Dinner and dancing at Pigalle

It was one of my good friends birthday this weekend and she is always my most glamorous friend, dressed to the nine's so it was fitting for her to host her party at Pigalle with a dress up theme of 1920's pin up. Pigalle is one of the very few places where there is sit down dinner and dancing in Cape Town.

The birthday girl is also the owner of Absolute Collection a wedding and corporate event company so we were all spoilt with goodie bags filled with fun 1920's treats like red lipstick, feather boa's and black eyeliner, stationary on the table matched the theme and we entertained ourselves with Polaroid camera's capturing all the fun of the night.

We had a shortened A la Carte menu and my starter was a moreish plate of calamari, just enough garlic, lemon and butter with tender calamari, we both said we could just eat this all night and I could not resist mopping up the sauce with their very fresh baked bread. The other options were a Carpaccio and a Mussel pot.

For main course I chose the Beef Fillet with red wine jus, mashed potato, spinach and caramelized onions. This was although a standard beef dish that you could find in many restaurants around town, I could not complain about anything, all seasoned perfectly, cooked just as I asked and really tender and juicy. The other options were a plate of prawns which I would have loved to eat at home where you can get messy or Norwegian salmon with mashed sweet potato.

For dessert we were treated to a great birthday cake idea from Cakes by Wade which was a doughnut cake glued together with marshmallowy Italian meringue, just the perfect ending to the meal sweet and gooey, what more could a girl want, worked off by dancing to the live band and lots of laughs. Happy Birthday my friend.

Pictures and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Win R300 from Spar for October fest

So it's spring, the summer sun is starting to shine, it's October which means lots of beer, food and social gathering's for October fest.
Spar has contacted me to give away a R300 voucher to use in any of their stores which is so exciting as it's my first give away on my blog.

Anybody may enter who frequents Spar stores nationwide, use your favorite Freshline ingredients to create a dish that you love to eat with an ice cold beer from your local Tops at Spar of course, for October fest. It may be a starter, main, dessert, Braai dish, snacks or tapas, the easier the better.  First "like" the Spar Facebook page and mine Olivia's Kitchen then just send the recipe to tamsyn.olivia@gmail.com

I will announce the winner on World Food Day which is the 16th October 2012. I will also recreate the winning dish and provide the recipe on my blog.

Final entries must be in by the 12th October 2012 and you may enter as often as you wish.
Good Luck.

Healthy Heart Luncheon at Table Bay Hotel

I attended a Luncheon held by Good Housekeeping Magazine yesterday at the Table Bay Hotel promoting healthy living with talks on keeping your heart strong and a tasty healthy Lunch.

Think Red supported the event with Liezel van der Westhuizen as the entertaining hostess for the day.
I learnt firstly that a shocking 1 in 3 men and 1 in 4 women develop heart disease in their lives and they gave us tips to try prevent this from happening, mainly diet and exercise.
We were also given the opportunity to check our cholesterol, BMI and blood pressure then they use this information to calculate your hearts age, happily mine is 2 years younger than my actual age, I would prefer 10 years younger but it's great considering I used to smoke but gave up 6 years ago.

The menu was heart healthy too with a Peppered Ostrich Carpaccio topped with beetroot slices, pickled cucumber, shimeji mushrooms, fresh radish and balsamic caviar, dressed in a parsley olive oil.

Main course was grilled Blue nose, carrot and celeriac puree, warm quinoa salad with lots of herbs and a fennel and red onion slaw.

The dessert was spiced panna cotta with chopped up pear inside, red wine poached pears, berry coulis and a chocolate heart.

Vital brands also launched their flavoured rice cakes which come in 4 addictive flavours which they cleverly used as welcome canape's topped with guacamole and goats cheese and tomato.

The room and guest's were all decked out in red and our gift bag was amazing it must have weighed about 6kg which was so much fun to unpack when I went home.

Very interesting outing which highlighted the importance of healthy eating and living! Thank you to Flora for the big tub of margarine too

Article and pictures copyright by Tamsyn Wells

City Bowl Market

I heard along the Cape Town grapevine that City bowl market is now open on Thursday nights as opposed to just Saturday mornings so I decided to check it out on it's very first launch evening.

I love markets I must say and this one is small but really vibey, on this opening night it was however too full to move and I must admit I did not stay long but there was a large variety of food to grab for dinner and many of them were almost sold out when I got there at 7pm so hopefully they going to prepare more this week.

Some of the traders I saw on my quick browse around was Down South Dim sum and another dim sum / spring roll trader, beautiful cupcakes, curries, baked goods like brownies, coffee, beer and much more.
Open 16:30  - 20:30 on Thursday evenings and 9am - 2pm on Saturdays. I will go back but try a little earlier next time.

14 Hope Street
Gardens
Cape Town

Pictures and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Haiku

 I have been wanting to go to Haiku for years now, my brother went a few years ago and he raved about the place for weeks, Finally I asked friends of mine who are regulars there to please let me join them and to make it as soon as possible.

It is situated on a small street with its entrance on Burg street which has an alley way feeling when you walk towards the door. I love the interior, the lighting is dim and the Chinese style decor is quite glam so I had this feeling of almost illegal underground entry.

The barman welcomed me with a glass of wine as I awaited my friends arrival. The bar is beautiful all dark wood but the bar stools were a bit low as I sat eye level with the bottles pictured above.

I left the choices to my friends who are all foodies and know what's really good to try, there are specials on at the moment, 2 course meal R179, 5 course meal R249 and lunch specials which are assorted platters for R119 but we went with A La Carte. We were 4 people which is a good number as most dishes come out in fours so we could each try everything except the spring rolls.

On the table they serve condiments, pickled cucumber, sesame oil bean sprouts, a chilli sauce and I think a tomato chutney of some kind. We started with BBQ duck spring rolls and hoisin sauce, delicious prawn toasts, spinach and cream cheese translucent steam dumplings ( Har Gau) and chicken potstickers which are pan fried dumplings. 

These were all absolutely divine, the food kept coming, next was a raw tuna salad which had a sesame dressing, lettuce, raw onion slices, avocado and cucumber.

Lastly were our two main courses which was a saucy stir fried calamari, crisp fresh vegetables, sticky coconut rice and another favorite of mine, Peking duck pancakes with cucumber, spring onion and hoisin sauce.

Everything was really tasty with perfectly balanced flavours, I heard there is a system they use to help you order using star ratings however this was not explained to us and I can't help but think its not quite the same as in it's heydays when they were on the top of all restaurant lists, the service was a bit slack but I can't fault the food. I can say that I will go back and eat plate's full of dim sum, in fact just the pictures are making me crave to go back. The mains were perfectly made however you could get these dishes at Chef pons in town and be just as satisfied.

Our meal came to R250 per person with 2 bottles of wine and a tip.

Haiku Restaurant

33 Church street, enter from Burg street

021 - 424 7000

Pictures and article is copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Tom Yum Goong

This is one of my favorite soups in the world, its great in summer or winter, sweet, sour and salty in flavour, its so addictive you find yourself wanting to pick up the bowl and gulp it down like a mug of coffee.
This soup originates from Thailand, is spicy and clear normally with coriander, vegetables and prawns / shrimps bathing in the bottom of the bowl. It is a stock base using Thai flavourings like lemongrass, lime leaves, chilli, lime juice and ginger (galangal). There are many different varieties influenced by all the surrounding Thai countries as well as versions made using a tom yum paste purchased from Asian supermarkets which is the version I made as it's much quicker and easier to find than shopping for all the ingredients in the paste and I would say just as tasty. I will however provide a basic tom yum paste recipe in case you prefer.

Tom Yum Goong
Serves 4

6 cups chicken stock (home made is best but cubes and powders will work too, vegetable stock is good too)
2 sticks lemon grass, outer layers peeled and bruise with your knife
2 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
1 thumb sized piece of ginger sliced
1 shallot, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 tin straw mushrooms (may be replaced with shitake or button mushroom)
1 chilli, bruised (optional depending on heat tolerance)
2 shrimp per person, peeled and veined
pinch of salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp tom yum paste
1 tbsp lime juice
bunch coriander
2 cherry tomatoes per person
1 bunch enoki mushrooms (may be replaced with bean sprouts)

Flavour the stock by heating it with the lemon grass, lime leaves, ginger, shallot, tomatoes, tom yum paste, add chilli for more heat.
Once infused with flavour by simmering for 10 minutes, remove the flavourings from the stock.
Cook the shrimp in the stock, at the last minute add the fish sauce, lime juice, cherry tomatoes, enoki mushrooms, straw mushrooms and coriander. These final ingredients may be added to each bowl and the hot stock poured over individually.
Balance the flavours with the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar if necessary.

This dish may be made vegetarian, just omit the shrimp, add vegetable stock and add more vegetables like mange tout and baby corn.

Tom Yum Paste
Makes 1 cup

2 sticks lemongrass, chopped
1 thumb of ginger, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 red chillies, chopped
1/2 cup chopped coriander, leaves and stalks
3 spring onions , chopped
2 limes juices
1 tsp shrimp paste
1tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp soy sauce

Place everything in a blender and blitz until smooth, add a dash of water if necessary.

This paste may also be used for: marinading meat or fish, flavouring soups, adding to mussel pots, making sauces and adding flavour to vegetables.

Pictures and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

The Little Hattery Launch Party

I was fortunate to be the plus one with one of my bestie's for the launch of The Little Hattery the other day, after forcing myself to go in the stormy weather last weekend, I'm so glad I went, what a party it was!

Held at Truth Coffee Culture in Buitenkant street which is such a cool venue but I will review it at a later date. Steam punk was the theme which suited the venue perfectly. The Little Hattery is an event wear company but their hats and hair pieces are especially outstanding, they can help you with your wedding styling, corporate, cocktail and themed events, they designed the Truth Coffee outfits for the Buitenkant branch.

The early evening started off with a show stopping welcome drink sponsored by Don from Puremix fresh cocktail solutions, smoking, icy, alive, bubbling and fragrant, this steam punk styled cocktail was a good start to the evening where sparkling wine, whiskey and beer on tap literally flowed. Puremix is a new company which sells a range of freshly prepared and infused cocktail mixes which can be used as is or over dry ice with rose petals, orange zest and a dash of lemonade.

While glugging down our cocktails we were entertained by a fire dancer which is pretty normal in Cape Town however this guy filled the whole of Buitenkant Street with dancing fire sparks making us feel warm even though we were all gripping our frozen dry ice drinks.

The main event was a fashion show which showcased some amazing creations from The Little Hattery, if only we could dress like that everyday, it was like a fantasy wonderland of ribbons, bows, lace and top hats.

Sadly the night came to an end, played out with a great band, the champagne had finished but The Little Hattery had thrown a kick ass launch party.

The Little Hattery

143 Harrington street,

Gardens,

Cape Town

021- 821 3443

Truth Coffee Culture

36 Buitenkant street 

Cape Town

Puremix Fresh Cocktail Solutions

Woodstock exchange

021- 8018822

Picture's and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Clarke's

I have been wanting to visit Clarke's  since they opened but never seemed to get the opportunity even though I always put the idea forward to go, we ended up putting it off. Finally this Saturday was the day, by chance bumping into friends I found myself entering this diner style bar on the trendy Bree street.

I have drooled over the Diner, drive in's and dives show plenty of times wishing I could try some of the hamburgers and subs they make with such extravagance, Clarke's is based on the meals you could find in an American diner but much cleaner, fresher, more upmarket and modern.

The interior is simple, mostly black and white with fresh green leafy pot plants adding colour, always buzzing with with the Cape Town trendies, even Danny K was sitting at the table next to us with his wife.

The menu is broken up into different times , breakfast 8am, sandwiches 11am, brunch 11am and in the evening is only burgers, chips and other sides, plenty of variety in the day and I have already decided what to try next. The service is a bit slow and sloppy which happens when anybody serves any table at any time causing confusion as to what's already been asked.

I ordered the burger without cheese, with chips and aioli about R67.00 which going back to the waitress, when I asked if it was the one without cheese the waitress proceeded to open my burger with her hand to check if it was the right one, this is pretty unacceptable but on a great note the burger is absolutely delicious, the patty is from Bill Riley but it's the roll that puts this ahead of the rest, its almost flaky like a pastry, similar to a brioche, buttery and rich, add the tangy pickles and you will find yourself craving another bite. The chips were a bit too oily and tasteless but the pickled beans side is a great vegetable to replace the chips.

I will definitely go back, great vibe, fun company and an addictive burger and pickles.
find Clarke's on 133 Bree Street, 021 4247648.

Article and picture's copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Zara opened in Cape Town

I don't really post about fashion ever as my style is pretty set but I do love browsing around shops checking out the new trends, especially overseas where the trends begin. One of the most popular stores in Europe is Zara and it has finally come to South Africa, well Cape Town in particular on the 17th August.

The reason Zara does so well is because when a new trend launches on the catwalk, Zara is able to produce and launch the trend in record time and come in at an affordable price therefore selling out on the trend before any other shops get it, staying one step ahead.

I was very interested to see if the store will still fall into the affordable price range here or follow in Diesel's overpriced footsteps, happily it does with the few items I checked being a shirt for R300, shoes for R400 and scarves for R150 which is all fair and I would say similar to Country road. Another criteria to check was weather the items stocked here are as current as overseas and this too was spot on. I have recently been in a few Zara stores in Turkey and they stocked the same items as well as the same prices for the stock once converted into rands. The trends I noticed overseas were colour, corals, brights and lace all of which are seen beautifully draping from the racks.

I will definitely visit the store again, their clothing always makes you feel so lady like, feminine and their clothes are comfortable too. The shop is glitzy and shining and found on the lower level where CNA used to be. It was humming with happy women rushing around almost as if everything is on sale.
Happy shopping.

Pictures and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Goloso

Recently I was invited to a farewell dinner at a great restaurant in Sea Point, Cape Town called Goloso which my partner in crime for the evening told me it means "greedy" in Italian. Having visited Italy a few times on holiday, their food is really close to my heart and I myself have adopted their "basic" style of cooking only highlighting one or two main ingredients in each dish, unfussy but delicious.

We were a table of twelve for the evening and our table filled the entire restaurant, it's tiny but so wonderful to have the whole place to ourselves, the chef prepared us a 10 course meal for the evening but as usual I was so absorbed in the sampling process that I forgot to take pictures but as my friend suggested I will just have to go again to get more pictures for my blog followers.

So the evening begun on a great note right from the time you walk into Goloso and you are hit with the aroma of garlic, wine and herbs making your mouth water in minutes. The menu started with bread, great company and plenty flowing red wine. The first course consisted of Authentic Italian bruschetta's with three different toppings, pesto, smoked salmon and the most popular one diced tomato. Second course was an antipasti plate of pickled vegetables, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, bocconcini cheese and artichokes, third course a caprese salad of tomato and buffalo mozzarella, fourth course a fresh tuna salad with Cannellini beans, fifth course was a norwegian salmon tartare with fresh red onion, lemon and herbs, sixth course a chickpea salad, seventh course a delectable mushroom and truffle oil penne pasta, eighth course a perfect tagliatelle putannesca, just spicy, salty enough to want more and more, ninth course was chicken marsala and the grande finale a light tiramisu and coffee. Italian food heaven, I want more just thinking about it.

So I forgot to mention that most people in the party were pescatarians so the chef / owner made only 1 meat dish this evening we were there but i'm sure the menu varies to what is in season on the day you book, the restaurant is not always only 1 big table but generally a few smaller tables where you order off the menu, they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The meal came to R250 per person with wine and a tip, well worth it.
You can find them on:
tel: 076 906 8588
90 Regent road, Sea point Cape Town

Pictures and article copyright by Tamsyn Wells

Dorp Street Deli and Bramptons Wine Studio

I have not really been out in Stellenbosch since I was in my twenties when I would go to The Garage in the Nielsie for some wild student parties. I now have a few friends who stay out there and they invited me to dinner in Stellies, I must admit I had flashbacks of sambucca shooters and crazy beer specials however this night out was a lot more "civilized".

We started out at a little bar called Brampton's, small but vibey and intimate where we sipped on some of the Brampton sparkling wine. They call themselves a wine studio and are only open until 8pm so go for pre drinks or post work drinks and try their own affordable brand.

Our dinner destination was Dorp Street Deli, it turns out I have worked previously with both owners Louise and Piet. It's also small and vibey like Bramptons, just the look I love, lots of wood and brick, great lighting giving a welcoming feel.

Piet the chef / owner is always behind the counter cooking all the dishes on the menu. We ended up not looking at the menu and letting Piet send us any dishes he wished so I can't really tell you what items were on the menu and their prices but it was tapas style food.

First we tasted a great assortment of breads, lavash and breadsticks with olives, eggplant caviar and feta. As we ate more dishes arrived, rustic Caprese salad tossed in pesto, meatballs in a tomato and basil sauce with parmesan and slightly spiced prawns in a garlicky butter.

For dessert we had a plate of chocolate truffles, hot chocolate pudding, an apple filled croissant (not sure what it was called) and a bowl of ice cream.

I'm not sure if it was the wine, food or great company that made me forget to take more pictures but we all enjoyed and would all go back. The total bill per person came to R140pp including tip, wine, food and a shot of tequila... of course we in Stellies!

I can't find the number but will update my blog as soon as I get it, find the deli in Dorp street Stellenbosch

Pictures and article copyright By Tamsyn Wells

The food of Turkey

I just arrived back from the most amazing holiday in Turkey, my travel companions were all foodies, chefs, cake makers and wedding planners so we all tucked into the foods of the area everywhere we went.

On our holiday we visited the capital, Istanbul where we stayed in the vibey town of Taksim, possibly the busiest street I have ever seen, next was Cappodocia a magical place built into rocks where we went on an amazing hot air balloon ride, Kusadasi was next which is a great shopping town with beaches too, then off to Bodrum a really hot beautiful town where you can lie on deck chairs at restaurants with the sea licking your feet and sip on ice cold beer then shop till you drop at night when its cooler, after all these places a rest was in order so we went on a yacht for a few days where we jumped off the boat into warm blue waters while sailing over sunken cities, docking in natural harbors, going clubbing by speed boat and braaing on the deck as the sun goes down, a final day in Antalya before going back to Istanbul.... perfect holiday!

The turkish start off their day with a rather unusual buffet of sliced cucumber, tomato, olives, cheese, a Polony type of meat, yoghurt, fruits and egg which is normally boiled. When you lucky you also get a delicious Burek which is a pastry filled with just cheese or spinach and cheese.

Their lunch and dinner consists of the same options, which if you would like to sit down and enjoy a slow meal then you choose to have an assortment of Mezze, followed by a main course and dessert if you have space left. I never really did as I filled up on the Mezze already..... aubergine dips, aubergine in tomato sauce, tzatziki but made with purslane a type of lettuce/ herb, artichoke, white anchovies, one of my favorites was sea asparagus which is like a fine asparagus made with lots of garlic, beans in tomato sauce, dolmades and another winner was courgette flowers filled with rice where you could actually taste the floral note of the flower.

As I mentioned before I was always pretty full after the mezze but a few times we did have main courses and they mainly consisted of light stews, a very tasty fish stew with tomato, vegetables and a fresh minty flavour and my favorite here was the stew baked in clay pots in a clay oven, topped with a bread dough which arrived flaming at the tables, piping hot and juicy.

All the desserts are very syrupy and sweet but addictive too, I found myself squeezing just one more Baklava in after each dinner, ketaifi desserts very similiar to Baklava, a very unusual sweet made using young chicken breasts and milk but ends up being the most interesting gooey texture that I really wish I could have it here again. Tea is also the most popular drink of choice mainly being chai, their narmal tea or apple tea, a warm pure apple flavour served hot or cold throughout the day.

The main street food you will see everywhere are Doner Kebabs, huge chicken and lamb/beef towers of meat slowly spinning and roasting as the day goes by, each time you walk past its shrunken in size. I had this in a wrap with chips, salad, meat and a tomato spice sauce, really good with crispy bits. The one choice we kept going back to was the Gozzlemeler, thin breads rolled out with a wooden rolling pin, toasted on a flat grill then filled with potato, aubergine, cheese or spinach, this is also made sweet with banana and nutella.

A great snack we had to try with our beer was mussels deepfried in a batter on a stick with a garlic yoghurt sauce, just the right amount of salty flavour to go with our Efes the local beer, you can also find mussels on the street filled with rice which I never got to try and little cous cous balls filled with mince.

I had never heard of Turkish ice cream before but it is a serious contender to the Italians Gelato although Gelato still wins for me the stretchy, gooey texture of their ice cream is something really different and so fun to see the ice cream boys doing their show stretching the ice cream enticing you to try some as well as the cut version sold in restaurants.

Finally I have to mention their Pide which is their version of pizza, thin and crisp with few toppings to keep the main item the focal flavour, we had one with a very tasty spicy sauseage and cheese and one with mince both were amazing washed down with beer once again.

I have just touched on the Turkish foods, there is still so much more we could have tried but unfortunately time and stomach space ran out but keep following Olivia's Kitchen as there are a few things I am going to try make at home with the spices I brought back namely their lentil soup, bread and lamb koftas will be making an appearance soon.

Big Thanks to Wade van der Merwe and Arda Dinc of Wades Cakes  and Karla Oetler of The Absolute Collection for allowing me to join on their wonderful holiday they planned. Arda you did a great job organizing everything for us we are all well rested with a million great memories to keep with us forever.

This article and these pictures are copyright by Tamsyn Wells of Olivia's Kitchen