WE ♥ REAL BEER & PIZZA.

There it is people. Beer & pizza. Genius.

Real beer from &UNION, Jack Black, Birkenhead and Camelthorn. Wood-fired oven pizza from Knead. Music by the Swingsetters. All going down at the new Knead bakery in Palmyra Junction, which is a shithot space both inside and outdoors.

For anyone that didn’t get a chance to hit up the We ♥ Real Beer craft beer festival, this is the next best thing. And for everyone that did, this is the next best thing.

I’ll see you all there.

–

9th December – 6pm -  Knead Bakery, Palmyra Junction, 9 Palmyra Road, Claremont, Cape Town.

Botrivier – Round II.

So I was so excited by the pizza and Birkenhead at the Shunting Shed in Botrivier last time, I decided to go back – with reinforcements. So I planned along with several others to spend a Saturday afternoon watching rugby there, which is what we did. We arrived. We ordered some Birkenhead. Sold out. Some of our party had arrived early and already drunk them dry of this beer by then, it appeared. So we drank wine instead. Annoyingly, they still didn’t have any Feiteiras wine in stock. So we ordered something else. Luddite Shiraz 2005, to be more precise. What a mind-blowingly delicious wine! Silky smooth, yet big and voluptuous, bursting with fruits and ending with soft tannins and spices. So delicate, you can imagine every grape was pressed under the holy feet of a shiraz-loving angel. Fuck me, but this wine was just brilliant. And it happens to be grown just down the road.

Anyways, we ordered pizza after pizza, while watching the Bulls destroy the Lions and the Sharks the Blues and so on. We also smashed some Dalla Cia grappa and some espressos. And a few bottles of Gabrielskloof ‘The Blend’ 08. And eventually a keg of Birkenhead rolled in, so we drank one of those for good measure. And what a great afternoon.

But the best was still to come. When we discovered it was a ‘Cash Only’ policy at the Shunting Shed, we had to traipse around the corner to The Botrivier Hotel to draw some money. So in we walked to the bar area and…. wow, what a great bar! A few salty characters perched on stools. Bob Marley in the air. A cheery bartender. Boston lager on tap. And the greatest collection of random bar junk on every wall and shelf. Old rugby ties, sports posters, flags, beer cans, framed jerseys, autographed pamphlets. You name it, this place had it. We especially like the old Graeme Pollock and Mike Proctor ‘Sportsman Lager’ adverts (see below).

Hilarious! Proctor’s quote is “I’ve tried them all and Sportsman Lager has the taste that beats my thirst.’ Needless to say, we drew some money – which you do via the barman, not via an ATM – and then stayed for a few pints. The salty characters at the bar were singing along to Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by the time we left. What a gem of a spot. Go and see for yourself.

The Shunting Shed. 028 284 9443.

Botrivier Hotel. 028 284 9640.

The Shunting Shed. (Botrivier)

‘Shunting’ is a railroad term for when the train changes from one track to another, and this little spot certainly shunted my perception of the sleepy town of Botrivier. I’d been there a few times to visit Beaumont wines (always a worthwhile visit) and had passed through several more, but nothing had caught my eye. The town is sleepy. Like no-traffic-lights-yet sleepy. Then I heard about this place that serves good pizza. I think I read about it on JP Rossouw’s site a while back. Anyways, some friends decided to move onto a small farm nearby and it provided opportunity to visit The Shunting Shed.

The restaurant is a large tin shed that is furnished with old railway seats and tables and fitted out with some quirky accessories. There’s the pizza oven in the corner, a decent little bar with a Birkenhead tap and a TV playing sport. And a deck outside. The menu is simple, focused around the pizza’s. A wine blackboard lists some local wines, quite reasonably priced. The patrons seemed a mix of a few locals, visitors en route to Hermanus and tourists from further afar. But I get the sense that if you come here during a rugby match, the place will be packed with local farmers and other regulars. The vibe is warm here. It also has that we-could-get-really-drunk-here-and-meet-some-interesting-people feeling. I really enjoy places like that. In fact, The Shunting Shed is one of those rare places where almost anyone would feel at home. The stiff, red-trousered English tourist. The big denim- and leather-clad overland biker. The rough-skinned local farmer. The Cape Town hippie on a weekend jaunt. The family in need of an easy lunch to break a daytrip. All would enjoy this place.

We ate pizza, served on terracotta floor tiles with Spoornet branded plates on the side. The special was a rib pizza, which was delicious. All the pizza’s were good, served on thin bases and without too many toppings, something commendable. They could have been a touch crispier, but overall were very tasty. Considering the small, country town location, they were excellent. Sadly they were out of the Feiteiras Cabernet Sauvignon we wished to try, but the Birkenhead’s went down smoothly.

We toyed with the idea of staying and drinking for another two hours after lunch to see what happened at 5pm when the rugby came on. Would it get filled with local farmers that drink Olof Bergh and sit at the bar with a thousand-mile stare? Maybe. But we’ll have to wait till next time to see.

The Shunting Shed. 028 284 9443.

Hook Line & Sinker.

This place is brilliant. Run by no-nonsense husband and wife team of Jacqi and Stefan Kruger, out of their little house in Pringle Bay, Hook, Line & Sinker serves the most perfect battered fish and crispy chips for lunch Tuesday through Saturday. And when I say no-nonsense, I mean it. Ask Stephan if “it’s any good” and he’ll respond with a polite “fuck off!” Seriously. He’s also the size of a Super 14 prop-forward with hands so big his fingers look like pork sausage – you really don’t want to argue with him.

For dinners and Sunday lunch they cook a selection of fresh seafood. You can order from the blackboard or just ask them to prepare a platter – highly recommended. Sunday dinner is a steak and prawn affair.  You don’t come here for the scene (plenty of lycra tracksuit tops up in this house) or the decor (scribblings on the walls). But the fish & chips served on newspaper for lunch is something special. It is possibly the best in the world. Yes, in the whole world. They use palm oil, which is supposedly better for you cholesterol-wise, but you wouldn’t believe it based on how tasty it is.

This dish is the kind of thing that gourmet chefs can’t beat with fancy recipes that involve reductions and the like. It’s the hamburger of the seafood world. It always satisfies. It’s just freaking fantastic. Eat it with a cider from Birkenhead* and it’s even more amazing. And it makes a nice daytrip – just remember to book, especially if you’re going on weekends.

www.hooklineandsinker.co.za

* – Birkenhead badly need a packaging consultant. Their cider is called Troop Ship Cider and on the front of their poorly-designed label, it reads: “Women and Children First.”  This is fine for abandoning a ship, but this is an alcoholic beverage here. Maybe they mean “women and children get drunk first, then the men,” which is  kind of truthful…