STEVE AND NICKY FITZGERALD : HAIL CAESAR

Hartford House Restaurant
(Photo : Cooked in Africa)

"Steve was lyrical about Jackie Cameron's food"

There are no more recognisable faces in the hospitality trade, than Steve and Nicky Fitzgerald, past bosses of And Beyond (or CC Africa, as it was previously known). Their tenure at And Beyond saw them build that business into the biggest and most innovative safari and wilderness operator in the world. In our own encounters with Nicky, (head of marketing), through our mutual affiliations with the Land Of Legends (www.landoflegends.co.za), a visit to "headquarters" in Johannesburg was like spending a semester at Harvard.

This past weekend, we were privileged to host them at Hartford, together with their dynamic young daughter, Kate. Unsurprisingly, they were their usual ebullient selves; enterprising, interesting and wildly enthusiastic.

The one thing you know about the Fitzgeralds, is that they are forthright and constructive, and so when they say you are doing something right, you should know the size of the compliment. Steve was lyrical about Jackie Cameron's food, and they were generously complimentary about Hartford and its atmosphere. While you'd expect them to notice these things, coming from whence they do, they were quick to remark on the vibrancy of our guests, and especially on the demographic. They couldn't get over the fact that Hartford was packed with young visitors from the corporate, professional and financial sectors, all about "twenty years younger than us!".

By their standards, the "Fitzes" have been quiet of late, but it's a sure bet they're not done yet. Steve loves nothing more than a good deal, and Nicky loves to make it work.

HARTFORD HOUSE RESTAURANT FEATURED ON ECR

Hartford House Head Chef, Jackie Cameron
(Photo : Cooked in Africa)

EAT OUT DSTV FOOD NETWORK RESTAURANT AWARDS
Sunday 20th November 2011

Nominees for the Eat Out DStv Food Network Restaurant Awards have been announced and KZN has just one entry in the running...

Hartford House in the Mooi River area is among 20 nominees on the list from which the Restaurant of the Year, Chef of the Year, Service Excellence Award as well as the Top 10 Restaurants will be chosen.

The awards are judged by Eat Out Editor Abigail Donnelly. The criteria are stringent and assisting Donnelly in the compilation of the shortlist was Eat Out's national panel of over 30 professional restaurant reviewers as well as consumer reviews received on www.eatout.co.za.

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Cape Town on 20 November.

ECR's Anisa Ussuph caught up with Hartford House head chef, Jackie Cameron...

Jackie, what an honour! You must be over the moon...?!

It is always wonderful for my team and I to be acknowledged for the hard work we put in daily to maintain and continuously uplift standards.

Now, Cape Town is widely regarded as the culinary capital of SA as many of the award-winning restaurants are based there. It's fab to have Hartford House representing KZN. It's the only establishment to represent the east coast - why do you think that is?

I have been lucky enough to have eaten at and experienced many international kitchens over the years and have always brought back ideas of upliftment. A large percentage of our guests are international and they know a lot about food and wine and eat in the top restaurants on a daily/weekly basis. And so they expect nothing less when dinning at Hartford. The staff at Hartford is truly special and adds to the ambiance and entire experience. I know I would not be where I am today if it was not for the entire team. Every guest is treated like royalty and leaves a friend.

What makes Hartford House so special?

On the food side of things... it doesn't matter if you have a scone, sandwich or a five course dinner - all is an experience and foodie delight. As mentioned before, the staff are exceptional; professional without the pompousness. Hartford is truly a wonderful place in all aspects; from being situated on the stunning Summerhill Stud Farm to the warm Zulu hospitality, ambience, fine wine and food... all makes for a magnificent time.

Jackie, as the main chef at Hartford House, what do you think your "recipe" for success is...

Working extremely closely with my team, never shifting on standards, always uplifting and training myself and those around me and leading by example in every aspect of my life.

How do you define good food?

A meal cooked with love and presented with care which has been made with the best available in-season ingredients possible. A good meal can be my mother's roast chicken or a fine dining tasting menu - both have their place and are enjoyed just as much depending where one is.

And Jackie, we saved the strange question for the last: reality shows focusing on restaurants are all over the place. Is the real thing as frenetic and stressful behind-the-scenes as depicted on TV?

Indeed it can be. No one will, or could ever, understand the pressures or extremity of it all if never having worked in a restaurant. We try absolutely everything to ensure this is never the case at Hartford. I don't think any guest should pay their hard earned money on a meal that is not up to standard because a kitchen team is not well prepared. Not being organized and prepared is normally the reason for most of the kitchen stress that occurs. A good chef is a prepared chef and this is so true for everything in this high-paced industry where deadlines are hourly not weekly or monthly.

Extract from www.ecr.co.za

EAT OUT RESTAURANT AWARDS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

Form is temporary, class is permanent.
(Photos : Brett Florens)

EAT OUT DSTV FOOD NETWORK RESTAURANT AWARDS
Sunday 20th November 2011

The hallmark of greatness, is consistency. There's an old saying in the horse business that "form is temporary, class is permanent", and it's the same in the culinary world. Good chefs may fluke the odd good dish, but great chefs aspire consistently to greatness. In the context of a girl who is yet to strike her 30^th year, for her restaurant to be included among the finalists for the national Eat Out culinary awards five years in a row, is the best class indicator we know.

Head Chef, Jackie Cameron, who quite remarkably in a world where "musical chairs" is more the norm in staff turnovers than the standard, now in her 9^th year at Hartford House, has just received formal notification from the organisers of the "Top Ten" restaurants in the nation, that they're included in the finals once again. The gala function marking the announcement of the top ten takes place in Cape Town on the 20^th November.

To quote convenor, Abigail Donnelly "it has been a privilege and a humbling experience to have eaten such beautiful food this year, and it's certainly a huge achievement to have been included on this list".

The nominees are listed below. It's hot as hell in the Western Cape kitchen, where all but three countrywide are based. Notably, Hartford remains the only KZN-based restaurant on the list of finalists.

RESTAURANT AWARDS NOMINEES

AZURE	Cape Town
BABEL	Simondium
BOSMAN'S RESTAURANT	Paarl
DW ELEVEN-13	Johannesburg
THE RESTAURANT AT GRANDE PROVENCE	Franschhoek
THE GREENHOUSE	Cape Town
HARTFORD HOUSE	Mooi River
JORDAN RESTAURANT	Stellenbosch
LA COLOMBE	Cape Town
RESTAURANT MOSAIC AT ORIENT	Pretoria
NOBU	Cape Town
OVERTURE	Stellenbosch
PIERNEEF A LA MOTTE	Franschhoek
THE PLANET RESTAURANT	Cape Town
ROOTS	Krugersdorp
THE ROUNDHOUSE	Cape Town
TASTING ROOM AT LE QUARTIER FRANCAIS	Franschhoek
TERROIR	Stellenbosch
THE TEST KITCHEN BY LUKE DALE-ROBERTS	Cape Town
TOKARA	Stellenbosch

For more information visit :
www.eatout.co.za

SOUTH AFRICA'S TOP RESTAURANT : AS BIG AS IT GETS

Pecan Nut Praline Parfait
(Photo : Michael Nefdt)

HOUSE AND LEISURE / VISA BEST OF SA AWARDS

Let us not underestimate the enormity of the occasion. At a gala function this evening, the Hartford team of Cheryl Goss and Jackie Cameron step up to the winner's podium for the second consecutive year as the country's top restaurant in House and Leisure / Visa Best of SA Awards. The finalists included the national icons La Columbe and The Tasting Room in the Cape Town vicinity, and Mosaic in Gauteng, and yet, despite their remoteness, the gourmet public have proclaimed them the masters.

It's a marvellous tribute to a tireless team, forged from the ranks of a community where unemployment is the norm rather than the exception, and where skills in hospitality when Hartford House first opened its doors fourteen years ago, were almost non-existent.

The great thing is, this team is still a work-in-progress, and there are places they still have to go, yet it needs to be said that it's entirely through the encouragement and patronage of our guests, that all of this has been possible.

For those who travel thousands of miles to visit us, there is good news this morning in the government's interim budget, which relaxes our foreign exchange controls, weakening the Rand, and making travel to South Africa even more competitive. This at a time when the Australian dollar has reached the value of its American counterpart for the first time.

For more information please visit :
www.hartford.co.za

PUTTING AN "H" INTO DELICIOUS WITH ANNE STEVENS

Hartford House Restaurant
(Photo : Hartford House) 

HARTFORD HOUSE RESTAURANT

Anne Stevens has long ranked among the nation's top food critics. Certainly in KZN, she's the "Queen of Critics". She recently visited us :

The five-course dinners at Hartford House near Mooi River are R325 a head.

Is that expensive? Not at all, bearing in mind that one of the country's top chefs is in the kitchen, and getting better and better with each year of maturity.

Jackie Cameron is now so confident of her abilities that she allows herself little dashes of humour in her cooking, like a Maltabella ice cream at breakfast, a deconstructed peppermint crisp tart after an elaborate dinner and a lamb bunny chow made with mealie bread at lunchtime.

The highlight of a recent dinner was a deeply intense brown mushroom soup made with shiitake powder and truffle oil.

Its flavours lingered and it was perhaps wise to follow it with something fresh and light : Norwegian salmon tartare with cream cheese, smoky olives, microherbs (the new buzzword), lemon zest and croutons.

The play of textures and flavours was fascinating, and echoed in the next dish : seared springbok loin salad with pink peppercorns, beetroot, candied walnuts and little cubes of foie gras terrine.

With all that going before, and appetite pretty much sated, it was perhaps inevitable that the main was less memorable. But crispy Midlands duck breast with potato spaghetti, butternut puree, hazelnuts and cinnamon-infused red wine sauce would stand out on most restaurant menus.

Then the peppermint crisp tart, broken into individual pockets of chocolate, mint, cream and crunch.

There is a new lunch menu, served on the deep veranda in good weather, featuring the likes of local trout with almond potato cream, smoked salmon salad with nori seaweed terrine, and asparagus with exotic mushrooms in a Caesar dressing.

A duo of rabbit - hot terrine and loin wrapped in parma ham - sounds inviting, as do gorgonzola capelletti with olives, green beans, apple, toasted walnuts and walnut oil.

But then just about everything at Hartford is appealing.

It features one of my favourite breakfasts of all time : poached haddock sitting on a tuna fishcake, dressed with caviar, rocket and a subtle black sesame seed sauce.

Just add a corn fritter from the full English breakfast, and you have a winning way to start the day.

It's going to be interesting to watch what direction Jackie takes in the years to come.

Booking is also essential here : 033 263 2713

Extract from The Mercury Good Life