Finally, a lazy morning. We’re moving over to the nearby town of Franschhoek to spend a few evenings. After a leisurely breakfast we fetched an Uber for the 30-minute drive. No wine tastings today.
Franschhoek (Afrikaans for ‘French Corner’) is a small town originally settled by French Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution. They brought with them their French culture and agricultural traditions. Many of the settlers named their farms after the areas they left behind in France. Today it is known for its wine farms, restaurants, and Cape Dutch architecture. Besides wine, Franschhoek is considered the foodie capital of South Africa.
We are staying at the Avondrood Guest House a few blocks from the center of town. Built in 1870, the Avondrood is a traditional Victorian Cape Dutch former home that has been converted to a guest house with 8 suites around a courtyard and pool. Check-in is at 11:00 and we arrived a few minutes early so we are offered a complimentary glass of wine. Sweet! We had hoped to just stash our luggage for a few hours, but the staff needed just a couple of minutes, and our room is ready. The grounds and room are great. Quite the place.
After getting settled, we took a nice walk around downtown just around the corner from our place. Very, very neat area with shops and restaurants. Dick manages to find some cool leather flip flops and a belt. I am holding off on purchasing stuff since we are severely limited with our luggage. After a quick beer at the ‘Tuk Tuk Brewery’ we had small lunch at ‘Frank’s Corner Beer Co’ – mussels, shrimp and wings. We didn’t want to eat too much as we have a cooking class this evening. What a great little town!
We’ve been looking forward to our cooking class this evening and scoped out the venue (Spilsbury Kitchen). Good thing we stopped by as there is miscommunication as to when our class is. This is the only day we have available. After some back and forth with Nicola, the owner, she agrees that she was mistaken, and we end up with a private class for just the two of us. The theme for the class is a ‘Franschhoek Feast’ – a traditional Franschhoek meal. It’s us, Chef Nicola and Rosie, her assistant. After arriving for our class we are offered bubbly to start. It’s a hands-on class and we are quickly put to work. On the menu – Cheese Puff Puffs (very evil), Exotic Carrot Salad, Steamed Green Beans with Chickpea Hummus, Beef Bobotie, Lemon and Herb Chicken Flattie (spatchcocked), and a traditional Milk Tart for dessert. Of course, the wine flows freely. Nicola has an interesting background. She is a classically trained chef, has served as a global and local private chef, is culinary consultant to many of the other restaurants in the area, and has run cooking schools in a number of cities. What fun! And, the food was excellent.
Rosie is a local woman who has been working for Nicola for several months and is very nice and unassuming. Locals cannot afford to live in the town of Franschhoek and most don’t have cars, which means transport to and from their jobs can be difficult. Workers tend to rely on black market transportation, whereas they will find a ‘taxi’ and put as many people as possible in it to transport them to where they live, and they split the cost. There are several restaurants in the immediate vicinity to where our class is. Rosie is friends with some of the workers and they promised her a ride after our class which ends around 10 PM. Just as Dick and I were getting ready to leave we see a large group of workers walking by but not stopping for Rosie. We alert Rosie and they inform her they do not have room for her tonight. I think Nicola found a way for Rosie to get home safely. Can’t imagine having to deal with that every day.
M