Restaurant review – Olive and Oil

Wine tasting at Olive and Oil
Tops and Olive Brook wines hosted a wine tasting evening at Olive and Oil at the Lifestyle Centre as part of Tops new Food and Wine Club. So in this week’s review I discuss both the food and wine from their first meeting.

The Food:
I was quite surprised by the food, a full table d’hôtel menu with a well-balanced selection of starters, main courses and desserts, which was more Cosmopolitan than Mediteranian. The Caesar Salad was well constructed and the cheese straws that replaced traditional croutons were fantastic, the fish cakes well executed although with slightly more potato than I was expecting, but still quite scrumptious. The vanilla Sorbet really cleaned the palate and got you ready for the main course. The main course beef was outstanding, done to order and very well plated. The chicken was a nice interpretation of the traditional lobster thermidor, and the prawns filled the restaurant with a stunning aroma which really got the taste buds going. The prawns were well grilled, firm and delicious.
The crème brulee was very nice although I found the brulee a bit thick, which added some unnecessary sweetness.  I must commend the chef on the portion sizes as it was easy to get through all three courses without being overly full.  A job well done
The Wine:
I was expecting quite a formal affair but was pleasantly surprised and was relaxed the whole evening. The speaker, Olive Brook winemaker Tinus van Niekerk, was very knowledgeable and kept everything very casual and really explained the wines simply, not getting too complicated.
With the starters we had Olive Brook Pinot Noir Chardonnay 2012 which for me was the winning wine of the evening. It has a really great flavour, is not too sweet and yet partnered well with the fish and the salad. For mains we had a selection of two wines, Olive Brook Sauvignon Blanc Sur Lie 2011 and Olive Brook Shiraz Cabernet Sauvigon 2011. I was amazed at how you always assume white wines go with fish but in this case the red really brought out the flavour of the prawns. The white wine paired fantastically well with the meat and chicken and was a real learning curve.
For dessert we had the Olive Brook Sweetspot Natural Sweet Rose that was a real treat and absolutely fantastic.

The Evening:
This wine evening was an enjoyable affair and I am really looking forward to the next one hosted by Tops at Lifestyle. The pricing was very good at R180 for a three course meal and wine and it’s hard to find value like that. All the wines are exclusive to Tops and are reasonably priced so do yourself a flavour and try the Olive Brook range – you won’t be disappointed.