The greatest thing about Social Media irrespective of distance, is that it brings like minded individuals together. Last week Thursday I was invited to lunch at Lust Bistro and Bakery along with fellow foodies that head up Instaeats-Dean & Francis, as well as A.Girl.Named.Kez from P.E who was visiting for the famed Franschhoek festival-Bastille.
We started the day with some freshly pressed vegetable juice, best to pretend to be decent before hitting the Jess Rose. With an ensemble of specials penciled on the black board and a large lunch menu offering it was quite tough deciding what to munch lunch on. I also had another event that evening so emphasis was to be LIGHT, lunch.
That being said I had no restraint when crunchy crusted ciabatta and the most delicious seeded Gluten free bread was bedded on the wooded table in front of me. A little farm butter and cracked dessert salt, I could have happily emulated the French (fittingly with Bastille around the corner) and nibbled leisurely with these loaves that are baked on-site daily and an aged round of Camembert.
Sadly my lust for a leisurely lunch lead me to my usual scheme, I opted for one which became two starters- I mean two small plates wont hurt before dinner , right? Alas, the plates I ordered were very generous entrees which (trust me to complain about too much food) left me regretting the waitress bending my arm into having a second course.
The best part of breaking bread with fellow food lovers is the element of passing plates and sharing dishes. We took a few snaps of the varied dishes and frivolously forked each plate as if we were judges on Top Chef.
Speaking of judging, how was the food you must be wondering?
Fresh Cakes and Breads are baked Daily at Lust
Wild Mushroom Terrine | Plum, Tomato & Sultana Chutney | Toasted Black Pepper Brioche
The dishes I ordered were simple, fresh and well presented. Dean ordered the steak special which looked great and allowed for some beautiful vibrant images however I was a bit disappointed by the store bought potato rostis that accompanied the dish. The terrine, I also found to be a little lack luster when it came to flavour. I compared it in my mind to a mixed emotion mushroom duxelle butter rather than “terrine” which one could gingerly spread on the peppered toasts but lacked that wild umami mushroom flavour.
I ordered the Salmon fish cakes followed by the seared tuna which I felt was inspired by sashimi with pickled ginger and a wasabi mayo. It was not my intention to order two fish dishes but those two items sounded like the best lighter options, there were wood fired pizzas and as you can see steak options too.
The fish cakes were large for a starter (as I said, only I would complain about too much food) and bedded in a robust flavorful Asian styled laksa, typically made with coconut milk, a bite of fresh chilli, ginger, lemongrass and some cooling cucumber topped the trio of breaded bites.
Norwegian Salmon Fish Cakes | Coconut Laksa | Pickled Cucumber
Lust Bistro is situated on the Vrede en Lust wine estate so naturally our wines were from the 300 year old estate. I opted for the blushed Jess Rose for no other reason than I felt that salmon was Pink so lets have a pink wine pairing. Not very demure to say the very least but it was delicious. The dry rose being a blend of predominantly Pinotage grapes blended with Shiraz great for light lunches, even better in Summer I could imagine.
After long chats and a few social media brain storming sessions we enjoyed a walk around the manicured Wintry garden searching for Pokemon.
