ORCHID CAFÉ

To My Dearest Friend

I'm sitting in this quaint little café about to devour one of the most delicious culinary creations I've ever seen. You simply must stop in and take your pick from a delicately crafted range of scrumptious savoury and sensationally sweet treats. Take it from me, this café is sure to have something perfect to please your eyes, your taste buds and your soul!
Wish you were here!

The Orchid Café, brimming with abundant charm, was born, when Denise Wright the owner of Homework Clothing in Cape Town approached Carly Porter with a great idea to fill the extra space in their new clothing store in Chelsea Village, Wynberg, one of Cape Town's oldest, historic suburbs and a minute from Maynardville Park, home to outdoor theatre and ballet under the stars. 

Carly, after her three years at Silwood, the Grande Dame of cookery schools, has had a varied and fascinating career, continuing and deepening her knowledge of food and gradually mastering her craft, in the bush at Singita Private Game Reserve, at elegant Cape Grace, at Ellerman House and private yachts in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Diverse experiences which have stood her in good stead. Returning to South Africa, she joined Melissa's training staff, introducing fresh menus and wonderful ideas. it was during this period that Carly really began to think about her approach, if and when the opportunity arrived to open her own business. When the chance came Carly was ready!

The exotic orchid, in all its guises, is her favourite flower and tells all about what she has done in the small space that she had to work with. She wanted to create a boutique café that was unusual and utterly beautiful. Each day there are fresh flowers on every table, roses and lavender with sweet smelling herbs - echoes of gorgeous gardens, creating a delightful oasis in a bustling suburb.

 

Carly's food is simple, honest, never anything pretentious, but made as she says with love and passion! Consistently excellent coffee, a choice of exquisite teas; French and Sri Lankan. Delicious buttery Madeleines, fluffy muffins, crisp homemade vanilla scented biscuits, delicate fruit tartlets; creamy custard topped with fresh figs, and a whirl of white chocolate - divine!  

 

 

The Orchid Café hums from early morning through to afternoon teas, Saturdays only until two!

Have brunch, the choices are wide and portions generous! Lovely creamy scrambled eggs with roasted tomatoes. Try the poached eggs on toasted foccacia or your choice of Carly's breads with fresh rocket and ripe brie. Wonderful salads topped with blends of fresh fruits, berries, roasted nuts, sesame seeds, melting camembert, crisp bacon - tempting tastes! Try the toasted cheese, rather like Welsh Rarebit with Dijon mustard, mature cheddar, leeks and portabellini mushrooms.

MADELEINES 
A favorite to dip into a latte or hot chocolate

5 eggs
200 g castor sugar
zest of 1 lemon
200 g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ a pinch of salt
180 g butter, melted but cooled

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they are pale, thick and fluffy. Add the zest, flour, baking powder, salt and butter to the egg mix and fold together. Spoon small dollops of the mixture into the prepped Madeleine tin (I got a silicone one from Banks and works superbly) and give it a little tap on the kitchen counter to settle any extra bubbles/air. Place into oven for 8-10 minutes until they are a gorgeous buttery brown.

ULTIMATE CHEESE SANDWICH

2 leeks, washed and finely sliced
½ small punnet portabellini mushrooms, sliced
knob of butter
50 g butter
50 g flour
300 ml Boddingtons ale which has been warmed (can get from good liquor stores – do not use any old regular beer)
150 g mature (at least 6 months) cheddar, grated
1 generous tsp Maille Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt
fresh ground black pepper
4 large slices of farm house white bread, toasted

Heat the knob of butter in a fry pan and sauté the leeks and mushrooms until soft and SLIGHTLY golden ( you don’t want too much colour). Melt the 50 g butter over a low heat in a small sauce pan, sprinkle over the flour and stir together to form a roux. Cook for a couple minutes. Slowly add the hot beer to the roux, until you have a gorgeous, thick and smooth sauce. Stir in the cheddar. Add the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt (only after you have checked the seasoning if it needs the salt – depends on the cheese). Stir in the leek and mushroom mixture. Blob the cheese mixture over the toast, place under a very hot grill for a couple of minutes until the cheese is bubbling and golden.

FRESH FIG, WHITE CHOCOLATE & VANILLA BEAN TART

you will need 6 x 10 cm tart cases, lined with sweet short crust pastry and baked blind
750 ml full fat milk
1 large, juicy, fat vanilla bean scraped of all its seeds
9 egg yolks
9 eggs
150 g castor sugar
45 g cake flour
25 g corn flour
6 fresh Adam's figs, cut into quarters
100 g Belgium white chocolate 

Heat milk and vanilla seeds and scraped pod in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat. Beat together the egg yolks and eggs for a couple of minutes until foamy than add the sugar and beat for a further 5 minutes. Sift the flour and corn flour over the egg mixture and beat until smooth.

Remove the pod from the milk, wash and dry, and store in sugar or coffee granules (gives coffee a subtle vanilla taste). Add a splash of the warm milk to the eggs first and whisk. Then add remaining milk. Return custard to a large saucepan and over a medium heat, stirring continuously until thick and coats the back of the spoon. Set the custard aside with clingfilm on top to prevent a skin from forming. 

To make white chocolate curls, draw a sharp knife over the surface of the chocolate in a slow scraping motion. Pour the cooled custard into the prepped tart cases, poke 4 wedges of figs into each tart, sprinkle with a tiny bit a golden sugar and place into a preheated oven at 200˚C and bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Leave the tarts to cool in the tins and garnish with chocolate curls.

ANNELIZE'S COCONUT BISCUITS 
(Annelize is the chef at Orchid Café and this is her recipe – simply delicious!)

5 egg whites
50 g castor sugar
200 g icing sugar
250 g coconut (desiccated)
zest 1 lemon
1 tbsp corn flour

Beat egg whites until foamy than slowly add the castor sugar - beating continuously until a soft meringue consistency is formed. Mix together the remaining ingredients and fold gently into the meringue mixture. Line a baking tray with a silicone mat and place small spoonfuls of the mixture onto the mat. Place into a preheated oven of 200˚C and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.

 

 

THE ORCHID CAFÉ

23 Wolfe Street,
Chelsea Village, Wynberg,
Cape Town

Open from 8.30 am – 4.30 pm
week days and 8.30 am - 2 pm
Saturdays.

Tel: 021 761 1000 Fax: 021 761 1485

Email: petalhead@webmail.co.za

A SHOWCOOK.COM PRODUCTION 
Photography by Franz Lauinger