorice, cigar box notes, juicy and full chalky tannins, and it has still got years
to go. Only 1000 bottles have been released and this is treated to very, very careful
wine making, as are all the wines in the range.
Then we tasted the Anthonij Rupert Merlot 2007 (R410) and the 2007 Syrah (420), both
excellent expressions of the grapes. Later we also got to taste the Cabernet Franc
(R430) which, with its silky mouth feel and juicy fruit – rhubarb, mulberries and black
cherries - we liked very much. This wine will last for ages and we wish we had some for
our cellar.
The afternoon finished with a walk in their quite comprehensive herb garden, where
Lynne had a conversation with the chef about his use of the herbs, a wander around the
manor house seeing the beautifully appointed guest rooms and then they laid on a
delicious tea on the stoop before we shot off home.
All a’Twitter Not about communication on your phone but the name of an art
exhibition! Luan Nel is one of our very talented young artists and we were invited to the
opening of his new exhibition at the Everard Read Gallery at the V&A Waterfront last
night. The exhibition features many new paintings, many of birds and we covet some of
them dearly. Several were sold on the first night and if you want to see this fine
exhibition it will be on until the 16th of April. Click here to see the photographs
GRAHAM BECK SAYS “PLANET FIRST – IT’S IN OUR NATURE” This is the logo
for Graham Beck’s newly launched range of wines, The Game Reserve. The media lunch
was held today, appropriately at The Camps Bay Retreat and Nature Reserve in the Glen
in Camps Bay, a magnificent old house now part of the Village and Life Group, built in
1908 overlooking the bay, the crashing waves and its magnificent gardens. We sat at
long tables underneath the pergola and listened intently to Mossie Basson, formerly of
the Department of Conservation, and now Graham Beck Wines’ conservation manager;
and award winning Cellarmaster, Erika Obermeyer tell us about the Graham Beck Nature
Reserve and the range of wines they are launching to support the reserve. Each of the 9
wines: 4 whites, one rosé and 4 reds, represents the precious animals on the Reserve.
Graham Beck Wines is the only wine brand in the world associated with a private nature
reserve that can demonstrate measurable actions taken to conserve the natural
environment, something so necessary in our world.

4. The Graham Beck property, Madeba in Robertson, is situated in the heart of the
Succulent Karoo Ecosystem in the Breede River Valley, an area extremely rich in plant
and geological diversity. Of the 1,500 species of vegetation in the area, 115 are endemic
and, of these, 77% are succulents. Only 2.4% of the region is formally conserved. Graham
Beck Wines is proud to be one of the earliest pioneers in the initiative to conserve the
biodiversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom. The winery was appointed the second BWI
(Biodiversity and Wine Initiative) Biodiversity Champion and is currently still one of
around only 28 wineries in South Africa that can lay claim to this prestigious status.
Bordering Madeba is the Graham Beck Private Nature Reserve, an area that extends to
the eastern slopes of the Rooiberg. The reserve was set aside in the 1990s shortly after
the Becks purchased the farm, in the hope of reversing the devastating effects of 200
years of over-utilization of the natural resources. They have even discovered a new mop
head vygie (mesembrianthemum) now named Esterhuysenia grahambeckii and this now
is on the Rosé label. Each animal or plant depicted on the label is endemic to the region
and nature reserve on the property.
In July 2007, 27 neighbouring landholders pledged to join the conservation effort. The
Rooiberg Breede River Conservancy was born, and remains a strong focus of the efforts,
comprising no fewer than 13,500 hectares of natural vegetation. For every 1 hectare of
land utilized for producing wine or stud horse farming on the Graham Beck Estate at
Robertson, 4,5 hectares of land are conserved today.
The list of wines we tasted and Fauna and Flora depicted on the labels are:
• The Game Reserve Chenin Blanc – The Riverine Rabbit
• The Game Reserve Sauvignon Blanc – The Fish Eagle
• The Game Reserve Chardonnay – The Cape Eagle Owl
• The Game Reserve Viognier – The Honey Badger
• The Game Reserve Rosé – Esterhuysenia grahambeckii
• The Game Reserve Pinotage – The Bat Eared Fox
• The Game Reserve Merlot – The Cape Clawless Otter
• The Game Reserve Shiraz – The Eland
• The Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – The Cape Leopard
The white wines retail for around R60 per bottle and the reds for around R85
We particularly liked the Honey Badger 2010 Viognier, full of white peaches and honey
but crisp and dry and elegant with a long finish. Also the spicy and fruity Eland Shiraz,
full of perfume and ripe red berries. This over-delivers with white pepper, cranberries,
raspberries and is made in quite a serious style with 18 month in 1st to 3rd fill barrels:
80% French, 20% American. But all the wines are good and well worth drinking. Some,
like the white wines and the rosé are easy drinking and ready now. Others like the
Merlot and the Cabernet may need some time and could be put down in your cellar for a
year or two.
Canapés were served on the lawn before lunch, while we drank glasses of Graham
Beck Blanc de Blanc and then we sat down to a very nice lunch, the best course being a
rack of pink lamb which was the most tender and flavourful lamb we think we have ever
had. After coffee we wandered around the house and gardens and got a feel for its
history. Click here to see the pictures.
Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy
There is a huge and rapidly growing variety of interesting things to occupy your
leisure time here in the Western Cape. There are so many interesting things to do in
our world of food and wine that we have made separate list for each month for which
we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of food and wine (and a
few other cultural events), visit our Events Calendar. All the events are listed in date
order and we already have a large number of exciting events to entertain you right
through the year.

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Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who
want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run
wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their
classes can be seen here. Pete Ayub, who makes our very popular Prego sauce, runs
evening cooking classes at Sense of Taste, his catering company in Maitland. We can
recommend them very highly, having enjoyed his seafood course. Check his programme
here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking
tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca
cooking courses at her home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir Crazy courses are now
being run from Dish Food and Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite
Groote Schuur hospital).
4th April 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if
you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our
product list for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups
(up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have
fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in
English, German, Norwegian or Dutch flavoured Afrikaans.
Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and
are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these
newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our
restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be
paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel
bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is
made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we
apologise. Our Avast! ® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is
scanned continually for viruses.
This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed
to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to
you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or
organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. We own our
mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. If you wish to be
added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to
be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.

6. 5
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who
want to learn more about wine. Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run
wine education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their
classes can be seen here. Pete Ayub, who makes our very popular Prego sauce, runs
evening cooking classes at Sense of Taste, his catering company in Maitland. We can
recommend them very highly, having enjoyed his seafood course. Check his programme
here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking
tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca
cooking courses at her home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir Crazy courses are now
being run from Dish Food and Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite
Groote Schuur hospital).
4th April 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if
you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our
product list for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups
(up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have
fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in
English, German, Norwegian or Dutch flavoured Afrikaans.
Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and
are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these
newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our
restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be
paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel
bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is
made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we
apologise. Our Avast! ® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is
scanned continually for viruses.
This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed
to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to
you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or
organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. We own our
mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. If you wish to be
added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to
be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.