A Little Update on our Day at the Joburg Bubbly Festival

Last week I attacked most of your inboxes, Facebook timelines and Twitter streams with prolific punting of the Joburg Cap Classique and Bubbly Festival, and the two VIP tickets that I had to give away. This week, I’m going to just give you all a little peek at the enchanting world we lived in for a few hours…

Celebrity Chef Mario de Angeli, of the famed Cube restaurant in Joburg, and Pieter Ferreira, Chairman of the Cap Classique Association, were most gracious hosts in the Mastercard Gourmet Theater. Rob and I were joined by the winners of the give-away VIP tickets, Kate Brannigan and Bruce Kay, who kept us entertained well into the afternoon. We were dazzled with palate-tickling treats like de-constructed gazpacho, liquid apple cream pies, mushroom shots and squid ink prawns. These jaw-dropping signature dishes are veritable works of art. And were all delivered with his self-deprecating charm.
There were also vanilla, passion fruit and wild peach champagne sorbets to be sampled, and a gruelling make-your-own ice-cream competition to cheer for.

Our VIP ticket winners, Bruce Kay and Kate Brannigan

Rob, pretending to be famous. Oh so smug.

L-R: Caramel ‘popcorn’; thai crab ‘salad’; cauliflower panna cotta; deconstructed gazpacho with cucumber jelly

Mario working his magic at our table with some dry ice

A mushroom ‘shot’ and tuna sashimi with truffle oil

Mario where he’s clearly most at home, in his test kitchen

It was on like donkey kong. Kate, game for anything, took on another guest in the ultimate DIY ice-cream show down.
It was deemed too close to choose, so they both won a dinner for 2 at Cube Restaurant. Nice hey?

Enjoying some time out over at the Laborie Stand

We also walked away with unbelievable goodie-bags filled to the brim with, you guessed it, more Cap Classique, which we’ll be enjoying around full and happy tables for many evenings to come.

All in all, it was pretty lip-lekker.

More about Cube Restaurant
If it’s pure gastronomical fascination and pushing the proverbial foodie boat out that lights your fire, then this is the place for you. Completely down-to-earth award-winning celebrity chef Dario de Angeli’s recently turned things up a notch, and opened his Cube Test Kitchen. Think 20 course seasonal tasting menus, and think Heston Blumenthal and his famous Fat Duck Restaurant, but with proudly South African written all over it.
The restaurant itself is very simple, so don’t expect to be wowed by your surroundings, just what’s on your plate (and each other, of course). Here, the food is the real hero.
Two last things, the tasting menu goes for around R450, and it’s BYO booze, so call ahead and they’ll even give you suggestions on what to bring along so that it pairs beautifully with your food on the night.

Cube
17- 4th Ave, Parktown North (next to Mantra)
Tel 082 422 8158
[email protected]

* Please note that this was not a sponsored post, I was a guest at the event but was not paid to write this review.