Taste of Cape Town

On Thursday evening I attended an event called Taste of Cape Town in Green Point.

(Tents backed by the Green Point Stadium in the distance)

Taste of Cape Town happens over 4 days once a year. The event has an array of stall holders and restaurants that come together to show how delicious they are! ;)
 

(Tents in every direction)

For those of you who have never been or don't live in Cape Town I would describe taste of Cape Town as: An outdoor event with rows of tents placed around a design for you to walk around - you can see,buy and taste various foods, drinks and yummy things.

After the sun set much fun and EATING was to be had! Every stall seemed inviting with the sides open ready for you to browse and taste.

I didn't only eat but cooked a little too at the canape and wine pairing tent. My cooking partner was Colleen of the blog Brownie girl. We had fun preparing canapes under the guidance of Chef Chart who was very entertaining.

Then off to some food tasting:

Dishes on offer from Taj Cape Town

Braised rib eye of Beef from The Westin Executive Club

In all my wanderings I really liked some of the stalls decor and vibes.

The San Pellegrino/Aqua Panna water stall had fresh herbs and flowers and this gorgeous vintage bicycle as well as wooden crates and a fountain. I thought is was  the PRETTIEST stall. I mean isn't that bicycle just so unique and pretty with the wicker basket?

The JimmiJagga stall (a wine spritzer drink brand) had their staff faces painted and wearing hats galore. they also had a great vibe with a live band playing and a photobooth with photographer for lots of fun! Plenty of seating and bar area for everyone to relax to their pure Cape Town vibes... They were definitely the BEST DRESSED and VIBEY-IST

The Fine Brandy by Design had a beautiful lit up bar and a cool concept of pairing brandy cocktails with their dishes. They paired up with a restaurant and the food paired with their brandy cocktails were very delicious! With their barmen dressed in white and waiters neatly dressed in black. Fine Brandy was in my opinion tasty, TRENDY and UNIQUE.

One other little stand stood out with yummy looking delights called Ma Mere Maison. Unfortunately which I did not sample their goodies but I couldn't resist taking photos of their stall. I thought their design and decor was so cute. They had a red and white chevron background (cool) and pretty macarons as well as nougat etc...  They definitely looked the YUMMIEST!

It is often hard to know where or what to focus on with big events, especially with lots of stall holders... You can't highlight them all and even if you picked your BEST there would be so much that you would miss out telling you the reader!So next year do yourself a favour and go. It is yummy, I promise.



 
NOTE: I was given a media pass courtesy of Fresh Living Magazine, Pick n Pay and Taste of Cape Town. My Media pass allowed me to taste some of the food and drink on offer and a goodie bag. Many thanks to these sponsors. This post is purely my own thoughts of how I found the event.

READY STEADY COOK - Market Style

On Saturday 2nd July I had the opportunity of being part of a Cape Town Version of READY STEADY COOK! No there was no Ainsley Harriot but there was chef Ian Cawkwell and Chef Stefan Wessels as well as Sam Linsell from Drizzle & Dip.

To say that I don't like crowds and people staring at me is an understatement!!! I hate that feeling when you realise the whole room is looking at you and everyone has stopped what they are doing to hear or see what you are doing... say EMBARRASSING! but I must say the market kept its buzz in the background as some people watched and others shopped... and it was FUN! Yes I said fun... this coming from hermit crab me who wanted to climb under the table just minutes before it all started. Thanks to my team member and chef - Ian Cawkwell. We won! ;) YAY!

Sam and Stefan made a fish biltong salad for starters and a Kudo/gembok (or some other wild and exotic mince) into a spaghetti bolognese for their mains. The point of the exercise was to use ingredients from the market that people don't always tend to buy = unusual.

On our team Ian and myself- our dishes were Jerusalem artichoke, bacon and pecora(sheep cheese) risotto. And we got to do a dessert instead of a starter - a banana and almond Tartan. All this = Delicious :)
I really enjoyed working with Ian as he was very thorough and made sure I learnt while we cooked. It was a very enjoyable experience - even if having a microphone in your face every now and then with an MC asking you questions is a weird way to cook! I still had a blast.



Thanks to Jackie from Earth Fair Market organized this event and who has a very cool vision for the market and wants to try new and fun things .... and Fun is what I had!

This Saturday 16th July is the Earth Fair Markets 2nd birthday! Im sure it will be fun.