IF YOU’RE a fire-eater, this one’s for you. Pop-up restaurants have been around for some time, but a pop-up menu, for the whole of the winter season, is a fun new gimmick.
When I was invited to the Nellie to try an innovative brandy and food pairing exercise, I accepted with alacrity. I confess I have a conventional attitude to brandy. I savour the smooth complexity of a 10-year-old beside the fire; associate something less venerable with rich, moist fruit cake at Christmas, and view brandy as integral to crêpes Suzette. On a more mundane level, it’s an excellent remedy for indigestion.
I’d enjoyed a food and wine-matching lunch, also organised by the SA Brandy Foundation, at the Pot Luck Club, where I’d found the marriages subtle and unexpectedly complementary, but with tapas?
My hesitation proved spot-on, through no fault of chef Rudi Liebenberg or the organisers. I happen to be allergic to chilli: my lips swell (no need for Botox). And sadly for me, chef and tasting panel had chosen to match fire with fire.
Though tempted to ask for the covetable brandy component separately, I held back. And while eager to feast on the petit fours (banana chocolate and peanut with the smooth aftertaste of Sydney Back 10-year-old pot-still brandy, and citrus with the lingering potpourri of flavours in Laborie Alambic) they were at the end of the 10-item menu. There is also only one vegetarian choice.
It’s tough watching others enjoy empanadas and peri-peri chicken wings when you can’t risk a bite. So I made my excuses and tore myself away from the fire and convivial company and went home to a soothing glass of KWV’s world-beating brandy.
The launch itself was a delightfully relaxed, informal occasion. The foundation celebrates its 30th anniversary this year – and South Africa’s feat in snatching the “best brandy in the world” title 11 times in the past 14 years at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in London – with a drive to capture younger market.
When the brandy drinkers present were asked to raise their hands, we were pitifully few and more mature: as Winnie Bowman, who led the instructive tasting, put it, “just the usual suspects”.
As levels of knowledge ranged from those not aware of basic brandy facts (such as the spirit owing its distinctive colour to caramel), the Brandy Foundation has a long road ahead.
But discovering the differences made by age or distillation (South African law requires a minimum of three years for pot-still brandy) with food, is a great route to take. You can take it in the Planet bar, or in the more formal restaurant.
As you taste, you are able to clothe the abstract in flavour and texture, deciding which brand and style your palate prefers – and which your pocket can afford. And perhaps Rudi can introduce some subtly flavoured tapas treats to enhance brandy’s layered complexity: like crayfish, or chicken liver pâté?
l Each tapas dish is served with a single shot of the paired brandy. Items can also be ordered individually. Given the range of ingredients and brandy, prices per pairing vary from R65 to R160.