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To the wine country (A guest blog from Andrew)

Anthony has grown bored of all this blogging so I shall write up what we did today. After a final breakfast at the guest house (I got the french toast again, and Anthony had the scrambled eggs), we packed and then headed to the beach in Capt Town one last time, to Clifton 3 (where all the gays go). We rented chairs and an umbrella, and lazed about for a while — being a Monday morning it wasn’t super busy. After reading and napping for 2 hours or so we took a quick swim in the freezing water and then headed to Long Street for lunch.

We had a complete parking fail — after getting out and going down the street a bit, a number of unsavory types were lingering around our car, having seen all of our luggage in the trunk, so we decided to be safe rather than sorry and drove over to Kloof Street and parked somewhere a bit safer. We had lunch at a bakery called Knead, where I had a chicken curry pizza and Anthony had a Spanish breakfast pizza (with chorizo, eggs and onions). The pizzas were delicious, though we ate them at separate times because at first they brought Anthony a spinach and feta pizza, which he wouldn’t stand for.

On our way out of Cape Town, we stopped at the Rhodes Memorial, a massive stone amphitheater thing lined with lion statues and centered on a statue of Cecil Rhodes.

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We paid our respects to ‘Uncle Cecil’ (he did lead Anthony to Oxford, where we met) and started on our way to the wine country. Our destination was Franschhock, a very lovely town about an hour to the north and east of Cape Town, known for its vineyards and delicious food. On Adam’s recommendation, we stayed at La Petite Ferme, a working winery with 15 guest rooms and an amazing restaurant. Our room in the Manor House had perhaps the most beautiful view of any place we’ve ever stayed at.

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After unpacking, cracking open of a bottle of La Petite Ferme wine, taking a quick dip in the pool and a nap, it was late enough in the day for me to go for a run — I headed out of Franschhock up the mountain, and while the narrow roads and sharp turns were a bit dicey when cars were passing, the views were spectacular.

After my run and a shower we headed into town and had dinner at Ryan’s Kitchen (on TripAdvisor’s recommendation). We weren’t disappointed — we had the tasting menu with paired wines, and there were lots of unexpected but delicious pairings (berries with goat’s cheese ice and olive oil powder — actually really really good). The full menu:

The Chef’s Appetzer…from the lab

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Smoked Snoek “Smoor” Mousse
with frozen cucumber cannelloni, seaweed, miso-apple vinaigrette, wasabi meringue
2009 Mullineux Family Wines ‘Kloof Street’ Chenin Blanc

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Trout
with seasonal asparagus, smoked potato and pistachio dukkah
2010 La Bri Chardonnay

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Lamb and Apple Bobotie
with tumeric and coconut ‘spoom’
2008 Stony Brook Camissa Red Blend

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Summer Melon Slushpuppy

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Sous-Vide Beef Fillet
with crab-tomato butter, confit onion and crust
2006 Mont Rochelle Syrah

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Franschhoek Berries and Olive Oil Powder
with goat cheese granite, cassonade sugar
2010 Nederburg Noble Late Harvest

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Fresh Mint Tea & Petit Fours
Rooibos tea jelly and custard, Malva pudding and beet caramel, Turkish delight

After which we headed home and went to bed. I am getting used to this ‘not working’ thing.

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