So is anyone else loving winter?! I don’t mean to sound like one of the crazies, but have you noticed that the weather has been delightfully spring-like lately AND we have a proliferation of incredible winter specials.

Note: winter specials and NO winter weather! SCORE!

Alright, here are a few I have personally tried out. It is by no means an exhaustive list, but it might get you started. For a proper, really good, very inspirational list go to Relax With Dax. That is where I go when I need inspiration.

Okay. To be begin.

Last Saturday I went to Sinn’s Restaurant, and had their special. This special offers 2 courses for R125 and 3 courses for R135, both with a glass of wine. Very good value people. Very good.

They change the specials menu daily, I think, but we had, between three of us, Thai fishcakes, potato and leek soup, and French onion soup, for starters. For mains we had chicken tikka and angelfish, and malva pudding for desert. The wine left a bit to be desired, especially the chardonnay, which was woody, but the red was palatable. The food was beautifully presented, and tasted great. The service was attentive, and decent, though there was a moment (eating chicken tikka) when I could have killed for a glass of water, and could not locate a waiter. But nevertheless, this comes highly recommended.

Next (the same weekend, yes I do cook, but I like to eat out on weekends!), we went to the Hussar Grill, in Camps Bay for their Sunday lunch special. This is a 3 course meal for R89! And they have cocktails! W

ho’d’ve guessed?! It was lovely, old-fashioned, hit the spot like your mom used to food. For starters we had a delicious veggie soup, with grilled French loaf slices, for mains there was roast beef with Yorkshire pud, roast potatoes, spinach and butternut. Delicious! And desert was bread and butter pudding, which I haven’t had since I was a child. You cannot go wrong with such lovely, old-fashioned food!

Lastly, for a special occasion, my boyfriend and I went to Aubergine, to take advantage of their special, since they are a fine dining, delicious and usually expensive place. Well, the special is great for a fine dining place. It’s not special if you’re after something cheap. Cheap it is not. It is very good value for money especially for such fine food. Back before the recession, before I graduated and found a real job, back when I was a student and a waiter and could afford dinners like this, we used to go to fine dining establishments often. Well, how things changed.

It would be impossible to describe the wealth of flavours that Harald Bresselschmidt, cuisinier of Aubergine manages to work into his food. I have not got enough words to describe the divine quail starter, the mussel and swordfish broth, or the blesbok. I won’t even try. If you have a small special occasion, a friend in town, anniversary, have nothing to eat tonight. GO. Go now. It is very, very worth the money you spend. But a word to the wise. Stay away from the exorbitantly priced wine list. It’s not that it isn’t good wine, I just think R265 is a bit steep for a nice, but ordinary shiraz. That’s just my opinion, use it, don’t use it.

So, for more specials, a very exhaustive list, go see Relax with Dax. And if, like me for the rest of the month, you have to stay home from over-indulgence in specials, go see What on Earth’s for Dinner? for some inspiration for the eternal question.

Article by Sigrid

As big a fan as this ZestCulture journalist is of Martinis, I am an even larger fan of Tequila. I can drink barrels of the stuff. And yes, at some point for all of us, we were young, incredibly stupid and we did and we ended up hunched over discarding our lunch (not dinner, because you probably weren’t clever enough to have any) somewhere. I am no exception to the dreaded morning-after-tequila sad to say.

But as I got older and presumably wiser I stop drinking tequila. ‘That’, you would think, would be the answer…right? But in retrospect I realise now, I was just missing out on what Tequila could really offer. One day a friend of mine introduced me to the seductress that is 100% Agave Tequila. A passionate love affair started that captivated me completely.

I may sound like a bit of an alcoholic little bugger, but I assure you that isn’t the case. I did much research on the subject and it saddened me to find that there was so much incorrect and conflicting information out there. Here are a few myths that you may have or may not have heard

1. Tequila is the stuff with the worm in the bottle
2.Tequla is made from the cactus
3. Tequila and Mezcal are the same things

Enter stage left two tall no nonsense tequila fundees. One Henry Besant the Brit and Charles Vexenat the Frenchman. They opened the famous Green &Red Bar and Cantina in London. These two strapping lads with the addition of a third, Dre Masso, formed The Tahona Society. The Tahona Society has been establish to create one very pimping global network of the big boys (and girls thank you very much)in the bartending and spirit industry.

The Tahona Society creates a platform from which they can provide all-important knowledge to thirsty bartenders’ minds all over the world. They recognise and celebrate the ancient art of true Tequila making – the Tahona. The Tahona refers to an ancient, volcanic millstone technique of manufacturing Tequila. This ancient and gentle technique of tequila making is used in the making of Olmeca’s Super premium range of tequilas Tezon. So Pirnod Ricard and Olmeca Black Tequila was kind enough to fly these great minds to South Africa to share their knowledge with us.

So far in South Africa less than a 100 people in the hospitality trade can boast being part of the society. To become a member you have to attend an intense two day seminar on the subject. And let me tell you these boys have done their homework. Research that has taken years of traveling and tasting to obtain.  I have been in the industry for seven years. Several of which has been spent being a tequila enthusiast so I was lucky enough to get a spot on the list. The quality of information left me dumbfounded. All that attended was of similar thought. To cool our overloaded minds we climbed into familiar territory for all that was attending, the bar, for a spot of cocktail making. Followed by a prize giving. What would a celebration be without tequila? Scandelous by normal standards. So you can imagine the Tequila consumption that proceded. We made Mexico proud!

So here is a ‘Big Up’ to Olmeca Black for getting Henry and Charles to South Africa and for looking after us SO incredibly well. Even more thanks to Henry and Charles for doing the educational and awareness work  they are doing.

In conjunction with the Tahona Society,  Henry and Dre also founded the Worldwide Cocktail Club to promote the cocktail culture around the world. Important for anyone in the industry or anyone with an extreme passion for drink making to have a look at.

This weekend saw the Good Food & Wine show at the Cape Town International Convention Center and as usual the show didn’t disappoint. The ZestCulture team having their passion for food, just had to have a stroll-about and sample some of the delicacies. Saying the place was packed is a slight understatement. Which proves that wine combined with food is always a sure fire winner. Especially when the all exhibitors encourage you to fully experience their brand with generous helpings of their wines.

We made our way to the press launch at the Cockspur stand where a tropical party was in full swing. Barbados style. With a full Steel Drum band playing and one very inviting  ice louge keeping the vibe going. Here show guests could also have a chance to dig in the treasure chest and win one of three solid 24 carat  gold Cockspur coins.

Through the course of the show, the South African Bartenders Association kept the crowd entertained. They held the South African Mixology Championship (this is the sophisticated art of making cocktails. Well more along the lines of liquid culinary so to speak) and they also hosted the National Flaring Competition at the festival. The guys mixed, bounced and juggled their stuff with Travis Kuhn of Pure taking the championship, Anil Shaberwal of Shaker SA taking second place & coming in with the bronze at third place was Riaan Strydom from Buena Vista. The rookie flair was taken by Cubana’s Pieter Oosthuizen. CONGRATS guys! You were all AMAZING!

One of my favourite stands was the HoneyWood Farm stand. Here I had a discussion about bees that was quite enlightening. It seems that our bees are under threat & without them no plants can be polinated. No polination means no fruit or veggies but there will be more about this later.

There were a couple a cooking theaters showing people how to bring fine cuisine into their homes. Spier wine farm’s famous restaurant, Moyo was one of the stands with the most informative demonstrations. And if you just couldn’t be bothered to get your hands dirty then you could simply plonk down at one of their table and be served their amazingly innovation African cuisine. Even have their signature face painting done by one of their staff.

Then for dessert we visited the Kahlua stand where Darren Hoffman showed the guests some de-lick-table drinks that could be made using Kahlua to smooshzzz the ladies as he called it. The recipes were defnitely drawing the crowd. Male crowd that is, but I think that also had something to do with the beautiful promoters.

Like with the Cheese & Wine Festival at Bien Donné, once again we came home with bags and bags full of goodies. Well i guess that is the point. And now Henry (the basil plant) has a playmate; William the Rosemary plant…Bless ‘em!

We have already established that the ZestCulture team are ‘huge’ Martini fans. And with Edwards Snell launching their Super Premium Brand of vodka today, SKYY 90, it was definitely one up for all the Martini fans.

The venue: Geisha Wok and Noodle Bar in Greenpoint. What a perfect venue for such slick and stylish vodka. Brand Manager Richard Lawrence, is very excited to present the SKYY 90 brand to Cape Townians and to the rest of South Africa in full force.

Interesting fact 101. The 90 in SKYY 90 refers to the Alcohol percentage. It is 90 proof. Which means it comes in at 45% ABV (Alcohol By Volume). Interesting considering most spirits in South Africa are produced, sold and consumed at 43% ABV.

Everyone attended from TOT magazine to De Kat and Wine Magazine. South African SKYY Vodka & King of Africa Flairing Champion, Anil Sabharwal form SHAKER events, entranced the press with an awesome display of flairing.

As always we want to Zestify you. So its competition time ZestCulture readers. We have a SKYY 90 Vodka goodie bag to give away. All you have to do is…

1. Register on ZestCulture and then, 
2. Visit the SKYY 90 website to see what type of grain they use to make SKYY 90
3. Tell us what type of grain they use to make SKYY 90 by mailing your answer to info@zestculture.com 

The winner will be drawn from all the correct entries. Closing date is the Friday 22nd of May. Winner will be announced on the Saturday 23rd of May. Terms and Conditions Apply

Good Luck!