As a winter sunny Sunday lunch choice in Franschhoek, few venues beat Bread & Wine restaurant at Môreson winery. It rarely fails to tick the boxes as a restaurant serving flavoursome yet innovative country fare that is free of pretentions. Other pluses include views of orchards from outdoor tables, wine tasting next door on a Sunday, and chef Neil Jewell’s home-cured charcuterie and products at the Farm Grocer to tempt on your way out.
Our table of ten was a mix of local and visiting adults and children, and there were plenty of similar sized groups around us. Margherita pizzas were ordered for candidates under 12 while the rest focused on starters and mains.
A shared antipasto plate (R105) received plenty of satisfied smiles, farm-cured hams, mortadella, salami and lamb biltong attractively presented on a wooden stand stacked with crostini. Scotch egg segments, olives, yoghurt cheese balls and rocket salad made appropriate flavour friends, and even the Italians present felt the charcuterie was up to scratch. We picked at thin slices of Neil’s signature narrow pizza, a long thin-based version topped with mild Cape Malay-spiced lamb confit, baba ganoush, Alpine cheese, peppadews and fresh herbs (R55).
Being soccer fans, we felt obliged to support Neil’s World Cup of Sausages, a “battle” between eight or 10 sausages or sausage-inspired dishes representing some of the competing soccer nations. Dutch frikadellen sounded interesting, as did England’s pork and oyster terrine. Two shared portions of Greek turi sausage were served with rice-shaped orzo pasta and a tzatziki-inspired feta mould (R55). Sausage flavours seemed a touch too delicate perhaps, but the dish was a fun way to drum up fan fever all the same.
Main choices worth singling out include a hearty confit of pork belly with cassoulet and Provencal crumbs (R130). Less successful, seared tuna with creamy polenta (R130) was way overcooked. And a triumph, char-grilled octopus that looked as vibrant as it tasted with roast tomatoes on flavoursome risotto with chorizo (R125). A starter portion of potato and fontina cheese gnocchi (R55) with a runny centre hit the spot as a lighter vegetarian option, a smoked mushroom vinaigrette and crisped leek bits adding freshness and crunch to the dish.
We sipped Môreson Pink Brut Rose, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage, all with very moderate mark ups. The meal then tipped dangerously into red card territory when a waitress told us the chocolate fondant puddings were all sold out. Dessert alternatives were limited to poached rhubarb and custard, or plates of fudge and sweets. A dejected mood settled over the group.
But manageress Tina Jewell made a brilliant save - three portions of warm chocolate fondant (R50) were available after all!
As with most dishes at Bread & Wine, it had a twist here and there. A salted caramel ice cream and caramel praline combined deliciously with the oozy-centred warm chocolate cake and coffee sauce drizzle. We left happy and full after enjoying the sunshine. The only criticism: there is a creative selection of starters to entice, but Bread & Wine could expand a bit on their main course and dessert options.
Spend: About R230 for three courses, excluding drinks. The fact that many starters can be shared reduces the group per head spend to around R200.
Value: Good. Flavour rating: Very good. Options for vegetarians.
BREAD & WINE, Happy Valley Road, Franschhoek. Tel 021 876 3692, Bread & Wine Open for lunch Mon to Sun.
June 22nd was an amazingly proudly South African day. With overseas socceroos in tow from Australia, Mzoli’s Place in Gugs was our logical Cape Town destination to watch Bafana Bafana bow out of the World Cup in style. There are plenty of flatscreens around and the volume is always full blast. Our Bafana boys played incredibly passionate soccer, and the vuvuzela-blowing Guguthlethu contingent we joined were behind them with every cheer and roar.
Specify if you want barbeque marinade (worth having), the required portions of mielie pap, spicy chakalaka of raw green peppers, onion and chilli – essential condiment – and mielie bread (we thought we paid for delicious-looking giant slices but the bread was finished when we collected our order). If you’re there for sport, hold on to your belongings whenever a goal is attempted because people are packed tight and the room reverberates. Bring tissues for the loo and ignore the lack of soap to wash your hands and you’ll manage just fine.
Series of wood fires burn constantly in the grill area and the enamel bowls line up with numbered tickets of individual raw meat orders. People return periodically to nag the grillers that their table is still waiting, but patience is required – our order went in early yet we still waited about three hours for our braaied food. There were some tricky balancing moments while carrying food to the table through the seething masses pouring in the other way to watch their team. But the lamb chops and sausages in particular were charred to deliciousness.
Living within a long-range kick of Green Point stadium has massive advantages when you’re attending a live game. But visiting overseas friends and locally-based family think so too, which means I’ve been making a lot of warm soup and quick meals to feed the departing hordes. In between there is the serious business of watching games on 
Anyway it’s delicious and oozily gooey - so worth the effort to make!
Garnish with lemon zest and serve slices with vanilla ice cream.
Exotic creatures with broad shoulders, fairy wings and wigs wander past sipping from oversized champagne glasses as you’re taking in the Boot-Ishoe stall selling numbered gumboots adjacent to the temporary tattoo parlour. A mojito is thrust into your hand near the front of the theatre queue as you’re focusing on a washline of pink and orange hot pants hanging above a veggie garden of plastic pumpkins.
Talented Valentina Love conceptualises the show.
Equally awe-inspiring are the Russian roller disco duo of Kristine and Ivan Prokopyuk, who trained in Moscow State Circus. Kristine’s glittery gold and black body is whipped vertically and horizontally as the couple whirl around a tiny circular stage. Fellow countrywoman Polina Volchek contorts her flexible gymnastic body with multiple hula hoops in positions I didn’t think possible. There is local show content too – a vocal high is South African divas Lilian Khumalo, Marguerita Freeks and Dorothy Engelbrecht of The Original Tons of Fun with their cover versions spanning the decades. “You’re just too good to be true…”