Cape Town - Last Sunday we headed out in lashing rain to Delheim for one of its cheese fondue and jazz afternoons, which take place every week until the end of next month.
The location is the tasting cellar, which has bare stone walls, low ceilings and archways – and a beautiful window feature which is bedecked with years of cobwebs and dust. It sounds a little creepy and there is always the thought of spiders (although I suspect the spinners are long gone), but when the sun came out and shone through, it was quite lovely.
We were seated at a table near the back with benches and cushions and served our glasses of glühwein, and little cups of thick pea soup. At the front of the venue, a jazz quartet played gentle tunes that were not intrusive.
When last did you have a fondue? It was a popular home-entertaining meal in the 1960s and probably into the 1970s, and cheese is the most traditional dip, although oil and chocolate are other options. It was promoted as Switzerland’s national dish in the 1930s, and Delheim uses an authentic Swiss recipe of Emmental, Gruyère and white wine. There is also some garlic in there, which you should keep in mind when abiding by Martha Stewart’s fondue rules, the first of which is that if a woman drops her bread in the fondue pot, she has to kiss every man at the table. Rule two: if a man drops his bread in the fondue pot, he has to buy a bottle of wine for everyone at the table. It seems somewhat unbalanced but I’d definitely hold out for a man dropping his bread.
The fondue at Delheim is served in a heavy cast iron pot over a spirit burner which keeps it bubbling away until you reach the end. Ours was perhaps a little too hot, because if the temperature is correct, when the fondue is finished there will be a thin crust of toasted (not burnt) cheese at the bottom of the pot.
This is called la religieuse (French for the nun). It should have the texture of a cracker and is almost always lifted out and eaten. We didn’t have perfect success for this, but enjoyed dipping our cubes of bread in the gooey cheese. With wine, this sums up a perfect simple meal for me. We sampled a variety including the shiraz, unwooded chardonnay, and pinotage rosé.
You’re also given a small bowl of raw vegetables – broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, courgettes – which Sexy Deborah reckoned could have been blanched a bit first. Oil fondues are fine for cooking your morsels, but cheese not so much. Leaving a cauli floret in there infused the entire pot. Speaking of infusion, when leaving the cellar and re-entering, your nostrils are filled with the aroma of cooking cheese. It’s divine.
Look out for some of the farm’s resident Jack Russells (I can’t tell one from the other; there could be one or there could be six) who pop in to visit and stare very hard at the bread until you feed them some. I was joined by Vuvu, short for Vuvuzela because she was born during the Soccer World Cup in 2010, who jumped up on the bench next to me.
l The fondue and jazz, from 12.30 till 3.30pm, costs R200 a person and includes the glühwein on arrival. Wine, starters and desserts can be ordered at an additional cost, and wine tastings are available as well. Later there is a general knowledge quiz on various Delheim topics, with prizes. Unfortunately I didn’t know this bit, and only too late did Sexy Deborah share with me that she had made copious crib notes to ensure us winning. She’s so very thoughtful.
Delheim Estate is on the Knorhoek Road, off the R44 in Stellenbosch. This event is already fully booked for this month so get cracking and make your reservation for next month as soon as possible by calling 021 888 4607/079 7353 257, or sending an e-mail to [email protected].
Weekend Argus