After driving from CapeTown the just over an hour east to Franschoek and having enjoyed two wonderful wine tastings to start our 3 night stay here, we headed to downtown Franschoek and MARIGOLD, a simple but charming spot on the main street where Indian food shines. Nolundi, our server, said to please call her Lulu, and we started to peruse the huge menus.
Pappadam of rice and chickpea arrived with mint-coriander sauce as well as beetroot atchar or pickled beets) which actually all combined to taste pretty amazing.
One of us settled on the Thali a set menu of several street food starters, mains and sides; a kind of tasting menu on one giant plate that comes in a vegetarian version as well. Samuel went right for the Aloo Matar Somosas of potato and pea with tamarind chutney for his starter and I ordered a bottle of wine. The DeMorgenzon Maestro White 2015 was a gorgeous 330rand ($23+) from Stellenbosch that was a Rhone blend style of Rousanne, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Vioginier & Grenache Blanc that we all agreed was spectacular and would work well with all the spicy food. Lulu came back to say that if the 5 of us ordered 5 starters and 5 mains, the wine was free. WOW, what a deal! We all settled in and chose:
Aloo Tikki Chole Chaat was a fried potato patty, Bengal gram, chickpea curry sauce with onions, coriander and mint chutney that we all loved as well as the superb Dal Makhani or black whole urad lentils. Lamb Kebabs were spiced perfectly Tandoori style with masala yogurt sauce.
We loved everything but also realized that the wine from the day was getting too much and a glass of red with the mains was in order rather than a bottle. Lulu brought over almost all the reds served by the glass to taste!
Allee Bleue Starlette Pinotage from just around the bend as well as Eikehif Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 were nice but I settled on the Porcupine Ridge 2017 Syrah while Vince chose the Gentle Giant Haut Espoir 2012 Red and Will went for a beer.
The mains were as varied as they come from a truly scrumptious and buttery Butter Chicken of Murg Makhani with creamy onion tomato masala sauce to my Mutton Rogan Josh made from mutton knuckles, Kashmiri chillies, spices and yogurt that fell off the bone and melted in my mouth. Sam loved his Mughlai Vegetable Biryani as well as a Garlic Naan, while we shared a Naan stuffed with chili, coriander, onion and paneer(cheese).
Jeera Matar Polao was a simple but needed side of basmati rice with peas, cumin and coriander.
It was a superb meal and we all left full ready for bed for our next day here in Wine Country loaded with more fun and tastings. Check out my FB page for photos of the meal and the tastings!
