There is a catering company that’s based at Lourensford wine estate called Stir Food.
Unfortunately because they choose not to have a permanent address, they can’t collect accolades created for restaurants, and instead have to settle for “catering/caterers”, which is one of the driest, and saddest ways to ever describe Stir. In fact, if you can come up with a better term, you could get well rewarded for your creative efforts.
So when you receive an invitation, you ditch the plans you had with your aunty, and go.
Have a look at this video about them.
The theme for the evening was foraging from the sea with local wines, and more than half the ingredients where hand picked by chef Gustaaf Boshoff, and definitely more than half the wines were drunk by the guests.
Arriving at our destination, down a little road in Bakoven, there’s Beta Beach- a beautiful little alcove, partially protected from the wind. As we walk in we were greeted with oysters, urchin, and pickled sea lettuce, paired with a gin and tonic. The sun was out, and there was hardly a breath of wind, so this was a perfect “hello”.
Bubbling salty dry ice percolating through the sea weed. It really brought out the child in me (or hippy with a lava-lamp, you decide).
It was a normal Wednesday. For everyone else in the world.
There were three specially selected wineries present: Beaumont Family Wines, Miles Mossop, and Kleinood. Each deserve a good amount of time to look into. The Beaumont Pinotage especially made me happy, especially when Pinotage has become sort of a Kardashian for being famous for being famous – in my mind at least. As you can imagine, there are very few Pinotages that I enjoy. This is definitely one of them.
The Alikreukel arencini were delicious. I would have been happy with a bowlful, until I tasted the octopus, which was incredibly tender and succulent. A favourite of the evening.
A crayfish taco? Why yes please. Oh, and it goes with a tequila and tomato cocktail? Yeah sure, I’ll give that a go. Ok, keep them coming Mr. Bar-keep.
Aleit is the man behind the Aleit Group, of which Stir Food belongs, and you can tell he is incredibly proud and passionate about what they’ve achieved.
Chef Gustaaf Boshoff
Thank you Stir Food for creating a fantastic evening.
{Note: we were invited as guests of the Aleit Group. All images and thoughts are my own.}