Franschhoek...yes...part I

Yes...there will be two parts again...my mom and i decided to take a few days girl time in Cape Town...we chose a hotel in Mouille Point...location was good...but there is a hell of a lot that could be done to improve the hotel...we literally just slept there...so it was ok...but to actually stay longer...no way....it was a little run down and staff was unfriendly....the name was Splendido.....so our aim was to relax, enjoy various tastings (wine, choc, cheese) and good food....so that is what we did over the next few days we did quite a few tastings....and this blog is about the tastings that my mom and i discovered....

Waterford: Choc and Wine tasting....they paired three chocs with three wines....2 dark chocs each with a red wine and then a milk choc with a dessert wine....

Wine and choc tasting at Waterford

I loved the exprerience...for me the first 2 chocs with the red wines worked fabulous...the last choc and the dessert wine did not work for me..the milk choc was enhanced with rose flavours and for me that was too over-powering..in actual fact even after tasting the dessert wine the rose flavour was still lingering in my mouth...so that was a no go....the place beautiful..large fire place..cosy and the gardens were beautiful (unfortunately we had bad weather and could not enjoy the garden)....but here are some pics from the estate (note...they do not serve lunches).....

Me infront of Waterford
Inside Waterford

We also decided to go to Delawood Cheese...yes...i know the Camembert and Brie...but why not go and try anyway....the atmosphere didnt blow me over at all..in actual fact there is no atmosphere...but my mom and i ordered our cheese tasting plate nevertheless...one can do free tasting of two or three cheeses (tiny pieces) or order a platter for one and that costs around R40...we shared one and that was perfect..presentation was fab....the brie with figs and the brie with chilli did not blow me over..camembert was ok...not very strong..in my opinion still a little bit young....the hugenout on the other hand was amazing..strong, full flavoured....divine...and so we asked whether we could try her other hard cheese, Boland, and that was also great...but still the winner definitely the Hugenout....in actual fact i read afterwards it won a price for best cheese....we also bought a SA Tete de moin (let's see whether it is as good as the Swiss Tete de moin)...but we thought it would be worth trying the tete de moin as it is a hard cheese and both hard cheeses were amazing.....(now that we have tried the SA tete the moin at home, i can tell you, it is excellento)....so all in all, a good experience at Delawood, just dont go there if you want atmosphere.....

Delawood cheese plate

We also went to the Fairview farm for some cheese tasting and contrary to popular belief...there is not only goat cheese but also a lot of cow cheese...and they also have condiments and goodies from other farms around which they sell...quite nice but a little too commercial....but while tasting we saw that along the spice route is also a choc tasting...just about 500m from the Fairview estate we found the choc tasting....brilliant....it starts off with a lady explaining to you how choc is made and you are able to taste two different beans...we then get told to crush the bean and i learnt that some parts of the bean can be directly eaten...that is the cacao part..so cool....after that we tasted 6 different chocs...each choc tasting received its own explanation and funny enough we could taste different aromas in them...slightly citrusy or slightly coffeeish....very intersting....after those 6 chocs we got to taste choc infused with a flavour....coffee, salt and chilli....interesting..but both my mom and i prefered the 6 chocs...we both had our favourite...mine was the Trinidad and my moms was Venezuela/ Caracas....have a look at the pic below.....

Choc tasting plate
How choc is made

So yes....my mom and i found some really cool tastings...we really enjoyed them.....next blog will be about the wine tram which we did in Franschhoek as well as the cool dinner place we discovered in Kloof Street in Cape Town.....so cheerio from me.....

 

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