What I Ate This Week

Oh friends, reporting to you three days late, but I have an excuse—we were out of the country without internet access… in South Africa!  We just got back last night and I’m still sorting through literally thousands of photos/videos, but I couldn’t wait to share with you our finest meal in S. Africa.  Among our adventures, we spent a day in Stellenbosch, part of South Africa’s wine country.  It was an amazing day, not least because this area is one of the prettiest wine-growing regions we’ve ever seen!

For dinner, we went on some advice we had gotten and headed down a lonely and quiet side road to the gated winery called Rust en Vrede.  ReV (“Rest in Peace” in Dutch) is one of South Africa’s most famous red wine producers, and they make bold, vibrant reds.  I can tell you from experience that the vintages on offer are simply incredible—bold, fruity, and rich in color.  They were a perfect running accompaniment for a simply stunning meal.

The place was eerily quiet when we arrived, and no wonder—it was a weekday night in the off (winter) season.  We were convinced that the 10 employees front of house (including a master sommelier, maitre d’, three servers, and at least one person who just seemed to be getting paid to watch our every move and let others on staff know if we needed something) were going to be there to wait on us exclusively.  However, by the time we got into our first course, there were a half dozen tables full.

The place is decked out in voluptuous deep oranges and reds, and has a “rustic fine dining” feel to it, down to the planked wood ceiling.  We were in love with the atmosphere from the first moment, and the hushed-without-being-reverential atmosphere the amazing help provided enhanced the physical vibe of the place.  After a day out exploring and wine tasting, this was the kind of rustic food spa we were seeking!  Rust en Vrede offers a six-course chef’s tasting menu or a four-course option (where each course had three choices)—we went the route of the latter because we were transfixed by some of the choices there.  It’s actually a good thing, because even this four-course option took over three (lovely) hours!

Dinner started with an amuse of French onion soup.  It was bold and rich, so much so that I asked if they used their wine in the recipe but they don’t…just an excellent cooking sherry.  I don’t know as I can remember as appetizing amuse as this in a long time.  Awesome.

This chaotic-looking dish was a starter of swordfish, swimming among islands of brussel sprout “leaves” and root veggies.  The fish had a nice crust on the outside but was moist and flavorful.  And I think Boca has some serious brussel sprout competition—these were perfectly cooked and I enjoyed the thin and delicate texture of eating them by the layer!

S’s first course was a rich and flavorful tomato soup (perfect for those cool South African winters).  The consistency was thick, almost like tomato sauce, but the flavors were bright and vibrant—no doubt cooked in some of the house wine.  It was served with a bright red cherry tomato and three kinds of melty cheese.  It was stunning and actually gave me a bit of “appetizer envy!”

Second for me was simply “quail eggs”—you can see them as the boldly-colored little poached items sitting next to shards of pan-fried pork.  I was a bit surprised that the quail eggs seemed almost to be a side attraction, until I tasted them with the pork.  Because of their preparation, they literally exploded in the mouth providing a lovely richness that contrasted with the succulence of the pork.  The zesty tomato-based sauce added yet another dimension.  Somehow, despite the potential hazards, this dish held true to being cohesive and not chaotic.  Lovely!

This little “garden” of a main course is filet of springbok, an emblematic antelope of South Africa (and for those who have seen Invictus, you may also know it as the name of the national rugby team, who had a bit of a hard time during our trip!).  Like venison, antelope can be easily overcooked, so I was pleased (though not surprised) to see how perfectly cooked it was.  The flavor was delicate and easily picked up some of the braising juices, which added some richness.  Sharing equal billing were the braised carrots and these most incredible lightly-fried balls of whipped potatoes that briefly caused our world to stand still.  I thought the presentation here (just as my main first course) was unnecessarily busy, but the food overcame this criticism by being near perfect.  Wow.

And it all wrapped up with a classic chocolate molten cake, properly prepared and gooey, alongside a little scoop of odd and unusual parsnip ice cream which kept things from getting runaway sweet.  This is also a good time to mention the incredible china they used which had the rough texture of unfinished pottery.  I do believe it’s the first time I’ve ever thought to comment on the china a place uses!

Anyway, this was a class meal all the way and a touch off the beaten Stellenbosch track.  I wish we had also come earlier in the day for a full wine tasting, but we enjoyed what we had so much we brought a bottle of their (surprisingly mild and well-rounded) shiraz.  If anyone decides to make the trip to South Africa, do yourself a favor and make it over here—only 45 minutes or so from Cape Town and worth every minute!

This coming weekend we’ll be back to the “typical” Cincinnati food thing, and will include a couple of other little South African culinary highlights!  Stay cool, people!