Category: 6000 recommends

Giraffe Love

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Sounds kinky, but no…

We went out to Giraffe House yesterday in the winter sunshine and saw much animal. Highlight for our 5-year-old daughter though, was Gerry the Giraffe. She decided that she wanted Gerry to meet her somewhat smaller stuffed toy giraffe. It was a lovely idea, but the chances of it happening seemed slim. At this point, as a parent, you have to decide whether to prepare your child for probable disappointment or take a chance on success – the downside being potentially facing a distraught little girl when things don’t go according to plan.
My thanks go out at this point to Gerry the Giraffe, because he really came through for us yesterday afternoon:

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It might have been [let’s face it, it clearly was] that Gerry thought that Scoop’s toy giraffe was actually a tasty morsel of food, but in my little girl’s mind, Gerry was so happy to see the little fellow that she’d brought along, that he gave him a big, wet kiss.

It made her day. Which is great, because the alternative, had Gerry been less accommodating, would probably have been unpretty.

More on Giraffe House when I get chance to review and upload my photos.

Pair All The Things!

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After trying the exquisite pairing menu at Gabrielskloof (covered adequately, if not exhaustively here) last week, I’m suddenly the world expert in pairing things.
So far, I have paired a steak and some chips – which may seem rather unoriginal, but was nevertheless entirely successful – and then, in a fit of wild and daring experimentation over the weekend, I paired some Black Label with some more Black Label. Repeatedly.
It went surprisingly well. As far as I can remember, anyway.

Then, last night, the pièce de résistance as I paired some Lindt and Sprungli Chili Chocolate with some Louiesenhof Marbonne Brandy.
At first sight, this might appear to some to be nothing more than a thinly-veiled excuse to eat chocolate and drink brandy, and those individuals wouldn’t actually be far wrong. But what an unexpected and serendipitous revelation.
Suddenly, the steak and chips thing and the Black Label and Black Label thing paled into near insignificance.

This was unequivocally my third and best pairing to date. The tastes complimented each other perfectly, mingling pleasantly before producing something almost akin to a citrus burst upon my palate. I’m no culinary expert, but I’d hazard a rough guess that it was the mixture of chocolate and brandy which gave this result, based mainly on them being the only two things present on or near my palate at that particular moment.

Approaching this scientifically, I have decided to further pursue this research by testing the blend again this weekend: reproducibility being the cornerstone of any solid scientific result. It’s probably also worth checking out the components individually (especially the brandy) as well, right?

This “pairing” thing may well become a recurring theme on the blog. After all, food is ever so cool right now. Sadly though, the chili chocolate and really good brandy thing was just so good that there’s part of me that thinks that I’ve probably peaked too early (again) and future pairings just won’t match up to this one.

I will keep looking though.

Gabrielskloof

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Here’s somewhere we’ve driven past on many occasions and finally managed to drop in on: Gabrielskloof

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Just outside Bot Rivier on the N2 – beyond the Hermanus turn, but before the over-rated Dassiesfontein – it’s a wine and olive estate, has viewz for dayz and serves up some pretty amazing food, by all accounts.

It was a bit early for lunch,  so I had the food pairing with some of their red wines and Mrs 6000 did the wine and chocolate pairing, R70 & R60 respectively. Both were superb.

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I’ll put the full details of what was what on here once I’m back in Cape Town (taking a photo being easier than documenting the tasting menu any other way).
UPDATE: Here it is! 

We had a quick look at the restaurant: fairly kid friendly and the food looked fantastic; we’ll give it a go next time.

Hudson’s Claremont, marks out of 10

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Burgers here with the boys of the MBCC last night. It was fun.

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Burgers: 9. Damn fine burgers, as you might expect from a place that markets itself on its burgers. I had the iconic BOOM BOOM burger, though I could have chosen one of the others from the menu if I had so desired. That’s why they have a menu.

Beer: 9. Nice selection of draughts and bottles. Black Label and Jack Black on tap. Lots of craft, but sadly, very little (branded) One One Eight.

Service: 9. With a smile. Loses one mark because it plainly has an overtly sexist employment policy for waiting staff. If my boy ever wants to work here, he’ll have to somehow be sporting an utterly spectacular cleavage at interview.

Price: 9. Is cheap cheap, eh? Chili popper starter, 250g burger, “frites”, a couple of large draught beers, a coffee (someone substituted an excellent waffle here) and a double whiskey (and tip) came to R250pp. That total is only a little more than the price of (just) a big steak down the road at Barristers. The Barristers steak will be absolute perfection, though.

Music: 9. A bewilderingly random selection featuring Billy Joel, The Bangles, Berri, The Troggs, absolutely no One Direction and more. One after the other. But it worked. All of it. Oh, the memories.

Extractor fans: 1. Got home smelling like I’d been working in their kitchen, which – despite having had a few beers and a nightcap – I’m pretty sure I didn’t. You’re cooking several (or more) burgers each evening. There will be fatty smoke. Deal with it better.

But overall, it’s a pretty decent score (you can do the maths), just let down by the that lack of adequate exhaust from the grill. And I’m sure that once they read this, they’ll sort that forthwith.

This was an excellent night out and drops neatly into the 6000 recommends… category.