Gastronomic Adventure: The Tasting Room

Before Mr M and I left for our trip to Cape Town (CT), I hinted blatantly told him that it would be an absolute delight if we could go to le quartier francais (lqf), a boutique hotel in Franschhoek (pronounced fran-shook) for dinner. Mr M himself had put that thought in my head when he described the out-of-the-world experience that his ex-colleague had at lqf’s world renown restaurant: The Tasting Room. Of course, my excitement and hopes were not returned the way I envisioned it to be so I just let that thought slip my mind. Well I knew that we will be doing fancy dining at least once because I was instructed to pack a couple of dinner dresses but it just didn’t occur to me that Mr M had indeed sneakily reserved a table for us on 11.12.2012! I was overjoyed when my suspicion was confirmed!

The drive from the game lodge where we had our safari to Franschhoek was a reasonably long one but the scenic view made the journey so much more enjoyable. We had a strange and rather scary encounter with a “hitman” on the way there but more will be shared in my next post. Right now I just could not help but to reminisce the wonderful night that we were so blessed with and the little details that would remain in my memory for a long time to come.

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Dress| Warehouse   Heels|Saba   Clutch| Witchery   Bracelet|Kalk Bay

Sweetheart neckline, what more can I say about it? I absolutely adore the femininity that this dress accentuates. Please pardon the crinkles! The b&b that we were in didn’t have an iron unfortunately so all I could do was to pretend that they were not there. I purchased this dress from Warehouse, a UK brand that stocks high street pieces and I love the pleat detail and the draping effect. I think Warehouse has stepped up their game in recent years so they definitely deserve some love and applause! I paired this dress with my trusty snakeskin SABA heels that I take with me everywhere because of its versatility. I fell in love with them at first sight because they seem to go with the colours that I generally wear. The ivory hard shell clutch is from Witchery and I must say it has weathered a few storms but still looked as gorgeous as new! I opted for a clean, simple look that evening hence I only had on a bracelet.

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We pulled up at The Tasting Room and boy was I charmed by its quirky decor! The one thing that I appreciated throughout the evening was the casual yet professional service without the uptight snobbery of most fine dining restaurants. The food… oh my, I have no words to describe it. Each course was a skillfully created and presented art piece bursting with abundance of creativity. Local South African flavours and herbs were incorporated into a few of the dishes and I found so much joy in making new discoveries all night. We had matching wines to go with all the courses and it was nice to know that some of the smooth liquids were fermented at wine farms just up the road! As we had no idea what we were getting throughout the night, it felt like Christmas multiple times in a row. Mr M and I had a few completely different courses and wines and if you’re interested in seeing the menus click here. We sat there for 4 hours I believe (one of my longest seating since Tetsuya’s yonks ago) but every single minute of it was completely worthwhile. That was an absolutely delightful and memorable night. Thank you Mr M ðŸ™‚

I look forward to tell you about our hitman” encounter. Meanwhile, have a nice day everyone!

xx

Photography| Mr M

  1. What better way to compliment good food than with a killer dress. Forget the taste; YOU look spicy!

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