The Noisy Oyster - Paternoster

Down in the quaint, but rapidly growing, fishing village of Paternoster on the Cape west coast is the "Noisy Oyster" restaurant. We had been there before but a good few years ago and decided that it was time for another visit, however on the day that we chose there was a chalkboard on the veranda on which was inscribed; "Sorry, fully booked - big tippers and fast eaters will be considered." seeing as we are neither we decided to try another time but I did like the humour.

Luckily on our next visit, which was last Sunday, we were able to get a table in the garden although we hadn't booked. The outside area is an eclectic mix of decor most of which is related to the fishing industry, very colourful and inviting.

Some of the items are not so easy to identify but very interesting nontheless!

 We ordered a bottle of wine from the friendly and attentive waitress, a Fairview Sauvignon Blanc priced at R120, a little expensive I think for a local wine but it was cold and delicious and it went down very well as we studied the menu.

As a starter I ordered "Sardines with Rosemary and Paprika stuffing wrapped in Parma Ham with Potato mash, minced onion and shaved gruyere cheese." and let me tell you it was out of this world!

It was four sardine fillets wrapped in parma ham, the rosemary and paprika did not overpower the delicate flavours and the gruyere and mash needed to be wiped up with my finger but I resisted and scooped it out with the fork! I so enjoyed it that I almost forgot to take a photograph and had actually eaten half before I remembered. A truly memorable starter which I look forward to having again. That I considered reasonably priced at R45.

Janet opted for Pan grilled chicken livers with potato mash and mild chili tomato salsa, also R45 and also delicious, I tasted it!

My main course; Yellow Fin Tuna - pan seared with vanilla tomato confit, young potato, artichoke and roast vegetable salad at R125 came rare just as I had ordered it and I enjoyed and demolished every morsel except for the carrot which I gave to Janet, that had nothing to do with the restaurant but rather personal taste, I do not eat carrots!

The portions are not huge, this is not that sort of restaurant, but there is definitely a chef involved, the sauces and confits were delicious and complimented the food rather than overpowering or disguising it. Janet's Penne Pasta with sauteed porcini mushrooms, basil pesto, gruyere cheese and truffle oil at R65 she declared to be very enjoyable and we easily finished it!

We had room for dessert and I went for my favourite creme caramel which came with a fresh fruit spoon, the crispy top on the caramel was just right and had to broken with the spoon - absolutely delicious, light and delicate with the initial rather more tart mouthful of fresh fruit!

 Janet's dessert involved fresh fruit, chocolate mousse and mini donuts and was also quite spectacular, I know because I finished it off!

The Noisy Oyster is not cheap, our bill with the tip came to just over R500, but it is no ordinary restaurant and we will certainly be going back again. There are many more menu items I want to try but I just know that I will not be able to get past the sardine starter, that's a given.

A very nice touch to keep customers entertained while waiting for the food is a bunch of trivial pursuit cards on the tables, all around us we could hear things like; "What is the capital of...?", "What was the name of the.....?" while we were testing our general knowledge, a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours spent enjoying a lovely meal - go and try it out for yourself, you won't be disappointed I assure you but you had better book; 022 7522196. Tell them I sent you.

Local toy Run

Two weeks ago I attended the IMOC Toy run in Capetown and here we were buying toys again for the local toy run organised by the Meeulanders MCC, it coincides with the "Wheels on the West Coast" show at the "Wes-kus school" and is usually an interesting place for us petrolheads.

We met up with Frank and Danny at the Spur restaurant in the Mall for a light meal and then joined the steadily growing crowd of bikers in the car park.

We were a bit early but the crowd slowly grew as more and more riders arrived from the different local clubs, some bikes festooned with toys;

A club you will always find well represented, especially at events such as this one; the CMA.

Soon it was time to go, kick stands up and we headed out of the car park, about fifty bikes tried to keep a nice tight formation for the short ride down to Saldanha.

It is about ten kilometres from the Mall to the school and I think we made a pretty impressive looking convoy.

We all parked up in the show ground area and immediately people gathered round to admire our machinery,

We deposited our toys into Craig and Monica's van and went off in search of beer.

A relatively small group of bikers but a lovely big pile of toys for underprivileged local children.

Braai lamb chops for sale.

Immaculate 1949 Mercury.

They don't make 'em like this any more, more's the pity!

There were the usual trade stalls, here Steven buys himself a cowboy hat.

Lots of food and drink stalls, it was a hot day so they did a good business. We spent a couple of hours there and soon it was time to go.

Willie on his 1300BMW

As usual the last two to leave a party! We rode through to the Rooikrans pub in Vredenburg for an ABF and found most of the mob had had the same idea!

A pleasant day, a good cause and a great bunch of people - what more could anyone want?

Food, glorious (sea)food

The weather has been really bad this past couple of weeks, gale force winds just about every day but it seems to be over now - hopefully! Last Saturday we rode down to friends Neville and Janet in Simonstown, going over "Ou Kaapse Weg" in that wind was something of a trial but luckily on Sunday morning when we rode back it had moderated somewhat. Maybe we'll have some calm for a while?

I received some really bad news in my inbox this week; the Cape Town Bike Festival has been cancelled! Scheduled for the weekend of the 16th to the 18th December, I had really been looking forward to it but must confess that in the back of my mind I harboured a nagging doubt that Capetown could pull it off.

The reasons given were that sponsors hadn't come forward and ticket sales hadn't lived up to expectations but in talking to people afterwards I heard another side; Graig from the Yamaha agent in Vredenburg said they wanted a ridiculous amount of money from exhibitors for the three day event, something like R80,000! Craid said there was no way they could afford that not knowing whether their would be any business generated and "Muis", a biker friend said that he wouldn't have gone because entry was way too expensive, maybe the organisers were trying to make a quick buck and hadn't gauged their market. Pity, now we'll have to keep going to Jo'burg for the big shows.

Last Sunday I ended up at Des' Ek en Djy Visserye just after lunch and Leon and Christine were serving up Crayfish and salad for R75!

If I had known about that beforehand I would have gone there for lunch.

It was a festive scene with a good few people enjoying the meal, you just gotta go there.

Maybe that was what inspired me to do some seafood during the week;

I bought a fresh Angel fish from Charlie's Fish Shop which is conveniently just around the corner, cut the skeleton out and cut out all of the pin-bones away, placed them skin-side down in a buttered baking tray, grated some lemon zest over them, a sprinkle of mixed herbs and a squeeze of fresh lemon a little salt and pepper and into a hot oven for about ten minutes.

In the meantime I steamed some fresh mussels in a bit of white wine and lemon juice while Janet prepared the accompaniments;

and there it is, lemon baked Angel fish with garlic potatoes, butternut squash and fresh mussels. We also threw on some cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and olives, what a lovely meal!

We are shortly off to join a group of local bikers on a local toy run organised by the Meeulander Club, it is a beautiful calm day, the sun is shining so it should be great - I'll tell you all about it later.

Toy Run 2011

The wind blew like hell all day Saturday and on Sunday morning it was still blowing, the forecast was not good so Janet opted out, "I'm staying here, you go." I also had second thoughts about it, I prefer riding in the rain to riding in gale force winds but I also didn't want to miss my fourteenth consecutive annual toy run.

Now in its 26th year the toy run was started by the Italian Motorcycle Owners Club (IMOC) and it has become a national event, bikers all over the country get together on the same day to collect toys for underprivileged children. I headed out at 07h30 to the gathering point at the Engen One-stop on the R27 with the idea that I could call it off and ride back home if that was the general consensus.

Of course that wasn't the general consensus! There were already about a dozen guys and ladies there all eager to get going, the wind didn't feel too bad anyway.

I rode behind this bike most of the way to Capetown and this teddy bear was waving his arms around all the way as if he was really enjoying himself!

We got going shortly after 08h00 and the Undaunted Club riders set a good fast pace, we settled into the staggered formation and cruised down at a steady 140kmh, every now and then I could feel some wind gusts but we were heading directly into it and it would be pushing us home later.

These guys were all going directly to the end venue but I had a different idea and at the outskirts of the city we split with the bunch and headed for the Viper Lounge. We had some time to kill and I could not think of a better place to do it.

There were plenty of people coming and going, like two guys on these BMW "Cafe racers", a 1976 and a 1983 model.

We sat around until just after 10h00, the mass rides were due to start from the two venues at 10h30, so we rode through to a spot en route where I could get some photos. Every year I have taken part in the mass ride but it is a lot of clutch work, braking, foot down, 1st gear riding and I thought that with the gusting wind and the added hazard of lots of inexperienced youngsters all over the place on scramblers and scooters, now would be a good time to have a change, I had always wanted to get photos of the mass ride anyway.

We selected a picturesque spot and settled down to watch the passing parade. At first the bikes went past in dribs and drabs but it wasn't long at all until the road was full of riders.

A traffic cop led the way followed by the mass ride which had started simultaneously from the Ottery supermarket and from the Epping market.

For some unknown reason they let the Harley riders lead, why? You'd think it would be Italian bikes.

All kinds of bikes can be seen in the mass ride;

Tuk-tuks laden with toys;

Trikes,

Sidecar rigs;

and thousands and thousands of motorbikes. We sat there for an hour, and in that time the bikes were passing non stop, before we joined in for the short ride to the Maynardville showgrounds. Still it was an unbelievable mob but the traffic cops were doing a splendid job and it wasn't long before we were parked and heading in to the show ground.

 A "Sea" of motorcycles in the parking area, still filling up, millions of Rands worth of machinery here!

Thousands upon thousands of people all with the one purpose, well with two aims I suppose; to donate toys for needy children and to have a jol! (a party). Anyone is allowed in and recently we have seen a huge upsurge in the number of non-biker families who come in to mingle with the bikers, the only entry fee is at least one toy.

The first thing we do is make our way to the trailers to get shot of our parcels, it doesn't take long before both are full to overflowing.

The organisers estimated that there would be in the region of 35,000 toys to be distributed this year!

From there we always go to the beer tent which was, as usual, doing a roaring trade. We usually hang about for a while because the beer tent is a good place to see friends passing through.

Jenny and Joos here chatting to Frank. There is plenty to see and do and for a while we wandered around.

There are live bands performing throughout the day as well as comedians to keep the crowd entertained.

There are plenty of trade stalls;

Food stalls, all doing a brisk trade.

There we met up with friends Janet and Jeremy and we chatted with them for a while. I'm not a big fan of "Stand-up" food sans wine so we headed off sort of early afternoon in search of a restaurant and ended up in Table View.

By then the wind was really blowing hard but it blew me home and if I get any speed trap photos later that will be my defence; "Your Worship I was doing 160kmh only because of the wind!" I got back home just after four, it had been a lovely day on the bike and I am really glad that I went. A wonderful event to be involved in and I hope that I will be around to do a lot more.