Restaurant reviews

May

Nava fear, Giorgio's here

Flower trader. Nightclub owner. Restaurateur. Chef. Entrepreneur.

It’s hard to put a label on Giorgio Nava, especially when all of the above apply to this softly spoken man from Milano. Born in northern Italy in 1946, it was a circuitous route that eventually saw Giorgio donning a chef’s jacket and dishing up authentic Italian cuisine to Capetonians searching for more than over-cooked spaghetti bolognese.

“I’ve always loved the beauty and the opportunity of this country,” says Giorgio. “I already had a house in Cape Town and used to come on holiday, and thought let’s take a chance. So I sold my business in Europe and moved here.”

That was in 1999, but his first food foray on local shores didn’t fare too well.

“I started with a small mozzarella factory, but unfortunately it was not the right time, it was too early for South Africa,” recalls Giorgio.

It was, however, the right time to tap into Cape Town’s reputation as the party-destination for Europe’s jet-set. Nava’s Rhodes House nightclub became the most sought-after address in town, with Britain’s Prince Harry a regular patron.

“Financially it was a very good business, but I got a bit bored and decided to close it,” remembers Giorgio. “I’m getting old as well, so I don’t want to be up until four in the morning dealing with drunk people. If I don’t really enjoy something I like to move on.”

Having owned a handful of successful restaurants back in Milan, an eatery offering authentic northern Italian cuisine was a logical step. 95 Keerom opened its doors in December 2003 and remains one of the most popular restaurants in the Mother City. Last year Nava was made a Certified Master Chef of Italian Cuisine; an award for chefs outside of Italy cooking authentic Italian cuisine using traditional ingredients and techniques.

Nava’s second restaurant – Carne SA – followed five years after ‘95’, serving up a steak-heavy menu with free-range grass-fed beef and lamb sourced largely from Giorgio’s two farms in the Eastern Cape.

Not content to sit on his rump, Caffe Milano and The Mozzarella Bar added some Nava magic to Cape Town’s trendy Kloof Street in early-2011, offering delicate Italian pastries and hand-made mozzarella. And in true Giorgio style, he just happens to be a partner in Puglia, the cheesery that produces mozzarella for all four eateries.

So with all that on the go, is he actually a businessman first, and chef second?

“No, no, no,” he scolds me gently. “I’m a chef first, but unfortunately as the number of restaurants increase you have to spend more time out of the kitchen. But I don’t like too much paperwork, so I try to surround myself with good people that I can trust and rely on, to allow me more time back in the kitchen.”

And while good staff are golden, bad staff have proven to be as much of a feature in South Africa’s restaurant trade, sighs Giorgio: “South Africa doesn’t have a long tradition for fine dining, and here the restaurant is just a job. Most people have no passion for it. But I must say, some of my staff has been working with me for 10 years and they see it as a profession. But that’s a new generation.”

Along with good staff, long hours are unavoidable in a successful restaurant, and Giorgio’s gruelling days see him popping up – as if by magic – at all four of his eateries; from 6am at Caffe Milano to a late nightcap at 95. But being there – and being seen – is a non-negotiable if you want to run a successful restaurant, says Giorgio.

“In the past nobody knows the chef, but today people go to the restaurant because of him. You’re the brand for your restaurant and they pay not only for your food but to also see you in there. You have to spend every day in the kitchen. The moment you’re not in your kitchen somebody will eat your fillet or drink your wine. And when you allow that to happen, your business will fail.”

And even for restaurateurs that do succeed, a bank account in the black can often be a poisoned chalice, warns Nava: “When people get a bit successful, they start to leave it alone. They spend more time away from their restaurant. That’s when they fail.”

“I work every day in my restaurant. There’s never a public holiday free, never Sundays or weekends. I’m always here. I can do that because I have no family and I have the time and freedom, but not everyone can do that or is prepared to do that. But because I like what I do I’m happy. I’m in my kitchen and I’m happy.”

Happy, perhaps, but not yet content. The “easily bored” chef has no plans to slow down just yet.

“I still have a lot of excitement, a lot of energy and a lot of ideas. I still want to open another two places here in Cape Town. I like to keep control of my shops for now, but maybe one day there will be something in Johannesburg.”

Eating out with Giorgio

95 Keerom (opened December 2003)

Housed in a historic building in Cape Town’s legal district, ‘95’ dishes up authentic north Italian cuisine: the butternut ravioli with ricotta and sage butter, and beef carpaccio topped with rocket and parmesan, are particularly good. No wonder it was named South Africa’s Best Italian Restaurant at last year’s EatOut Awards.

The cosy ground floor rooms – with exposed brick walls and antique décor – are your best bet for romantic dinners, while the airy and modern upstairs is perfect for power lunches and larger groups. Giorgio is in attendance nearly every night to welcome diners and explain the menu in his lilting Italian accent. Female diners will swoon.

95 Keerom Street, Cape Town. 021 422 0765. www.95keerom.com

Main courses R110.

Carne (December 2008)

The industrial feel of this monument to meat is as far removed from a traditional steakhouse as you’re likely to find, as ghost chairs and bare screed walls focus all attention on the steak in front of you.

Steaks arrive perfectly grilled, but unapologetically unadorned. No basting and no flaming brandy, just a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Maldon. The 1.2kg La Fiorentina (serves two) is spectacular, but look out for other unusual cuts too. Side dishes include steamed greens, skinny fries and more. Don’t bother asking for creamed spinach. An impressive wine list offers South African and Italian options.

70 Keerom St, Cape Town. 021 424 3460. www.carne-sa.com.

Main courses R120.

The Mozzarella Bar (December 2010)

This bustling just-a-little-too-small deli-eatery is dedicated to all things mozzarella. But not the rubbery ball of pizza topping you’re probably used to: instead, pick up a parcel of delicate bocconcini, smoky affumicata or creamy burrata to take home. Of the selection of deli-offerings the rotolo filled with Parma ham and rocket is your best bet.

51 Kloof Street, Cape Town. 021 422 5822. www.mozzarellabar.co.za

Down South Food Bar (December 2010)

This ribs-and-prawns joint (alongside the Down South pie shop next door) brought southern-USA style food to bustling Long Street, but is the only one of Giorgio’s new ventures to close its doors. The reason?

“The concept was brought to me by one of my chefs, but he had to leave and could no longer run it. I never loved the food, so I decided to close it,” explains Giorgio. “We’ll open it with a different Italian concept, a concept I like and with the right people, and I’m sure it will work. You must stick with what you know to make a success of things.”

Now closed.

Caffe Milano (January 2010)

Caffe Milano is as famous for its delicate Italian pastries as for the small menu’s decadent breakfasts, creative salads and heavier lunchtime options. The steak tartare with onion, egg, capers and parsley is divine and the outside terrace is ideal for people watching on trendy Kloof Street.

153 Kloof Street, Cape Town. 021 426 5566. www.caffemilano.co.za

First published in Sunday Times Food

May

Bar Hopping

Thought the best chocolate came from Switzerland, and that a glass-and-a-half of milk was all you needed for the perfect bar? Richard Holmes meets two local chocolate-makers that are full of beans…

Bean-to-bar: CocoaFair

I have a suspicion that Antonino Allegra is a bit of a control freak. But as a globetrotting pastry chef turned chocolate-maker that’s probably a good thing, because controlling the process that transforms sacks of raw cocoa beans into packaged bars of bittersweet chocolate is what CocoaFair is all about.

“I am a chocolate-maker, not a chocolatier,” says Nino emphatically, as we chat outside the small CocoaFair factory in Cape Town’s trendy Old Biscuit Mill complex. While chocolatiers – who buy large slabs of mass-produced couverture to melt and refashion – abound, the art of actually making chocolate is dying out, suggests Nino.

“In Europe there are just three major companies selling chocolate to chocolatiers,” says Nino passionately, his Sicilian ancestry peeking through. “Last year I had a third-generation chocolatier from Belgium here and I had to explain to him how you actually make chocolate. He’d never seen raw cocoa beans before!”

And, like wine makers selecting the finest grapes, for chocolate-makers it all begins with the beans. Ecuadorian beans offer full flavours; Ghanaians are famed for their nutty essence, while Peruvians add notes of coffee.

“Our chocolate is a blend of three or four different types of beans, and depending on how we roast them they release certain flavour profiles. By roasting cocoa you increase all the flavour notes, so it just tastes better,” adds Nino. “We then grind those beans together with sugar and cocoa butter to make our own unique chocolate. We control the whole process.”

And that control is the essence of ‘bean-to-bar’ producers such as CocoaFair, where the roasting, grinding, tempering and moulding is on full display in their small Woodstock factory. Here, the heady aroma of roasting cocoa nearly bowls you over as you walk in the door. A chocolatier crafts pralines off to one side, but it’s the bars of plain dark chocolate that are the real attraction here.

“All our ingredients are organic, and we put the chocolate in front of everything,” explains Nino. “Even with our truffles and pralines it’s just the essence of the flavour that we want in there, so when we do chilli chocolate it’s not so spicy that it burns your mouth. After all, I don’t sell chilli, I sell chocolate! That simplicity; that’s our approach.”

www.cocoafair.com

082 079 8687

R20/100g bar

Raw: Honest Chocolate

In stark contrast to the industrial feel of CocoaFair, which turns out a ton of chocolate each month, the wood-panelled emporium of Honest Chocolate is like stepping back to a gentler time.

In their small factory-shop in Cape Town’s Wale Street, only a handful of bars are on display. A glass case parades a handful of truffles, and through a small window I can see Anthony Gird working with just a litre or two of molten chocolate. At Honest Chocolate everything is done by hand; from tempering the molten chocolate on a marble slab, to reheating it with a household hairdryer before moulding.

Gird, and business partner Michael de Klerk, have been going for less than a year, but have already developed a loyal following amongst Cape Town foodies keen on chocolate made with unroasted cocoa.

“Raw cocoa is a healthier option,” explains Michael. “A lot of people taste it and discover that it doesn’t have the waxy feel of some commercial chocolates, because it has less cocoa butter and no emulsifiers. Eating this chocolate you feel healthier, you feel lighter.”

Unlike bean-to-bar producers, Honest Chocolate sources raw cocoa paste that has been stone-ground in Ecuador.

“The stone grinding means that it stays at a low temperature,” explains Michael. “We melt the paste down and add just a small amount of cocoa butter for some creaminess. We also use locally produced agave syrup, instead of sugar, to sweeten the mixture. We’re trying to keep the chocolate as close to the flavour of the real bean as possible.”

Once mixed and tempered, the raw chocolate is either used as a covering for truffles or moulded into bars. But apart from the soft texture and delicate flavour of raw cocoa chocolate, foodies have also been taken aback by something else. The price.

“At first spending R42 for a 60-gram bar is a big step for people, but the markets have been great for us,” says Michael. “We have a chance to explain why it’s more expensive. To tell people about the ethically sourced cocoa, the agave syrup, the way we make everything by hand. People realise then that it is expensive, but it’s a quality product.”

And if first impressions count, you can’t help but fall in love with Honest Chocolate, with each flavour featuring an original wrapper designed by a local artist.

On the 88% bar a charcoal sketch of Dracula warns ‘Don’t be afraid of the dark’, while a wide-eyed bush-baby graces the coffee-flavoured bar. My favourite is the comical pirate stranded in the desert; drawn by Toby Newsom for the bar with Kalahari salt.

“The bars sell especially well,” laughs Michael. “People buy them as gifts, then get to taste them, and then they are hooked!”

www.honestchocolate.co.za

021 423 8762

R42/60g bar

Also raising the bar

Von Geusau Chocolates

Using top-quality Belgian couverture, Greyton-based Richard von Geusau creates a range of flavoured truffles, dipped fruits and scented slabs in his small Greyton factory. The bars of Masala Chai or Rock Salt are especially good.

www.vgchocolate.co.za

The Nice Company

Cherylle Cowley makes some of the best ice cream in th Mother city, but is a dab hand at chocolate too. Look out for her beautifully wrapped bars of dark and milk chocolate studded with cocoa nibs at Cape Town delicatessens.

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Fine & Raw

Lara Sklaar produces organic chocolate from raw cocoa that is also sugar-free (she uses Blue Agave from Mexico), dairy-free and contains no preservatives. Dipped bonbons are made using cold-pressed coconut oil instead of cream. Widely available at Johannesburg health shops and food markets.

www.fineandraw.co.za

Chocolats Marionnettes

Handcrafted in Knysna from both African and South American cocoa, Chocolats Marionnettes is one of the few producers to make ‘single origin’ bars.

www.chocolatsmarionnettes.co.za

Arriba Chocolates

This Durban chocolatier uses high-quality Callebaut couverture, and moulds all of their much-loved pralines by hand. A small selection of bars is also available, as well as diabetic-friendly options.

www.arribachocolates.co.za

First published in the Sunday Times Foods

May

A culture of cheese

I’m yet to meet a fervent foodie that doesn’t love cheese; whether it’s nutty cheddar or a creamy Camembert. But do you actually know what goes into your favourite cheese? Or how it’s made? Why some cheeses use microbial, instead of animal-based, rennet? Why homogenised milk is hopeless for mozzarella, and mascarpone can be made with your eyes closed?

Well, no, neither did I. Which is precisely why I signed up for a two-day cheese-making course under the watchful eye of Miki Cyman; the doyenne of DIY cheese. Miki’s family eatery, La Masseria, is famous in the Cape winelands; not least for the spread of fresh bread and cheeses that accompany the popular antipasto platters.

“In Italy, we never have a meal without cheese!” laughs Miki, as we take our seats on the restaurant terrace. Miki’s warm and welcoming manner immediately puts our group of five at ease: some are foodies simply keen to learn more; others have plans to open their own cheesery.

“Cheese-making is really about preserving milk,” suggests Miki, as we tuck into plates of bread, cheese and charcuterie. “Traditionally, certain cheeses are made at certain times of the year, according to the abundance and quality of milk. And the process is really quite simple. You need heat, you need an enzyme, and you need milk.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the quality of milk is king when it comes to making cheese. With its high fat content Jersey milk is ideal for cheddar, while Friesland is better for soft cheeses. And while you can get away with pasteurised milk, raw milk is best for making cheese.

“The problem with most commercial milk is that it’s been homogenised,” explains Miki. “This means it won’t stretch, so you can’t use it for something like mozzarella.”

As more cheese is nibbled and coffees arrive, the conversation turns to the cheeses we’ll make in the afternoon, and the following day. Miki has translated an Italian DIY cheese-making manual, and we talk through the process involved in caciotta, mozzarella, pecorino and ricotta.

There’s plenty of chatting the first day, but in the afternoon – the basic principles under our belt – we get our hands dirty. Fifty-litre pots are filled with fresh unpasteurised milk from a nearby farm, the method for each type of cheese is explained at the table and then completed in the kitchen. The following day our mozzarella curds are ready for stretching and rolling.

“You need to treat the curd gently, otherwise you’ll lose a lot of the good fats into the whey,” warns Miki, as she makes a plaited mozzarella look easy. The tiny bocconcini are easier – ideal for summer salads – and even my slightly overworked mozzarella balls are fantastic sliced into a caprese salad the following day.

We end with creamy caciotta and hard pecorino: enzymes are added, whey is measured off and the curds cut, moulded and pressed. Late on the second day, we leave with hastily jotted notes, a book full of recipes and bags laden with cheese crafted by our own hands. Two months later my pecorino is still maturing happily at home.

With long spells around a table piled high with La Masseria’s cheese, bread and home-made pasta, the languid pace make this a course that’s lazily Italian in both manner and matter. Will I make cheese at home by myself? Perhaps not, but I left La Masseria with a new respect for the craft of cheese making.

And as Miki said on our very first morning: these courses are as much about teaching the techniques of cheese making as helping to build “a culture of cheese”. No pun intended.

La Masseria’s two-day cheese-making course costs R2000 per person, which includes all notes, recipes and ingredients.

Upcoming course dates for 2012 are 1-2 March, 19-20 April, 3-4 May and 7-8 June. To book call 021 8813654 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

First published in Food&Home Entertaining

Mar

Passion for produce

If necessity is the mother of invention, then scarcity is surely the father of urban farming.

And the scarcity of locally-grown seasonal produce that hasn’t clocked up a few thousand food miles from farm to fork is just one of the reasons behind a groundswell of ‘urban farmers’ that are turning vacant patches of land – from their own back gardens to tracts of suburbia – into a cornucopia of fresh produce.

Cape Town-based Matt Allison has become something of a poster-boy for the local urban farming movement, but clad in a pair of dusty jeans and scuffed wellington boots he seems less of an agriculture-advocate and simply a man passionate about produce.

“As I became a more proficient cook I started getting really interested in the provenance of food. I started asking myself; ‘Could this food be better?’” explains Matt as the sun beats down on his urban farm in the Constantia suburbs. “It motivated me to start growing my own food, and from there to supporting a wider community at local markets.”

That wider community has grown to include a selection of the most talked-about eateries in Cape Town, as chefs begin to tap in to the wealth of urban produce on their doorstep.

“My goal is to provide organically grown produce at a reasonable price… and my prices are usually comparable to mainstream supermarkets. Chefs are buying more and more produce from me, and it’s fantastic that they get a say in how their ingredients are grown,” says Matt. “This is where agriculture was 30 years ago before it became agri-business: you had a relationship with the purveyor and the grower.”

It’s a relationship Matt nurtures with the public at weekly markets too, but for a one-on-one rapport with your radish there’s little to beat growing your own.

Jane Griffiths has perhaps done more than most to promote the notion of urban farming, thanks to her best-selling book ‘Jane’s Delicious Garden’.

“Gone are the days of a veggie garden being the poor cousin of the property,” laughs Jane down the line from her Johannesburg home. “My vegetable garden takes pride of place, even though it’s a complete patchwork of plants. Much of my garden is on tall tripods: things like gem squash, butternut, tomatoes and beans. Then I mix it up by growing herbs and flowers in amongst the vegetables: it confuses the insects, and provides me with wonderful edible flowers.”

While most of Jane’s produce ends up in her own kitchen, or that of friends, many up-country growers are offering their goods to the public: “Johannesburg’s restaurants are tapping into buying from small-scale urban farmers, and there’s been a huge increase in organic markets where the public can buy locally-grown vegetables too.” And apart from generating fewer food miles, the fact that urban farmers are invariably small-scale operations without storage facilities means that seasonality and freshness come standard.

“Observing seasonality is key to getting good produce. It sounds like stating the obvious, but it’s actually incredibly rare,” says Matt in his high-energy patter. “South Africa’s largest table grape exporter told me that if they get their fruit to European markets in five weeks it’s considered fresh! To me that’s just crazy. With urban produce you get to work with a local farmer, and you get the freshest produce that’s in season right now. And you get to taste heirloom fruit and vegetables you probably haven’t tasted before.”

Heirlooms – open-pollinated varieties where unaltered seeds have been saved and stored through the generations – are the gold standard of small-scale urban farming, offering an eye-watering array of fruit and vegetables that have long since disappeared from the supermarket shelves.

“Our farm is largely heirlooms: we have five varieties of heirloom lettuce and five of radish. We have eight heirloom tomatoes, and hope to have sixteen varieties soon,” says Matt. “Unlike hybridised varieties, heirlooms allow me to save the seeds from this crop and get exactly the same crop next year.”

“I started my garden because I wanted to cook with heirloom vegetables, and the only way I could get my hands on exactly what I wanted was if I grew them myself,” says Bernadette Le Roux, chef and author of the award-winning cookbook ‘Prickly Pears and Pomegranates’. “I’ve tried to keep the garden nearly all heirlooms, but the vegetable I’m most excited about are the Turk’s Turban pumpkins. Then I have a lovely range of tomatoes – including tiger-striped black tomatoes and golden monarchs – as well as colourful Easter Egg radishes.”

While the bulk of Bernadette’s produce ends up in her stylish farmhouse kitchen, a bumper harvest often sees a basket of excess vegetables going down the road to the family-owned restaurant Café Roux.

“I had so many broad beans last season!” laughs Bernadette.

It’s a common problem, and nearly all small-scale growers will bemoan the inevitable feast or famine as a glut of one crop arrives as another dwindles.

“My second book – ‘Jane’s Delicious Kitchen’ – is all about dealing with the seasonality of harvest,” says Jane. “I do a lot of bottling, but also discovered other methods of preserving summer herbs and vegetables using oils, salt and sugar. You can dry or bottle tomatoes very easily, and I also make a lot of pickles. And when my plum tree is in fruit I make delicious plum jelly that I sell at a local farmers’ market.”

“Although it’s the best way to store your harvest I’m not a great one for preserving, so I take care to stagger my planting,” says Bernadette. “I’ll plant some veggies from seed, and others as seedlings, so that some of the plants are a few weeks behind.

And while Bernadette says she loves the notion of fresh produce a few steps from her kitchen counter, it’s essential to have – or develop – a passion for growing your own.

“Growing your own can be hard work. If you don’t take the trouble to go out with a torch at night and pick off the snails, or if you don’t compost and water religiously, then it’s not going to work,” she warns. “A container box of herbs is certainly more manageable, and herbs are hardier; they don’t need as much attention.”

But it appears ever more home chefs are signing up to the hard work and heartache of growing their own. Matt, who offers private consulting and landscaping for urban vegetable farms great and small, says business is booming: “I’ve definitely seen a huge increase in the demand for people wanting to start their own urban farms. Nowadays I probably do two vegetable gardens a week.”

While most chefs are simply happier knowing a little more about the source of their supper, an increasing number of people “are becoming more aware of the impact that their food production has on the planet,” says Jane. “The shortest food mile of all is from your veggie garden to your kitchen table... and growing our own is one way we know exactly what’s going into our food.”

Visit www.janesdeliciousgarden.com for more on Jane’s books, classes and garden planning.

Matt Allison offers workshops and landscaping services for setting up your own urban farm, from 60cm2 to 400m2.

First published in Food&Home Entertaining.

Mar

Eating out: Franschhoek

With culinary competition always stiff in the Franschhoek Valley, a revamp and a change of chef has breathed new life into the venerable cellar restaurant at Haute Cabrière. Richard Holmes paid a visit…

The Place

With its glorious position on the Franschhoek Pass, Haute Cabrière’s restaurant has always seemed out of place; buried into the hillside with foreboding décor and views only into the wine cellar below.

And while the heart of the restaurant is still indoors, the addition of an informal lounge area and new windows into the tasting room have given it an altogether brighter feel. Heavy chandeliers and wooden furniture are out; crisp white linen and crystal chandeliers are in.

Crackling fireplaces still add cosiness to wintry winelands days, but the addition of terrace tables with panoramic Franschhoek vistas now make this one of the valley’s best al fresco spots for summer.

The Chef

“I’m thrilled to be back in the valley,” says executive chef Ryan Shell (28), who cut his cooking teeth in the kitchens of Le Quartier Francaise. “There’s a wonderful camaraderie between chefs, and it feels like I have another family here!”

And keeping things local is key for Ryan, who says he plans to capitalise on valley produce wherever possible: “We’re doing our best to be a Franschhoek restaurant and use what we can from the area. We have wonderful salmon trout right here in the valley, berries come from down the road, and in early summer we get guys coming to the back door with baskets of freshly picked porcinis!”

The Food

With a healthy respect for the classics, Ryan isn’t shy to combine local produce and global influences to keep diners’ palates entertained, and his signature dish is a perfect example.

“It’s a beef wellington, but it’s slightly different,” explains Ryan. “We soy cure the fillet, and then roll it in shiitake duxelle. It’s then wrapped in a pancake and pastry, then baked until golden and served with wilted bok choi and grilled daikon.”

It tastes even more delicious than it sounds, and will certainly have me going back for more. And, at R125, offers good value for cooking this skilled; where delicate plating and restrained saucing ensures dishes don’t overwhelm the palate.

And it’s value that carries throughout the menu. Other standouts include an open lasagne of salmon trout (R110), and porcini-crusted wildebeest loin with a bitter chocolate jus (R145).

The à la carte menu will change with whatever fresh produce comes Ryan’s way, but also look out for the seven-course tasting menu.

“There the focus is as much on the wine as it is on the food,” says Ryan. “It’s all about the pairings, so you’re sitting down to drink the wines foremost, and then see which food goes well with them.”

X Factor

Pierre Jourdan wines from the estate are paired with each dish, offering surprisingly good value for fine dining in Franschhoek.

Haute Cabrière Cellar Restaurant.

Franschhoek Pass

021 876 8500

www.cabriere.co.za

First published in Food&Home

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