Drunk!

A meal out with my husband is like trying to catch a bus – you wait for ages and then two come along at the same time. So it was that this weekend saw us head out to Sea Point’s latest chichi dining venue of choice, La Mouette, on Friday night after WineX and then on Saturday lunchtime we bumped down 10km of dirt road to visit Hilda’s Kitchen at Groote Post wine farm.

First – La Mouette. So many things right about this restaurant, so many things written in praise of it by other people – I’m not really sure that I have anything left to add!! Suffice it to say that the R150 tasting menu is fab value and fills you up beautifully with truly delicious food. I’m not sure about the ‘space dust’ element to the little sorbet, but other people on the table loved it, so I’m happy to be in the minority. I’m also glad I managed to arrange to have the G&T dessert as well instead of the Snickers concoction – very yummy indeed.

No photos of La Mouette because I was far too busy having a good time to do so – I nicked these from Food24’s gallery!! And almost the same problem at Hilda’s at Groote Post as well. Following my husband’s 10km-long grumble about the car suspension, I was direly in need of a glass of wine when we got there. I must say, the restaurant wasn’t what I expected – it was more like eating in someone’s front room (albeit someone who has an extremely large manor house stuffed full of antique copper kettles). The menu was also smaller than I had expected – I suspect they have a slimmed down version for winter – and it was bigger meals than perhaps we wanted on the day.

But what the hell. As you may know by now, I am never one to worry about over-eating. So even though I had had a cooked breakfast and was heading up to Langebaan for a huge dinner, I still managed to put away the best part of the most divine steak sandwich I have had in many a long year. Chef Debbie clearly makes all her own sauces including a really good garlic mayo – it’s surprising how many restaurants let themselves down by serving bottled sauces – and everything about the sandwich was perfection itself. In fact so much so, that I completely forgot to photograph it for you cos I was too busy getting my chops round it. Ditto Kevin’s Bacon, Pea and Parmesan pasta. The Old Man’s white was a great partner to the food and an excellent price at R42 – no mark-ups here at all. And when owner Nick Pentz turned up at the table with a magnum of the Old Man’s red for me, well, the weekend just got better and better.

But I did manage to take some pics of Charlie eating his really stunning homemade chicken pasty and homemade chips. You have to let them know if you’re bringing a child so they can make a plan for food (again, I am sure that this is just a winter thing) but they were more than accommodating with him, and the pasty was an absolute triumph. And then he and Kevin shared a great Pecan Pie and this time I did remember to take pics although I am very aware that this blog could turn into a doting Mom’s photo album soon. But hey – what the hell once more! Go to Groote Post – preferably in a 4×4 – it’s well worth the trek.