It’s one of those truly amazing things: spend the better part of 15 minutes in the hustle and bustle of inner city traffic,a surge of energy fills you as the vortex of people and energy surrounds you. Then - as you walk up the path of The Cape Town club, you are instantly struck with the silence of a time before, the architecture, the colonial slant on décor and the amazing portraits of South Africa’s past and present leaders on the walls.
Whilst Milner and Rhodes are truly colonial, the four great Africans depicted are linked by one great achievement: that of Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, and once again the peacefulness is echoed. It is hard to believe one is still in the city and one may still smoke here, freely, no stuffy glass box with air-conditioning set at the wrong temperature. Wow. What a treat.
Tonight is back to formal wear with jacket and tie required. The regular members shuffled in to the upstairs bar, where we were greeted with some of Jeff Grier’s great local bubbles, the first Cigar of the evening and a rather tasty blue cheese, onion and grape pastry.
I found the Cigar’s construction to be very good and the condition excellent, with a rather elegant aroma, quite light. Upon first draw, it was light and elegant with rewarding big mouthfuls of smoke. Smooth toffee character and light refreshing fruits. This is a harmonious affair with high quality tobacco and light enough to think that perhaps it is not Cuban.
Once we were well into the last third of the Cigar we were ushered to the downstairs dining room where we were greeted by our host Eugene whom introduced the menu and wine selection to us.
Our Amuse bouche was a nectarine and raspberry Gazpacho which had a good hint of Chilli and perfectly ripe tomato, which had me crying out for tequila. Now do not get me wrong: I am not a tequila person, anything with big spirity young alcohol would suffice, and would truly work well.
Our Entrée was a brilliant Tuna Tataki with cream cheese, avo and tomato, the presentation was really good, flavours were rich yet elegant and textures sublime. Eugene chose The Oystercatcher Sauvignon Blanc as a pairing; I found the wine too light with no real minerality and rather flat.
Next up was a starter of Prawn salad with Jalousie dressing, Catafi crisps and quails egg, again beautifully presented with loads of textures and flavours. The catafi, which apart from texture, added nothing to the dish. Paired with this was Springfield’s wild yeast Chardonnay which had me worried that my palate was not getting the wine today, as again the wine was slightly tart with no structure. I would have loved to have had an overtly wooded chardonnay that could stand up to the rich creamy prawn and tannin of the dressing.
As the palate cleanser of lemon granite and lemongrass jelly was arriving Barry Lucas took us through the first Cigar. The format chosen was to look at the Cigars characteristics the same way the late Theo Rudman used to, and as we discussed it, he let slip it was Cuban, much to my surprise. I almost immediately though guessed it was a Hoyo De Monterrey, the cigar seemed smaller than a Corona Gorde, though it was not, and so, Epicure 1 it was.
Shortly after that Deshbir Bhandari handed out the second Cigar, it was presented with band on, which helps when trying to figure what it is! It was a Ramone Allones Phoenicia 32 Exclusivo Lebano, which was a 3rd limited regional release of Allones to Lebanon. In celebration of its 32nd Anniversary of the Habanos Distributor, Phoenicia Trading. Limited to 2000 boxes of 30. Unfortunately, Deshbir did not talk us through this one. I was very grateful to Deshbir for sharing such a wonderful cigar with us. Thank you Deshbir.
The cigar construction was good and condition once more, excellent. It had an aroma of the Vuelta Abajo in Pinar Del Rio and was unmistakeably Cuban. A rich well matured leaf spoke of Cuba’s past with a complexity that only modern Cuba seems to carry off. The smoke is medium bodied to rich, with the last third almost addictive, it really demands ones attention and delivers precise flavours all the way to the very last draw, this deserved a well aged French red or a classic Highland malt to round it off beautifully.
The mains arrived shortly afterwards of Beef wellington and potato fondant with green beans. Whilst packed with flavour, mine was overcooked with rather sloppy presentation, such a pity as until that point, the food had been amazing. The wine selected was Marianne Shiraz and once more my palate failed me. Whilst the wine hinted at a peppery spicy character, it was overwhelmed with a tannic structure that seemed the wine was too young or the grape had been picked before being ripe enough.
Our dessert got the presentation and texture back on track with a light vanilla infused yoghurt pana cotta and almond crumble. The light elegant flavours are a good way to end a meal, but it felt if there was a transitional course missing from the heavy beef. I often find chefs end with a heavy chocolate or coffee which makes one heavy and sleepy, whilst ending lightly is far better, provided the gap between the main and sweet is less severe. This dessert was paired with a Joostenberg noble late harvest which quite frankly was.. sweet. No structure, no complexity and no fruit almost reminded me of an artificially sweetened rose water.
Judging by the room, the fault with the wines were more to do with me than the wines. I did not see anyone get overly excited but there was no grumbling either. I do have these days where I cannot discern any character in wine and tonight was obviously one of those nights.
After dinner we were presented with Malus an apple brandy from Elgin. Tim George, the owner, describes it as a hobby that got out of hand. His journey into producing a fine spirit from Elgin’s beautiful eating apples has been one all too familiar in South Africa. With a liquor board seemingly unwilling to flinch on relooking at the modern industry, he ends up with a unique product that because of archaic laws remains unclassified. Were he in Normandy he would be making Calvados. While there are four specific types of Calvados, it is protected by a defined geographical area of which Elgin does not form part of. The English, who having been distilling Ciders since 1668, finally in 2011 managed to classify and protect their cider brandy. There is still no classification in South Africa for a distilled cider though, so he falls into that huge general category known as spirit aperitif which can range from caramel flavoured Vodka to Tequila to Absinth and apparently now South African distilled Cider.
With his Engineering background he has produced the most phenomenal packaging with a bespoke hand blown glass decanter by David Reade. A wonderful wood carved box and all manufactured in South Africa by South Africans. This does come at a price though, close to R3000. So what of the spirit itself?
Nose: Very spirity, no real levels of depth and loads of opulent youth, quite flat with almost caramel spirit influence.
Palate: Coating rather lightly with immature spirit slight bitter back end almost no sign of apple. Then some muscavado sugar with soft fruit layer.
Finish: Short and reluctant.
Balance: Not there yet, the immature spirit overwhelms the whole, with very little wood influence other than the colour which had a sort of coral tinge from the pinot casks.
What we have here is a spirit that has the potential to evolve into something special. I wish I could have tasted the Cider, for then I could better understand the spirit’s roots. I feel better wood is required for ageing and perhaps a shorter run can be cut. People often ask me what makes Calvados special. As apples consist of 20 % air (that’s why they float) I think there is something special in Normandy air and as such, its apples. Elgin has fewer varieties and has been producing distilled cider for considerably less time, so it will get better. Malus is expensive no matter how you look at it. The effort and craftsmanship is evident and worth it, the spirit itself though has a way to go. Whatever you do, do keep going Mr Tim George.
Thereafter the members slowly sipped some Malus and Coffee with Petit Fours before embarking on the journey home. I am sure satisfied with what was great evening.
