Burrata. The best pizza in Cape Town?

27 Nov
Burrata pizza

37 seconds later this pizza was no more. RIP pizza, RIP.

Burrata. Before you ask, it’s a kind of Italian cheese. I think it’s cheese stuffed with cheese, or cream. Deep fry it, and you’re in America. But I digress. It’s also the name of a new restaurant in Cape Town. Its an Italian restaurant, but before your eyes glaze over, it has one or two defining features.

It’s almost sacrilege to call any pizza the best pizza in Cape Town. I naively tried that 2 years ago. I’m sorry. I was young. But, I am pretty confident I can say Burrata has the best Napolitan (Napolese?) pizza in Cape Town. For those of you (me) whose extent of knowledge of Italian food growing up was the kids menu at Spur, Napolitan often means tomato based pasta sauce. This is not that.

On a recentish visit to Italy, I had the best pizza n the world. Literally. I wrote that. Google agreed. And for the ladies out there who were merciful enough to watch Eat, Pray, Love alone, it was at the same pizzeria that Julia Roberts ate at. The pizza in Napoli is nothing like you’ve ever had. It has no more than 3 toppings. And two of those is cheese and tomato base. The magic in these pizzas is actually the base, the dough, the stuff that is normally just there as something to layer topping on. In Napoli, the base is the pizza. It’s GOOD!

And I am so glad that Burrata is using that as their standard, when making a pizza. They even imported a pizza oven from Italy to ensure they wouldn’t miss that mark.

And they don’t. All pizza pales in comparison to a Burrata pizza.

But wait, there’s more. They do other Italian food that is simply great. And the wine list…. Aaahh, the wine list. There are no Durbanville Hills umbrellas here. The wines are from unique, boutique vineyards, and reasonably priced. It’s so nice to spot a wine that you tasted at that little farm that one time where the taster guy told you about that time his dog did that thing with the duck. And then order it. And then drink it.

But try the pizza.

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The craft beer ‘scene’ in Cape Town

15 Nov

The standard hipster anthem is “You probably haven’t heard of it.” which, if it’s true about craft beer, is a travesty. If you haven’t spent half an hour in front of the fridge at Cape Quarter Tops or inside the coolness of Roeland Street Liquours beer fridge, it’s about time you start.

Alliance American Amber Ale

The hard part was putting the beer down long enough to take a pic. I don’t know how Instagram’ers do it.

The latest addition to the Craft Beer scene is the Citizen Alliance American Amber Ale. It’s been available on tap for a while, but it’s now available in bottles, in very cool 4, 12 and 16 packs. And I actually think it is better in the bottle. It has a nice nutty caramel flavor. And not in that “swirling at 15degrees anti-clockwise, with a hint of mint” kind of way. In the “take a sip, look at the label, and lick your lips, and it’s obvious” kind of way.

Another recent discovery I made is Triggerfish. I’ve had it on tap once or twice, but I actually think the flavors are way more prominent in the bottle. Their flavors tend to be nice and obvious and on the sweetish side, and the bottles are 330ml. Sooo, perfect to introduce ladies to. The IPA has a lovely berry flavor, (I’m thinking raspberry or strawberry) and the stout is so very coffee-caramel, it feels like you should wake up to one.

Devil's Peak First Light

Look at the colours, the beauty, the awe. Oh and there’s some grass and sea and stuff too.

Devils Peak has stormed my castle of a beer fridge and taken up every shelf. I am now buying in bulk. The IPA is very flavorful. And each time I open one, it takes me back to some bar in USA where I first discovered IPA, and it is good. It’s not a “session” beer as the kids call it. It’s meant to be savoured. But if you want a session beer, look no further than their Saison. Fruity, but drinkable, I may or may not have ‘klapped’ 4 of these in the sun at Sotano the other day.

And Union Berne

Good old Bernie aka The Redhead. She never ages…

Don’t forget And Union though. I got a bit spoiled for choice and didn’t have one for a while. (3 or more days…) But that first sip of a Berne or Dark or Unfiltered and I get a silly smile on my face. Because I remember/blame them for my current obsession with beer (beer belly). Flavorful, yet drinkable, their beers deserve to kick as much ass as they are around the country and even overseas. The Beast of the Deep is my chosen winter beer, a delightful Bock, and I can’t wait for their upcoming IPA!

Craft beers at El Burro

Some of the beer available at El Burro. And sometimes he even sells it.

I haven’t got through all the options. Because, like rainbows and kittens, these are just a few of my favourite beers. There’s plenty more options. Napier, Camelthorn, Mitchell’s, Darling, Three Skulls… There’re more, but I’m kinda engrossed in this Raven Stout from Mitchell’s at the moment as I contemplate all the new beers that are going to be at the Cape Town Festival of Beer.

San Francisco – Cape Town for Americans

8 Aug

The most amazing view… Golden Gate bridge and hilly San Francisco in the background.

Ever thought about the similarities between San Francisco and Cape Town? Both have double barrel names? Fine. How about we both have an ex-prison island that is now a tourist attraction?

Kinda like Robben Island, but rocky.

Or that we we are both known for being hilly?

Hilly. Like for real. Where you have to turn the front wheels to face the pavement in case.

And beautiful?

The city from the bay.

Both situated on bays? And full of gays? Well not full, but probably the the most gay-friendly cities in our respective countries. We both are quite bicycle oriented. And renowned for being arty. And hippy. And its also impossible to find parking. And have a stadium on the beach.

A stadium right by the sea. Where have I seen that?

San Francisco was our most eagerly awaited destination in USA. And it was very cool, one of our favourites, but in the end not our favourite. That ended up being New York. We spent 4 days in SF and I think we didn’t even scratch the surface. We went to a SF Giants game which was epic. The vibe around the stadium was unbelievable, we happened to be there for the 99th consecutive sold out game at AT&T park, and when you see the view, you can understand why.
We also visited Alcatraz. Mostly because of the new show.

When the fog comes rolling in… Umm… You can’t see where you going?

Typical tourist trap stuff, but once we were out on the bay and the fog rolled in and covered most of Golden Gate bridge, it was all worthwhile. Alcatraz itself was very interesting too, definitely worth a visit. For instance, despite its reputation of no escapes, 3 guys did. They were never found.

Lots of tourists. All looking for the 3 missing guys…

The bars and pubs are also just on a higher standard, they seem to do things as good as they can in SF. I had the most amazing Mac and cheese. Yep, Mac and cheese. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. It had gruyere cheese and crisp crumbs on top. And it came with beer.

Best Mac and Cheese I have ever had. With a very nice beer.

We were sad to leave SF, but our next stop was Napa, so not too sad…

Tequila 101 with El Burro

18 Jul

Look at all the tequila. And the look of anticipation…

With wine, as with beer, you get wine, and then you get the real stuff. And just like wine and beer, there is tequila, and then there is the real stuff.

Visual aids included.

Over time I’ve educated myself through a strenuous process to learn more about wine and beer and even brandy and whisky a bit. What process, you ask? Well drinking it. A lot of it. The one problem with tequila is, as soon as you learn something, its forgotten the next day. Its the nature of tequila. Well, its the nature of South Africans who drink tequila. It’s always shots. Until now.

The which is which test…

El Burro has amassed a very nice collection of tequila’s. 75 of them in fact. And now Nic wants to teach you how to enjoy them. Did you know you get wood aged tequila? Did you know gold tequila, is actually just colored tequila? Did you know you get tequila that you can sniff and sip like a good cognac?

The good stuff.

You can learn all this during Tequila 101, El Burro’s revolutionary new tequila appreciation class. Among things like what an el jimador is, what the difference is between tequila and mescal… Well, I learnt a lot of stuff. And I had some awesome tequila. Go book with Nic ASAP at hola@elburro.co.za or tweet @_El_Burro and mention #Tequila101.

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