Food Is One Of The Joys Of Life
"Food," says Andy Falk wiping his hands on a chequered apron, "is one of the continuing joys of life, so it's sensible to make the most of each meal, however simple it might be.”
This elementary approach to food preparation complements Dullstroom's numerous eating establishments, each claiming a’ special or different' culinary enticement; some qualifying, some not.
Andy's `Plat du Jour' makes no highfalutin' claims to pretentious eating. He merely offers good, tasty food in an atmosphere much as you might discover in a provincial French restaurant; the owner defining the meal with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Were you to order porcini soup off the menu, Andy would serve you one made from porcini mushrooms from under oak trees near Belfast that he picked himself; the exact location of the oak trees only he knows. Should you order roast duck, it will arrive crisp and moist, served with a home-orchestrated ginger and orange sauce. "I make the best roast duck in Mpumalanga”,Andy claims.
Earlier years at the Bistro restaurant in Sea Point consolidated the’ good, simple food' philosophy for
Andy."Food has an enormous range of flavours and textures, so don't overdo your cooking by using too many spices, herbs or ingredients," he suggests. "Keep it simple and let the food do the work. That’s very much the French provincial approach I enjoy.”
An example for a starter: sardines baked in the clay oven with olive oil, lemon juice and oreganum. A main dish might include pot roasted lamb, slow cooked for hours with rosemary, red wine and lemon juice and served on a bed of mashed potato. Or a mild, aromatic lamb curry served on the bone with sambals and poppadoms.
Wine? Le Bonheur Sauvignon Blanc or a Haute Cabriere Pinot Noir/Chardonnay (one of the finest local blends, he claims).
Desert? Tandi's secret recipe for Malva pudding, or Crepes Suzettes, the traditional way, "taught to me by the former maitre d'hotel at the Polana."
Country Life – November 2009
Dullstroom Chef With A Passion For Clivias
The road follows the contours of strung-together hills and mountains. S-bends and straights link sweeping curves through hill-top plantations to the rise and fall of the slopes. Up, down, over and around through the crisp mountain air Each curve a new experience. The next, never like the last. Each a blur. Within the blur, trapped like snapshots, the minutiae of awareness: a pebble, a crack in the tar, a splinter of glass; each an isolated fragment of reality.
Overnight in White River, and then on through forest plantations to Graskop and on again until the plantations break into verdant grassland near Blyde River.
Towards evening, Dullstroom. The chilly air nips the peripheries of the day as the BMW flits through the rolling hills. Trout ponds, gullys and rivers criss-cross the landscape. Around the next curve, a ribbon of street lights: Dullstroom, shelter, food and rest.
The Plat Du Jour on the main road: hot porcini mushroom soup and mutton curry
Andy Falk (the owner/chef) cultivates two passions: food and clivias."You know them?" he asks pointing at a burnished red clivia blossom.
I shake my head.
"They're unique; they should be South Africa's national flower"
He sighs. "If the universe has sent me a lesson it is patience. You can't work with clivias if you haven't got patience. It takes four to five years for them to blossom."
Bliss? If it beckons, follow.
Country Life – July 2009