The courtyard gently reverberates with the metallic wheeze and drone of the accordian - the player looks like he is gently wrestling with an old fashioned cash register thats trying to eat his hands. The restaurant owner does the vocals to this languid battle at a hen party table: all amor from here to eternity.
Where else, I ask you, as I pour half a cup of grassy fresh olive oil over the stretchy, crusty, celestial, thickly sliced bread; where else but at La Masseria, Evertsdal, between Tyger Valley and Durbanville Town? Set in an old mill or wine cellar adorned with early industrial age implements like mangles and grape destalkers and an old Multichoice decoder. As I pondered all of this and chewed on oil soaked bread washed down with pink De Grendal wine the duo came over to our table and filled the night with an earthy version of The The's "This is the Day". We let the music wash over us and just sort of grooved out for a couple of minutes.
The bit about the The The song at our table is fantasy- we like our live music to stay on stage or intrude on other diners. We use special repelling tactics like hiding behind the menu, climbing under the table or looking deranged to discourage table serenades. And off they drifted.
I had calf's liver with onions because it was cheaper than all the veal options whilst holding promise of more flesh mass. If you want something to accompany your dish is costs extra- I had the spaghetti in olive oil and garlic. The side dishes aren't expensive and are generous: R13 for the spaghetti and R8 for an extra serving of bread which would work well with some of the dishes. Rose had a custom built dish of ravioli with a creamy black mushroom sauce. They specialise in hand made pastas in various shapes: hats, ears, quills and the stuffed ones. The ravioli was a very good: super fine filling of what must have been pork and the mushroom sauce was rich and tasty. We stayed with the Durbanville wines because its sort of our neighbourhood: a glass of De Grendel pink was R20 and R29 each for the Altydgedacht merlot and Diemerdal pinotage: good prices- you would be paying nearly double that in Cape Town.
It is a long drive if you are not based in the northern suburbs of Cape Town for the night. Make a weekend of it and book a couple of nights in the farm village of Philadelphia about 24km away. Nice safe drive along farmy backroads. Try Die Blikhuisie or Die Malle Meul- both options are in the old village and very well priced. And the many charms of Philadelphia Village are another story altogether.
No comments:
Post a Comment