I first wrote this piece in September 2006, and now, in homage to Graham Beck, who passed away this week, I re-post it here (with additions). Graham Beck certainly enriched the wine and food culture of the Cape immensely, not only by setting the scene for some of the best bubblies around.
Apropos of my piece on sauvignon blanc and food pairings, where I debated the merits of making SB work so hard, I participated in a menu paired solely to bubblies last Wednesday night. Since I had also helped with the wine and food matches, I was now partly responsible for the results. The wines were the bubblies of Graham Beck. And though the evening was again a success, it should be seen in the “experimental” category as regards its certain propriety.
With beluga caviar, there’s no doubt. With perlemoen “fishcakes” and foie gras, where the perlemoen was a little salty, the wine was not shown in the best light, though, being a blanc de blanc that had spent 15 years on the lees, it was an absolute beauty. Onto a main that set two versions of the 1999 off against a roast duck breast with two sauces – a rustic winter sauce with dozens of pulses and a summery citric butter. Though the wine was the same, one bottle was recently degorged, the other had spent a few months on the cork, and was ample illustration of the importance of letting your bubbly lie for a time to develop complexity. The pairing was fine here, no awkwardness, though no fireworks either, and the wine supplicatory. Dessert, one of bubbly’s traditional domains, was an average match-up, as it so often is in my books. With the plan to introduce lots of tart apple flavours into the food to light up the fruits, I am not convinced it succeeded. Yet, again, no one seemed to care that much and enjoyed the food and the wine to completion.
I have held the opinion that ersatz food and wine pairing is an erratic, though diverting, exercise for some time. People generally eat and drink in turn, not simultaneously. Add to this that our palates are pretty much as prone to collective calibration as the suggestion is strong – also that it’s tough to shake the feeling of pretence while staring contemplatively while the flavours co-mingle… Nevertheless, even if it’s stretching a point – that food and wine go together (and some better than others) – it remains good fun if taken as such. And looked at from the vantage of food history and tradition, the natural affinity of a certain cuisine to the style of certain wines is also a law I am very happy to submit to.
La Mouette, Sea Point, revisited
Is Cape Town turning into the Edgars of restaurant dining? If you don’t have a 10-25-50% special running, you aren’t really in the same city. Of course, this is great for the consumer, but there has to be a cost to someone, somewhere, and initially one’s thoughts turn to the restaurants. It is a winter that saw uptick – for some – through the World Cup, but not for many, or most. We have regrettably seen closures, like Ginja. But another place that these deep discounts have an effect is on quality. Slashing prices inevitably means lowering something along the value chain – and a business can only lower its revenues by so much. Another option is to lower the quality of the raw ingredient, or to offer smaller plates for the lower price.
At La Mouette, you can enjoy a six course tasting menu at dinner for R150. That is very, very cheap. A price so low, I hesitated before ordering it. One generally gets what one pays for in South African restaurants. Can six courses at this price really equal satisfaction? Chef Henry Vigar must be a wizard with food costs because it turned out to be a very well judged meal. While not stellar in quality, there were no egregious mis-steps, it was medium in volume (fine for most), it was R150. The route here seems to be to offer smaller versions of the same type of food as the à la carte menu. It’s a great way for pretty much anyone to “live large” without much wallet bending (ordering six courses is not most people’s ordinary meal out) – and the wine prices on the decent list are friendly, the service personable and attentive, the space relaxing.
1. Crispy calamari, smoked paprika and garlic aioli – fine, if oily, the flavours toned down but intact. 2. Butternut squash soup with walnuts, tapenade and blue cheese – standard flavours for this popular soup, just a tickle of cheese, marred by a stale nut with strong flavour. 3. Salt and pepper pork belly, pea purée, shaved vegetables and pickled beetroot – a dry piece of meaty pork in a crust, the vegetable sides save the day. 4. Roast line fish, puy lentils, winter vegetables and artichoke velouté – a good dish, tender fish, fine flavours (another main of beef sirloin with mash, mushroom tortellini and Bordelaise sauce was also good). 5. A green apple sorbet, cider foam and mint – great texture, good flavour but for a twist of artificial sweetener at the end. 6. Cheddar with peppercorns, quince jelly and lavoche – wysiwyg. I’d say a score of four out of the six.
The trappings here (space, good wine glasses, tables) again strike me as more “upmarket” than the menu which is based on easy comfort classics with a modern presentation. Flavours tend to stick to the middle of the road – little that challenges or stands proud – but this visit suggested consistency. If you order à la carte, the same soup will cost R50 (no doubt a bigger portion) while the beef will cost R110 – and you’ll already have spent more than the price of the chef’s menu. This really is an inversion of the usual rule, where the chef’s menu is the option to stretch resources for. Hoping they can keep it up, what a great way to offer people the experience of dining out with a sense of ceremony that’s so often only available in the most expensive restaurants.
78 Regent Road. 021 433 0856 Lunch Tuesday to Sunday; Dinner Tuesday to Saturday