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The Main Ingredient story
Written by John & Lynne Ford   
Sunday, 09 December 2007

 

Main Ingredient

 

 

Gourmet Foods, Ingredients & Fine Wines

Adamastor & Bacchus tailored Cape Wine Country tours

Eat In Guide Outstanding Outlet Award Winner 2006,2007 & 2008

Shop 5, Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Rd, Sea Point 8005

Cape Town, South Africa

Phone : +27 21 439 5160 Fax: 086 604 5169

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Main Ingredient on a Saturday morning: Lynne giving a customer a taste of something good and Jacquie
from Kathy Raath Promotions showing off wines from Rudera

 

Finding that Main Ingredient

If you love food, living in South Africa can sometimes be a challenge. We don’t yet have access to all the exciting ingredients and products that we all see in recipe books or on the food programmes. But things are changing. Main Ingredient was set up in 2002 to fulfil that need, to find the best and most unusual ingredients customers were looking for and put them in one shop. Over the last seven years our business has expanded a great deal and now suppliers find us with their new and innovative products. We sell salts, spices, preserves, vinegars, sauces, flours, chocolate, ready-to-bake frozen croissants, wines, luxury goods such as pates, duck fat, truffles: fresh to order, in jars, in oil; tins of duck confit, the best vanilla products and other real flavour extracts (we wont sell fake essences or food colourings). In addition to some excellent South African products like Protea Hill Farm’s wonderful herb and fruit vinegars and superb chutneys and relishes, we sell delicacies from Spain, Italy, France, England, the Mediterranean, Middle and Far East, even the Americas.
Our customer base is food and wine lovers from all over South Africa and they come and visit us whenever they are in Cape Town. We can post small items to destinations all over Southern Africa and other countries as well. We have many loyal foreign customers, some of whom are ‘swallows’ who live here for a few months each year and they bring us new ideas as well as their custom. We don’t sell the same things as the supermarkets, but we do sell what they don’t, won’t or can’t sell. We could never compete with their prices, so we try to be different and innovative. We watch cooking and eating trends and try to anticipate them by finding the ingredients first – or getting someone local and talented to produce them.

Our boutique wine list is different, unusual and is based on taste. We believe in showcasing the best wines and winemakers South Africa has. You won’t find many of these wines in supermarkets. Our choices are at all price levels, we taste everything we sell and if we think you will like it, we put it in the shop.

Each Saturday we have a free wine tasting from 10 to 1. It has become a very social event.

And  every  Saturday the Wolsey Country Girls bring their home produce to the pavement outside our shop from 9.30 to 1. They have freshly baked quiches,  free range eggs, preserves, and pastries amongst many other seasonal things.

 

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If you come to visit us, you will find just the two of us in the shop. We are a 'Mom and Pop' shop and we pride ourselves on our personal service and our interest in the needs of our customers. We will try and find things for you. We also have a huge network of food sources so we can often advise you where to find things that we dont sell. And Lynne is happy to give advice on how to use and cook ingredients. You might enjoy getting our weekly newsletter which gives you information on our new products and how to use them, a recipe each week using those ingredients, a beautiful photograph, food and festival news, restaurant reviews, lists of restaurant specials, comments about what is going on in the food industry (not always complimentary as we do believe in speaking out) and wine news and advice.

 

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We are at Shop 5 Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Road, Sea Point – right where Main Road becomes Kloof and Regent Road, near all the banks. Our hours are 10 to 6 Monday to Friday and 10 to 1 on Saturdays.

We do not open on Sundays because current legislation prevents us from selling wine on Sundays, and, anyway, we need a day off once a week!

 

To get our publication MENU by email each week either:

Phone us on 21 439 5169 or send an email to  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

This week’s edition is on this website. We look forward to meeting you.

 

Lynne and John Ford

Last Updated ( Monday, 11 January 2010 )
Read more...
 
Chestnuts - hot off the press!
Written by John & Lynne Ford   
Friday, 09 November 2007

Main Ingredient

 

 

 Gourmet Foods, Ingredients & Fine Wines

Eat In Guide Outstanding Outlet Award Winner 2006 & 2007

Shop 5, Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Rd, Sea Point 8005, Cape Town, South Africa

Phone and Fax: +27 21 439 5169

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 Variations on a chestnut theme

We have had many requests for chestnuts, chestnut purée and chestnut paste, and we’ve had to reply that they weren’t available.

 

But there’s good news, they came in on Friday and we have a limited supply available on a first-come, first-served basis. We asked for a bigger allocation, but it wasn’t possible. So enjoy them while they last – just in time for wonderful stuffings and special desserts.

 

We have also received a very small additional supply of Axe Hill white port (a quarter of what we asked for) so come and get that while it lasts.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas and we hope the New Year will bring you better things than you thought you deserved! We’ll do our best to make it possible – in terms of good things to eat and drink, that is.

 

Lynne and John

15th December 2007

 

Last Updated ( Monday, 17 December 2007 )
Read more...
 
Adamastor & Bacchus Cape Winelands tours
Written by John & Lynne Ford   
Sunday, 09 December 2007

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Experience the beauty of South Africa’s Western Cape - its vineyards, mountains, its unique flora and its architecture with an experienced guide, who has a thorough knowledge of the Cape’s wines and the land of their creation.

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Taste the wines in the cellars, with the winemakers,

and enjoy gourmet food in some of the great Winelands restaurants

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Sample Tours

  • 1 Day tour, visiting Buitenverwachting, Cordoba in the Helderberg area, light lunch and tasting at Morgenhof in Stellenbosch, followed by a visit to Bellevue, before returning to Cape Town

  • 2 Day tour, visiting Klein Constantia, Rust en Vrede and Waterford in Stellenbosch, Avondale in Paarl, Cabrière and Boschendal in Franschhoek, returning to Cape Town via Jonkershoek

  • 3 Day tour, visiting Walker Bay and Elgin, Stellenbosch and the Helderberg, Paarl, Wellington and Franschhoek

 

*Adamastor is the legendary Titan who protects the Southern tip of Africa. Bacchus needs no introduction

 

Veileder snakker norsk - Reiseleiter spricht Deutsch

 

Toerleier praat Afrikaans/Nederlands

For further details, to ask for a quote and to book, please call us at

Phone/ Fax: +27 21 439 5169         Mobile: +27 83 229 1172

5 Nedbank Centre, 15 Kloof Rd, Sea Point 8005, Cape Town, South Africa

email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Accredited Wine Industry Specialist Guide - Cape Wine Academy Diploma - Diploma in Photography (U.K.)

 

 

 

Satour Reg. no T4570 

© John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2007

Last Updated ( Monday, 17 December 2007 )
 
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