Last week I was invited to the launch of Restaurant Week at Durbanville Hills Wine Estate. A bunch of bloggers and foodies gathered to enjoy a tour of the distillery, catch up over some of their finest wines, take some instagram snaps, and learn about the upcoming campaign over a mouthwatering three course luncheon! Now I am ashamed to say that it was my first time visiting the DVH Restaurant, but it’s definitely not the last. The food was unbelievable, and Dirk who runs the restaurant was awesome!
We were treated to some nice Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2015 as welcome drinks, before we topped up and went on the winery tour!
What Is Restaurant Week?
Many of you may be wondering what on earth Restaurant Week is. Well here it is in a nutshell… It runs from 22 October – 1 November, where you can choose from 100+ restaurants that will be running awesome lunch/dinner specials with their best dishes for the duration of the campaign. Tweet them on @RestWeekSA and use the hashtag #RestaurantWeek to find out about their daily updates!
You will need to book in advance, as many of the most popular restaurants get fully booked in no time. But that’s where I come in! You can click here www.restaurantweek.co.za/mrcapetown to get access to VIP booking, which allows you to book 3 days before anyone else! When it asks for my unique promo code on the landing page, please use MOTHERCITY to gain VIP access to the list of restaurants. Choose your region, and get booking. It’s that easy!
Durbanville Hills Restaurant Review:
Before starters there was some super fresh homemade bread, with Durbanville Hills olives, olive oil and balsamic to snack on while we all got settled. Not usually one to eat bread, but when it’s that fresh, I tend to devour the entire basket…
For starters to kick off the chefs light and summer style menu we were served pan seared prawns and scallops, with an onion confit. Now I do my fair share of restaurant reviews, but I’m no hectic foodie. First time trying scallops and these Canadian pan seared beauties were borderline orgasmic. The trio worked perfectly together!
For mains there was a choice of five options, but the Namibian, free range, beef fillet, char grilled to perfection (rare) was the winner judging from what the waiter had to say. That was served with roasted pearl onion & garlic, wild mushrooms, rockets, drizzled in a bilton & truffle jus. Paired with the Durbanville Hills 2012 Pinotage, this went down sweetly!
Do I even need to say anything after looking at the above image? Dark chocolate & hazelnut tart, with ginger syrup and Chantilly cream. Not at all as rich as I expected, and paired with an amazing dessert wine. I think people were staring at me, fingering the plate clean. Oops!
StreetSmart South Africa:
StreetSmart is an initiative which is entirely new to me, and to be honest, I’m a bit worried as to why more restaurants in Cape Town aren’t part of the team! It costs the restaurants nothing to sign up, and R5 gets added to every bill, which essentially goes to charity. The patrons are all told about this before they pay, and if you’re able to dine out, you can surely afford adding R5 to your bill for a great cause. Raising over R4,000,000 already, I urge all restaurant owners to join the bandwagon.
What’s even better, is that every booking that is made for Restaurant Week, allows for R5 to go to the project. So book a spot today, eat great food, and do it for a cause worthy of writing about! Check out their website www.streetsmartsa.org.za for more information or Tweet them on @StreetSmartSA. Their hashtag is #EatOutHelpOut to join the conversation!
Restaurant Week With UBER!
If you read my blog, UBER will be no stranger to your vocabulary. Once again they are linked with another great campaign, and I’m offering new users a free ride up to R150 when they use my UberMrCPT promo code. All you need to do is click here www.get.uber.com/invite/uberMRCPT to sign up and you’re riding on style, on the house!
I’m looking forward to trying some new spots, and hopefully discovering some gems like Durbanville Hills Restaurant. Thanks to the Restaurant Week team, and Dirk from DVH for the awesome experience. See you guys during the campaign for a return visit!
