Welcome to Cape Town

I’ve decamped to Cape Town for a little bit. Time to spend time with family in the South African sunshine. But there’s no need to worry, I’m still going to make sure I tell you about all my new food experiences along the way. So not only will be able to try some exciting new recipes (like my biltong pate posted yesterday), you’ll also get to enjoy some of the amazingly wide range of excellent restaurants in Cape Town and the winelands. It’s a serious challenge try to sample enough to get the true flavour!

First stop was a relaxed Sunday lunch after the boys had played golf. Sundays regularly turn out this way (if we can possibly make them). So we headed for Jonkershuis, which is set on the Groot (which means big) Constantia Wine Estate in the beautiful Constantia valley. The restaurant is surrounded by ancient oak trees and vineyards and has the feel of a Parisian boulevard crossed with a farm, absolutely charming as you can imagine. There’s plenty of open space to relax in and lovely views.

The menu has a strong Cape Malay influence as well as offering dishes using some of the many great local ingredients. Enjoy these amazing pictures, I guarantee you’ll be hungry after looking at them!

The free range chicken liver parfait was served with baguette toast and grape relish.

Beef samosas came with pineapple, capsicum and cucumber salad.

The smoked salmon trout salad with its zesty horseradish dressing, the perfect dish for a summer day.

The beef fillet carpaccio came with parmesan and a berry salad.

Juicy sirloin steak and light crispy chips.

From the Cape Malay section, the lamb curry came with poppadum and roti.

Baked bobotie with cinnamon butternut, sultana and toasted almond yellow rice and poppadum. I’m proud of my bobotie recipe, but this was undoubtedly the best bobotie I’ve ever eaten. Think I need to go back to the drawing board.

The perfect chilled out lunch on a vineyard, and hopefully the first of many. The big question is where to next? Watch this space.