Last weekend Cape Town received a taste of the best gourmet offerings in and around the city at Taste of Cape Town 2015.
The eighth anniversary of the popular annual event took place over three days at the Green Point Cricket Club with the same wide variety of food and wine stalls that Cape Town has become so familiar with over the past eight years.
It pains me to admit that I wasn’t able to sample each and every stand’s wares purely due to the wide variety available, so I can only write about where my appetite took me.
The Pickled Popper tickled my fancy from the get-go. I’m a huge fan of jalapeño peppers so it was the logical choice to make a turn past the stand that was dedicated entirely to chilli poppers. Chalk and Cork’s chorizo sliders were next up and entirely worthy of a review on their own, but I’ll leave that for a future post.
The autumn sun was perhaps a bit warmer than most had expected and I was in need of something to whet the whistle. As it turns out, my favourite Long Street haunt, Beerhouse, was just about to host a panel comprising of a number of renowned brewery owners in the local beer industry. The talk was highly informative, with the state of Cape Town’s craft beer scene being discussed along with a tasting of a Devil’s Peak Vin de Saison – a beer/wine hybrid. Love it or hate it, this is something worth a try! With so many beers on tap at the Beerhouse area I staggered strolled out some time later.
Next time you’re in the Simonsberg-Paarl region be sure to visit Noble Hill, for their Mexican and South American restaurant Cosecha produced one of the finest fish tacos I have ever tasted. So good that I only remembered to take a photo of it after it was eaten. We did get a photo of their succulent wall though.
Speaking of seafood, Beluga was on top form with their offering at ToCT. My personal favourite starter at the Green Point restaurant is their lightly-fried calamari and spicy peanut dressing with pickled vegetables, their stand at the event replicated that same terrific combination of flavours.
Overall I was impressed at the variety of stands, workshops and interactive classes offered at the event this year. The last time I attended was in 2011 and was a bit disappointed at how expensive the food was back then, but strangely enough I am almost certain that this year provided a better bang-for-your-buck factor. Looking forward to what next year holds!
Photography Bev Klein
