A Tale of Two Meals

We headed to the gastro capital of South Africa today - the Winelands.  Both of the restaurants we felt were' can't miss' ones were only open for lunch, so we skipped dinner reservations and instead planned out our lunches for Stellenbosch (today) and Franschhoek (tomorrow).  First stop: Overture at Happy Valley Winery.

Overture's lunch experience is on par with any fine restaurant experience in the States.  Mike & Jen opted for the four-course winter special (salmon and shrimp appetizer, mushroom gnocchi, pork belly, and a souffle for dessert), while Beth & I opted for 'only' 3 courses each (potato leek soup with ice cream, hake, and a custard for Beth, and liver pate, pork belly, and souffle for me).   Since we were at a winery, we of course added in wine pairings for each course.  Viogners, chenin blancs, sauvignon blancs, pinot noirs, chocolate grappa and muscat were all included.  Two and a half glorious hours later, we were fat, happy eaters, who had thoroughly enjoyed our meals, the ambience (beautiful restaurant overlooking a vineyard) and laughing at the one misstep of the meal (blue cheese whipped cream on our "pre-dessert" sorbet - ew). 

After this amazingly fullfilling meal, we opted to walk into Stellenbosch for a quick, easy, casual dinner tonight.  We happened across Jan Cats in the Stellenbosch Hotel, mainly due to the sign out front that it offered both springbok carpaccio and peppadews (and my #1 rule in South Africa is to never pass up springbok carpcaccio).  Little did we know when we stepped into the empty restaurant the fun that was about to ensue.

About a half hour into our meal (after the huge plate of olives, peppadews and springbok had been brought to the table), a couple of guys from Algeria wandered in.  "Bafana bafana" they greeted us (that being the South African team's nickname).  We happily responded back and found out pretty quickly that their English wasn't very good.  We had a fun stilted conversation about US v. Algeria anyway, with them predicting an Algerian victory over England (1-0) and a tie with the US (3-3).

 A few minutes later, they asked us and the waiter if any of us spoke French, as they were having trouble reading the menu.  Since none of us really remembered our high school French, we told them we couldn't help them, but after watching them struggle for a few minutes, Jen and I went over to see what we could translate for them.  We quickly determined, thanks to another Algerian man who was hidden in the corner and could speak better English, that they were Muslim and therefore couldn't eat any chicken or beef products.  Only veggies and fish.  We tried to describe what several of the fish were on the menu, but how the heck do you say calamari in French?  We finally got "les moules" after awhile to help them with the mussels translation.  In the meantime, Mike & Beth are laughing hilariously at our poor attempts at translations and descriptions (we're mimicking what a shrimp looks like), and the older Algerian gets out his video camera to capture us for eternity laughing and butchering the beautiful French language (these guys are so happy that we're trying to help that they laugh along with us).    After all is said and done with figuring out what they can eat, in walks someone who works at the hotel who speaks perfect French with them.  DOH! 


We all enjoy the rest of our meals while watching Brazil v. North Korea (wow did those Koreans hold their own), and a few other soccer fans wander in.  The Algerian guys try to swap their Algeria soccer scarf for a USA one, but we have to disappoint them that we don't have one.  In the meantime, more Algerian guys come in (and they don't know these original 2 sets of Algerians who have sat together and bonded), but luckily the menu thing goes a lot easier this time (ordering fish with lots of veggies).   Algeria plays England in Cape Town in a few days, but how did they all happen into the same restaurant in Stellenbosch, not knowing each other? 

Small world.

As we get up to leave at halftime, our Algerian friends ask for pictures with us, and suddenly we're surrounded by Algerian men taking what seems like dozens of pictures on dozens of cameras.  They find out we're from Chicago and respond "Al Capone!" with a gesture of a guy shooting someone.   Sweet.    Even the new Algerian guys who had no previous interaction with us need to get in on the photo taking - Algeria scarf proudly displayed in front of us.

Maybe you had to be there to understand the hilarity of the night, but it was a great feeling to be bonding with people from across the world, about soccer, food, and general happiness about being in South Africa for the World Cup.  And without much common language to help out.  I think even if you weren't there, you can understand how amazingly global this event is and how it makes the world a bit smaller and and more understanding of each other, if only for a month every 4 years.

Bafana bafana!

Overture restaurant

 At the Happy Valley Winery