Harissa Bistro

A Hidden Gem... 

Recently discovered this little gem of a restaurant in Waterkloof at The Club Centre. Harissa Bistro, is actually a sister restaurant of The Green Peppercorn in Johannesburg. They too serve tasting plates. (I love this idea of dining. This way, you are able to get a good serving size of more than just one of their dishes and you are able to taste a variety of meals in one sitting.)

I decided to treat myself one Friday evening to a dinner-for-one and totally by chance 2 of my close friends had also made reservations for the same time and we had actually been seated next to each other and so my dinner-for-one turned into a intimate dinner with friends.

So, Harissa Bistro, does not have an actual wine list that you choose your wine from. They have an actual wine display in the restaurant where you can walk in and look at the wines, read the labels and check pricing. It is quite the pleasant experience as the sommelier really know his wines and the finer details. I had explained to him that I was in the mood for a red wine, that is not heavy and has a nice creamy finish to it. Immediately he pointed out 3 wines that he suggested that I consider. Eventually I opted for the Almenkerk Lace Vineyard Blend. This is a Syrah, Merlot, Cab Franc, Cab Sauv & Viognier blend that is aged for 23 months in French barriques coming from the Elgin region.

Our server brought out some fresh bread and a hummus dip to tease our taste buds whilst we had a look at the electronic menu. 

I decided on the tasting plate starter. 
- Beef Bobotie Samosa 
- Chilli Salt Squid (they were my favourite on this plate.)
- Goats Cheese Bouche (basically puff pastry with a great mix of goats cheese, beetroot & carmelised onions.

My friends opted for:
- Lamb Ribbetjie. This lamb has been marinated in a beer and marmite mixture that had me picking off of his plate with some of the butternut polenta. 

- Crab Briyani. As soon as this dish came out of the kitchen and I smelled it, I was jealous. The smell of the coconut milk is incredible. Mozambican Crab, Prawns and Mussels served with Basmati rice.

I again decided to try the tasting plate. Beef fillet served 3 ways.

My new thing is have a side salad with meals, instead of fries. (You know, the 'healthy' option...) Lots of Feta. Just that made me happy already. Really fresh ingredients and everything still had that crunchy freshness to them.

So. It was time for dessert and honestly, I had already eaten so much and I kind of figured I was going to regret having dessert. But something told me I just need to try the Chocolate Fondant with Amarula Custard & Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. Wow... Lets just say I most certainly did not regret anything after having this. Lets start with the Ice Cream. It is freshly made and it still has some of the vanilla pod scrapings in the ice cream. So nice, light & creamy at the same time. The coffee chocolate Fondant. It should be a death by chocolate, so I couldn't finish all of that. The centre wasn't entirely molten as I had hoped it would be though.

BUT. Now... To tell you about this Amarula Custard. It will blow your mind. The texture of Caramel Treat. The taste of heaven. It would melt in your mouth and as it spread, you would taste the different flavours of the custard & Amarula. It is probably the best dessert that I have had in a while.

The Green Peppercorn Bistro

A taste of tasting plates...

I have now been to the Green Peppercorn 3 times in the space of one month and I can promise you that I will be going there a few times more in the near future.

We attended an Exclusive Dinner hosted by Liz Ferrett a.k.a. @Fragrance_Queen at the Green Peppercorn. Upon arrival, we were served a Sauvignon Blanc Sparkling Wine from D'Aria Winery called "Pop Song." Now, I am not the biggest fan of a Sparkling Wine. However, this was very refreshing with crisp fine bubble much resembling a MCC. Fruity & Fresh.

No sneak preview of our menu for the evening to get the taste buds working, just a welcome note and information for the eve to help us get trending on Twitter. #GreenPeppercorn & #FragranceQueen both were trending during the night.

To start the evening off, we had a tasting plate of starters with a Lamb Samosa with a Mint Mayo, Mushroom Spring Rolls & Thai Fish Cakes. For some reason I have developed a liking to mushrooms in the last year of my life and so the spring rolls were a real treat for me. The samosa is another favourite. Shredded flavourful lamb is paired very well with the mint mayo.

Another tasting plate for mains. Sea Bass. Pork Belly. Prawn Stack. I generally don't eat Pork. But this evening I thought I may just give it a go. I was pleasantly surprised at the wonderful flavours that come through and that the belly was cooked to just the right texture where the fat was not too much like jelly, but also had a nice crispy bite to it. Unfortunately my portion of the Sea Bass was under-cooked.

However, this is something that I totally understood. We were a table of almost 30 people and literally everyone's food came out of the kitchen at the same time. So it was just my luck (or lack thereof) that I got the one that was slightly under-cooked. From what everyone else at the table was saying it was delicious. (I returned to The Green Peppercorn a few days later just to try out the Sea Bass for myself and this time it came out of the kitchen perfectly cooked & soft, the meat sliding apart left me glad that I went back to try it again.)

Our main meals for the evening had all been paired with some great wine choices from Almenkerk & Lothian Vineyards from the Grabouw region.

Dessert time... Really only one dessert stood out for me on this occasion. The Popcorn Cheesecake. At first I was unsure how one would get a fridge cheese cake to have flavours resembling popcorn. But at the first taste, my mouth was filled with a light, soft & creamy mixture that was heavenly and I couldn't believe it. It actually tasted exactly like a salted caramel popcorn. This dessert is not always on the menu and I do hope that they make it a permanent addition soon. (I really need to taste it again soon!)

Join in on the conversation and share your experience at The Green Peppercorn Bistro with us on social media using #GreenPeppercorn & @Greenpeppercorn 

@PizzaTonis

#ZomatoXTonisPizzaSinoville

(Yes, that is one long #Hashtag to get right every time!)

To start off the evening, some Strawberry Lemonade was a nice way to cleanse the palate with something fresh and refreshing.

Our starters shortly arrived and soon we had dished up a variety of salads (House, Con Pollo & Pancetta e Noci) paired with a trio of Focaccias - Herb, Garlic & Mozzarella. My favourite was the Con Pollo as the chicken was well flavoured and not dry. (A basic that very few restaurants seem to get right. So well done Toni's Pizza!)

Each person then got to order their own pasta from a choice of Alfredo, Bolognese or Chicken Penne. I opted for the Bolognese. What a wonderful decision this was. A great combination of tomato & herbs with beef.

Now it was Pizza Time:

My favourite was the pizza with the lamb. It has some fresh coriander leaves on, which I think work very well with the lamb. All the pizza's have a great variety of fresh toppings and lots of cheese. That is something that I noticed not many pizzeria's do any more.  

Dessert... Oh how I love this time of the evening. Here I will only tell you about my favourite. The homemade nougat with honey. It is incredible. Lots of nuts and light & fluffy. It's one of those desserts that you can eat a lot of.

#HelloRecommends - Part 2

Life Grand Cafe

Chocolates & Bubbly in a Goodie Bag always make me super happy!

Being welcomed at Life Grand Cafe with a rather refreshing watermelon granita.

You know you are sitting at a table full of foodies, when they are using their cellphones as impromptu lighting for each other as to capture the best possible image of the food that has been placed down in front of them.