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| You'll notice I crossed out the "design" part, as there was barely any to speak of. |
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| There was, however, a lot of wine and some surprisingly good locally-made Vodka from Primitiv thanks to Jorgensen's Distillery. |
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| They also make one hectic but rather authentic Absinthe... |
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| And some delicious gin. |
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| There was also some amazingly refreshing ice-tea to sample - a welcomed shiver of joy on such a hot day. We tried and bought strange yet wonderful concoctions, from lemongrass, coconut and ginger to sumptuous kiwi, cucumber and mint. As one does. Big thank you to Toni Glass. |
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| BOS rocked it as usual, mixing delicious cocktails with their ice tea... LIKE A BOSS! |
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| Then the food. Oh, the food. Among my favourites, Bar Bar Black Sheep, the Riebeek- Kasteel restaurant known for its slow-cooked country fare, which served up some rather tasty dishes, from deep-fried courgette flowers to sardines on toast. And I hate sardines. Yum! |
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| Here they are with tons of lemons and sunflowers. Not sure why I like this shot. I just do. Deal with it. |
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| Aaaaaaand possibly, no actually, the best food there: The Goet stand, where highly acclaimed, now Johannesburg-based chef, David Higgs cooked up a flippen perfect storm of delectable morsels... |
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| He also had pretty girls from Wales taking your order, which I'm certain made his food taste even better |
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| I ordered the one on the left. The scrambled egg with Hugenot cheese, saucisson and mascarpone. Flippen mouthgasm of note let me tell you! |
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| There was also some lovely frozen yoghurt with fresh ingredients blended in. Thank you Dutch Delight. |
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| Salvation Cafe didn't disappoint. But then, have they ever? |
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| There were also cookies and cakes... |
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| And raw chocolate... |
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| A craft beer garden of sorts serving Brewers & Union and the always delicious Darling Brew |
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| And coffee. Gotta have coffee. Lots and lots of coffee... |
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| And the one "design" aspect to speak of Mingo Lamberti's always amazing limited edition Ts. |
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| So at the end of the day I found myself sitting with some mates, sipping an ice-cold Darling Brew, grinning at my Mingo Lamberti T's while my ass nestled on a softish AstroTurf blanket out in the warm, African sun - wondering why I was unamused. Weird, right? And then it dawned on me. Compared to last year, the Food, Wine and Design Fair sucked giant goat balls. Was it the fact that there was little to no design on display anywhere? Or that instead of a wholly pro-South African experience I was pummeled with commercial overseas crap like the Grey Goose vodka stand trying to steal the show from locally owned distillers? Perhaps it was the fact that to gain entry into the fair you were made to pay R80 and then another R100 for a book of tickets it turned out you didn't actually need 'cos everyone accepted cash and cards anyway! To be completely honest, even though I raved about all the stuff above in this post, you'll have a better food, wine and design experience at 44 Stanley, the Neighbourgoods Market or Arts/Market on Main. Any day of the motherflippen week. Sorry if that's harsh Food, Wine & Design Fair guys but ask around. Most people who loved last year's one, were sorely disappointed with this year's, ahem, effort. Don't ruin this amazing idea by selling out again. Please. |
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