Another day in South Africa took us south to the Indian Ocean coastline and east to Walker Bay, the famous home of the Southern Right Whales, which can be seen just by walking along the coastline, While Hermanus is the main city and resort here (and our spot for the night), we passed the city and rounded the bay to the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve about 30 minutes away. This huge reserve features over 750 types of native flowers and plants and is a wonder in itself just as a reserve as they promote so much good within the community when it comes to education, jobs, going green and more.
The property has two lodges, the more traditional "old fashioned" Garden Lodge where children under 12 are welcome and the sleek new Forest Lodge for adults and teens only. We lunched at the latter (guests are welcome from outside) and as everyone greeted us with smiles and handshakes (this is very common at hotels and restaurants) sat down in the all window room perched above Walker Bay with stupendous views of the cliffs, shoreline and whales (if you have good eyesight or binoculars).
A glass of SOUTHERN RIGHT Sauvignon Blanc 2008 right from the Walker Bay wine region was a great refreshing, crisp, and less citrusy style. It is named for the whale which is on the label as well. Southern is obvious, but "right" came from the term the hunters used to show it was the "right" whale to hunt, as opposed to the humpback. For lunch there is a small buffet of salads for starters which included Couscous with Goat Cheese, Watercress. Tomato & Goat Cheese, Multi-color peppers with greens, miniature corn cobs and more. I have to start by saying that even though we are still in winter, the spring flowers are in bloom everywhere due to the temperate climate (think San Diego) and every vegetable we get from the juicy red tomatoes to those that are cooked are the freshest and best in quality.
Since we were back at the ocean, and the meals have been so big, I chose the Grilled KINGKLIP (the deep sea flaky thick fish I had the day before) with MUSHROOM RISOTTO and CAPER Beurre Blanc Sauce. The sauce was rich, yet salty and tasty and loaded with fresh capers and the risotto was rich as well and quite filling. I tasted a DeWesthof CHARDONNAY 2005 from Robertson, a region way inland from here, which was a bit to rich and creamy for the saltiness of the sauce and went back to the Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc for my fish as well.
Dessert was a dreamy three bite treat of PASSION FRUIT PARFAIT which was a small timbale which came to the table slightly frozen (semi- freddo like) but softened quickly (panna cotta like), so you could get two textures if you timed your bites right. A small burnt orange slice hovered atop this as it sat in a small bed of fresh passion fruit (another thing about all the fruit--also every bite is ripe and fresh; no hard melons here!)
Walking from the lot to the lodges and through the miles of walkways, we saw dozens and dozens of protea and rare spring flowers in bloom, as well as umpteen different birds. It was a great way to revel in nature and enjoy her bounty.
