Monday night at Gourmet Boerie

A year ago, you might have associated the unassuming boerewors roll with  children’s parties, sport days and drunken munchies after a night out on Long Street. That was until it got a showy revamp by Gourmet Boerie.

I have always scoffed at the idea of a gourmet boerewors roll, yet one quiet Monday, still far from payday, we had an inkling for something different. An inkling that may have been sparked by a tweet advertising a 2-for-one special I saw earlier that day.

Gourmet Boerie Credit: Charlie Sperring/Gourmet Boerie Facebook page

My biggest problem with these hipster joints are that they sometimes tend to be too cluttered. But Gourmet Boerie went with a clean wooden aesthetic and ran with it. The long wooden communal tables are spruced up with fynbos propped in an empty beer bottle.

To celebrate its first birthday there are  currently a few great specials at Gourmet Boerie. We went for a platter that comprised of 7 boerie sliders, large chips, 2 drinks and a mini dessert platter at R110.

A slider is essentially 2 bites of boerie. If you’re indecisive its be best thing to order on your first visit, but don’t share it if you’re very hungry. I found it filling but the Plus One had to order a full sized boerie takeaway.

I thought The Hangover Boerie that had just about everything, including bacon and avo, would be the tastiest, yet it was completely underwhelming. I liked The Gorgonzola (Creamy gorgonzola sauce with poached pear, caramelised pecan nuts and rocket), Chakalaka, a flavour I never would have ordered, and the Old School Boerie. The ultimate boerie happens to also be the most pretentious one of all, Pure Sophistication with caramelised onion, goats’ cheese, roast cherry tomatoes, basil pesto and rocket.

The dessert was slightly more spectacular than the establishment’s namesake. The mini desert platter consists of malva pudding, apple crumble and a piping hot milk tart. I found the apple to crumble ratio very satisfying.

While I enjoyed the super crispy shoestring chips the Plus One thought it tasted like cardboard. Something I agreed with once we got home with our Chakalaka takeaway boerie ‘meal” (R30 for a boerie chips and a Bos Iced Tea) and the chips had cooled down a little. The actual boerie was also not quite as good as those we had in store.

Gourmet Boerie’s food are at their optimal yumminess when they’re eaten in the restaurant. For fast food that will taste exactly the same the next day it’s best to go across the street to Micky Dees. For a great atmosphere, people watching and intense flavour (granted you finish the food on the spot), give Gourmet Boerie a try.

Payday Breakfast at Café Ruby

One of my favourite meals is the Payday Breakfast. What’s more wonderful than waking up to an SMS informing you that, for the next few hours anyway, you are rich! For a few hours you can pretend that this is the only meal that you’ll be paying for this month.

On Saturday we went to a level 3* Payday Breakfast joint, Café Ruby at the Klein Roosboom Wine Farm in Durbanville. We have been there once before and were impressed with the speed of the kitchen and the insanely delicious farm bread toast.

This time around the kitchen was somewhat slower which I assumed meant they’re baking more bread, I was more than ok with this. The portions at Café Ruby are not that big but the quality of the food can justify the prices.

The breakfast special at Café Ruby

The Plus One went for the Boere Breakfast (Two rashers of bacon, two fried eggs, grilled tomato, boerewors, mushrooms and two slices of farm bread) at R60 while The Eleven Year Old and I had the poached eggs, bacon, mushrooms and basil on toast special at R59. On the corner of my toast I added a splash of strawberry jam which went down swimmingly with the pesto. The Eight Year Old supplemented his mini farm breakfast (a fried egg, crispy bacon and a slice of toast) with another piece of toast (R20 + R5).

“Why do you keep taking photos of my food” – The Eight Year Old

If rap music videos thaught us anything it will be that it isn’t extravagant until you open a bottle of Crystal. Or a bottle of Altydgedacht MCC Blanc de Blanc at a reasonable R95. Next time I might just order toast with pesto and strawberry jam and the bottle (or two it’s Payday Breakfast after all).

The men’s restroom door is wallpaperd with traffic fines

The décor of Café Ruby is a minimalist shabby chic with unexpected quirky touches. The bathroom doors of the ladies bathroom is decorated with vintage magazine adverts, pretty but this kind of design element has been done death by most quirky establishments. The men’s restroom doors had a different spin on the concept. They are adorned with final notices of traffic fines, by far the most expensive wallpaper I have ever heard of!

*Level 5 being the most uitspattig 

Photos by @glanskind

Klein Roosboom

The Plus One with the kids

With The Plus One in the vineyard

Following our noses down the West Coast on Worker’s Day

On May Day we woke up with nothing more exciting on the agenda than a mountain of washing. Rather shameful for a public holiday propped in the middle of the week! So instead we hit the road with only a vague destination of Yzerfontein in mind. Simply following our noses down the West Coast.

Darling, home of South Africa’s most famous woman Evita Bezuidenhout, is usually a popular stop on a West Coast excursion. A stop we had every intent of making. However, once we spotted the Groote Post Wine Estate Tannie Evita didn’t stand a chance.

The tasting room at Groote Post

The Old Man’s Sauvignon Blanc is exceptionally fruity on the nose, but for the first time ever it was the wooded chardonnay that captured our taste buds (and later also my sobriety). It was rather unexpected as I usually love Sauvignon Blanc above all else. The dry Old Man brute rose was also a winner.

The Groote Post Restaurant

The restaurant was sublime. All the tables in the courtyard were taken but we could still appreciate the exceptional weather from our window table.

The Plus One opted for the steak roll as recommended by the wine tasting lady. “Steak roll” is rather a deceptive name that makes one think of second rate cuts smothered in sauce. This steak roll was rather special with at least 300g of steak. I had a platter of local cured meats, relish and amazingly fresh bread off the starter menu. The Plus One would have gladly traded half his steak for a spoonful of my plum and apple relish.

A steak roll with wedges and homemade tomato sauce at the Groote Post Restaurant

I liked that they have kiddie options on the menu as R110+ for a main is rather steep for food that will potentially only be nibbled on. The kids both had fish and wedges which they enjoyed, except for the chunky homemade tomato sauce. Well, all of us liked the sauce sans the Eight Year Old who could not understand why it did not taste like All Gold. He just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

The Eight Year Old before he tasted the homemade tomato sauce.

For dessert we headed over to Yzerfontein. Once again we went on the recommendation of the wine tasting lady and went to Beaches for crème brulee. The dessert was lovely (the Plus One had seconds) but the atmosphere was lacking.

The Plus One discovered the panoramic function on this phone’s camera at Beaches in Yzerfontein

The bathroom at Beaches has an interesting take on decor

After a quick frolic on the beach and we headed back home to Cape Town happy not to have done a stitch of work on Worker’s Day.

The spawn vadering* on the beach

*For all the non geeks: Vadering

Images (except the bathtub which was in the little girls room) by @glanskind