Review of Cafe Orca, Melkbos, Western Cape

Gorgeous, Perfectly Cooked, Simple Seafood

Welcome to my first attempt at a restaurant review and my fourth blog...

Cafe Orca is housed in an old refurbished beach house on the beach front in Melkbos.  It is owned and run by two brothers, Jason and Ricky who are very hands on in the restaurant.  Neither of them need to go to gym, they run between the kitchen, the bar and the various separate rooms and patio of the restaurant lending a hand wherever required, ensuring that their customers have a truly spectacular evening.  Ricky always has a big smile and a story, creating a welcoming vibe to this great little gem of a restaurant where people know your name.

The Bear and I visit Orca twice a month at least.  Whenever family and friends from the other side of Cape Town or up North visit us, a dinner or lunch at Orca has to be on the cards.

The service is always great, the waiters are eager, well trained and extremely friendly.  Our waiter last night was no exception.  Tamryn is clearly going to be studying drama some time soon, haha, she has the poise, the perfect pr-enunciation and the gorgeous smile which will do great on the stage. 

Our Tokara Sauvignon Blanc arrived quickly, was perfectly chilled and the Bear and I toasted the beautiful sunset and the beautiful place we live in.

We love to share our food, so inevitably we will order food we both want to try.  I ordered the Cajun grilled Kingclip, a side Greek salad and some glorious Orca Chips, whilst the Bear ordered Cajun Grilled Calamari with chips.

Pure, simple with a splash of lemon.  Pure deliciousness.

 Instead of desert we decided to have a South African invention called a Don Pedro -- the trick is of course the straw test, and these passed with flying colours.  The straw stays upright and doesn't fall over like a limp stick in the wind -- they were pure decadence...

As we were about to leave our waitress surprised us with a parting gift, an Orca special shooter which was simply dreamy.

If you want to go for dinner, remember to book.  Cafe Orca is extremely popular.  They don't take lunch bookings, but the Bear and I have spent numerous hours over the the last 18 months chatting away to other patrons waiting in their bar, sipping on our wine, enjoying the total splendidness of this delightful little fish restaurant. 

http://www.cafeorca.co.za/

Pasta, Glorious Pasta

Intimate Fettuccine Amatriciana Alfresco

Many of us can conjure up all sorts of warm, special memories about pasta.  Where we ate it, what our favorite sauce is, who we were with, who we shared with, and the lovely satisfied feeling you have after eating it.

I cooked my first meal for other people when I was 6 years old.  We were visiting my Godmother Dot and her family in Pinelands and I cooked SpagBog (Spaghetti Bolonaise).  As young as I was, I remember the tremendous feeling of achievement I felt when people just loved my food.  I had to stand on a box as i couldn't reach the stove, but that was the moment i fell in love with food and very specifically with Italian Food.  That too was the time I fell in love with the love you can give to other people by making them food.  Pasta just does this to people, it conjures up all sorts of glorious, warm, fuzzy feelings inside you, and it generates a feeling of togetherness, a feeling of family - particularly extended family.  When my adult sons come home to visit me their welcome home food is Mom's Spaghetti Bolonaise -- even though one of my sons is a chef, this is still his favorite food.  When you look at this image below, you just have to eat it and forget about "not eating carbs, or watching my carb intake, or banting"... haha...

Hot Chick

My husband the Bear is crazy about Curry -- any type of curry.   He calls curry a "Ruby Murray" -- Cockney Rhyming slang language :) Curry rhymes with Murray :).....

We love  chicken, but will only buy wholesome, organic, free range chickens which I source from www.vissers-haven.com.  They deliver to our area every month, and also offer a whole host of other farm goodies and home baked products which are worth a try.  I really believe in helping sustain small businesses as this is the only way we will grow our country's economy, and we should particularly be encouraging farmers to stay farming and growing our food.  Our farmers can do with all the support we have to offer right now as the drought has really caused a huge amount of suffering and angst.

Great British Cousins Dinner party in Cape Town

Well, here I am, fresh off my Bloggers online course, attempting my first Blog...

My husband's cousin, Toni and her new boyfriend, who hail from the mud island came to stay for the weekend.  We planned a weekend full of fun typical Cape Town things to do, one of which was a dinner party with some of our local friends.

The Home Dinner Party sends shivers up some peoples backs, but I absolutely love it.  I adore the preparation, the menu research, preparing the invitations, deciding on the table decor and finding the right wine for each course.  Its also particularly wonderful when people have thoroughly enjoyed the evening and compliment your food.  I cook with so much love and I am sure that people feel that when they eat my food.  One must never forget that people want you to succeed, so even if there are small mistakes you will be easily forgiven.

The table was going to have an African feel, in other words, all the wonderful browns, burgundies, yellows and reds which epitomize the warmth of our continent .  It was time to use that very special  cloth my mom gave us for a wedding present two years ago.  To match the table cloth I found some incredible Cheetah serviettes, paired with cream Georgette napkins, red candles and Jenna Clifford Red wine glasses, we were ready to go!!!

The Menu

Champagne and Pomegranate seed cocktail on arrival.  Don't they just look incredibly sexy?

Starter

Light and fluffy Smoked Salmon Pate, served with a micro green salad, decorated with edible pansy flowers and a slither of gorgeous peach and coriander.  I made the starter the day before as it needed to settle in the fridge over night and it saved me time on the dinner party day to spend time with our relatives showing them the beautiful Blouberg Beach front area, the On the Rocks restaurant and Blue Peter pub where we had a few drinks.  Our starter was paired with Capaia Sauvignon Blanc, a gem of a wine from a farm off the N7 about 10 kilometers from Melkbos.  For more information, please follow the link to www.capaia.eu.

Mains

Oven roasted sirloin, smothered in French Dijon mustard, black pepper and extra virgin Olive oil, prepared medium rare, coupled with tricolor organic carrots cooked in orange juice and ginger, runner beans with slithered almonds, golden roast potatoes, beautiful Yorkshire puddings (done the old fashioned way with no rising agents), sweet little Brussel Sprouts and old fashioned roasting pan red wine gravy.  The main course was paired with de Grendel Rubaiyat, one of the Durbanville wine valley's top five wine farms, a fabulous wine, with a wonderful ruby nose, goes beautifully with red meat. The Rubaiyat is De Grendel’s flagship wine, first made in 2007 when cellar master Charles Hopkins was asked by Sir David Graaff to make an “icon” for the Estate For more information on this wine, please follow the link www.degrendel.co.za. 

Lasts

The final course was a cheese board, accompanied by preserved figs and ginger, fresh figs and grapes served with various biscuits and a few tiny carrot and red velvet cup cakes.  Desert wine was from Muratie Stellenbosch, quite honestly one of the best cheese paired desert wines out there.  For more information on Muratie, please check out their web site www.muratie.co.za