Author: footloose

So, I have now been exploring the various restaurants in and around Knysna for a while. A good few weeks. Still a way to go and I haven’t even begun my look at the guest houses.
There are some amazing places to eat in knysna and I look forward to trying out the hotel restaurants. They have such an excellent reputation. Of course, the articles I have been writing explain what the places are about and stress the positives.
There is such a thing as a bad restaurant in Knysna. I have drunk cocktails in chipped and scratched beer glasses. (Is this a fad I was unaware of?) I have seen ordinary bits of hake presented as a delicacy. The time for that sort of thing appears to have passed however. With the new cuisine culture that has a hold of everybody.
In a way it might have been inevitable that we would start enjoying food here since the whole experience of Knysna is very close to nature and eating food, when you think about it is as natural as it gets.

At Emily’s we strive to use only the freshest local produce to prepare our delicious daily menu. Our chef team meet every morning to choose the freshest produce available before designing the menu for the day, this menu includes dishes like our Peach Cider Braised Pork belly, Onion Samoosa and Gooseberry Compote; Lamb Rack, Cherry Tomato Feullete and Thyme Red Wine Jus; Fresh Farm Ricotta Phyllo Bake, Honeyed Beetroot and Thyme; Oven Baked Linefish, Brussel Sprout Chips, Caper and Baby Potato Salad. Enjoy a fresh cocktail or a beautiful bottle of wine from the boutique estate wine list while appreciating spectacular riverside views, unforgettable sunsets and a large log fire in winter go without saying.

Chicken Curry Weather this week
And for our Vegetarian’s : Cynthia delicious Spinach and Feta Quiche
Even the pastry is homemade

 

On a day like this Tom Kha Gai is what I normally order from the Thai Kitchen. Today however I wanted something different. And the House of Flavour in George is a good hour away.

Which restaurants besides the Thai Kitchen, in and around Knysna offer a winter menu and an exciting choice of soups?

Bistro Celeiro

Chez Cathy et Remy

Emily Moon

Hunters Country House –

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We offer a wide selection of healthy, light meals including this Goats Cheese Salad with roasted tomato, beetroot and marinated cucumber.

NV-80 offers guests intimate indoor dining, an alfresco balcony for sundowners and a chic centre bar, giving one a sense that is far removed from its shopping centre location. It’s a Cuba meets vintage hotel dinning room ambience with bright lemon and teal hues set amongst tall palm trees. Fluorescent finishes coat classic cast aluminium, Windsor dining chairs wear metal feet and copper accents compliment mighty matchstick blinds. NV-80’s menu is an amalgamation of the Gonçalves’ favourites dishes offering tender Chalmar steaks as well as fresh seafood.

Originating in the African colonies of Mozambique and Angola, trinchado is more African than Mediterranean. Not really Portuguese.

It means “cut up” or “carved” in English and it was served as a tapas-style bar snack along with drinks in most Mozambican bars over the years. Making its way into South Africa with the Portuguese immigrants from Angola and Mozambique to become part of the local popular South African food culture.

My first introduction to the dish was at the street cafes on family jaunts to Beira and Quelimane. But at that time, it was not trinchado that was on the menu. It was the prawns, the beer and the raw red wine. Completely overshadowing the complimentary snack that came with our drinks, assumed to be a goats meat stew of left overs.

It was not until many years later that Luis sold me on the pleasure of breaking off a chunk from a soft Portuguese roll and dunking it into the spicy sauce, complimented by an ice cold Castle larger. a Palhota was a small cafe in Johannesburg, Troye St if I can remember, that I would visit once a month. A regular pub lunch after taking my debit order input to the Sanlam Centre for processing.

It boasted a horseshoe shaped bar, presided over by Henry. A dour, taciturn man who grudgingly served the same gathering of regulars every month. No one spoke English and I sampled the various items on the menu by pointing at the next one I hadn’t yet tried. Caldo verde soup, carne asada, bacalhau and the bife steak. But it was the squid stewed simmered in squid ink that did it for me. Unsure at first, but one of those memorable dishes that can never be matched.

At some point Luis took over and I moved from the bar to the adjacent area where there were tables and chairs. A dark, comfortable space which became my regular spot and his trinchado starter my dish of choice. He too was dour and uncommunicative. But more bitter, having moved to SA after the collapse of the colonial regime in Angola.

Things we never discussed in halting English.

Trinchado is usually a of stew made with the off cuts, bits and pieces of whatever was on the menu that day. Containing a variety of meat types and seafood marinated in wine, browned in olive oil and spiced with chilli, garlic and olives. Simmered on the stove for the whole day, making a tender and spicy dish generally served with drinks.

A traditional South African Portuguese fusion dish with every family having their own recipe. Sometimes made with cream and often served as a main meal in restaurants, with thick cut potato chips or as a trinchado steak.

Similar, just as tasty. But not quite the same thing.

 

Khans Takeaways have a stall at the Outeniqua Farmers Market offering crispy samosas. They also serve and a generous Mutton Curry which is well worth trying.