On Saturday we; my mother, father, sister, her boyfriend, Caroline and myself, drove out to Hartbeespoort in search of what we were told is a great food and wine festival. After being lost for a short while we discovered that we have in fact been driving on the wrong side of town, so we asked the local shop owner if they knew where the school might be. I eventually found it on my phone's GPS. We were simply a kilometre away, yet the local stores and restaurants had not heard of the most prestigious school in their area. Lo and behold we entered the Cambridge Food Festival. We were given a plastic bag with flyers and a plastic wine glass upon entry. I turned to Caroline and said "Let's find a stall to fill this sucker". So we missioned off in search of wine and food in the wind, sunshine, and freezing cold. Upon entering the field we were underwhelmed to say the least by the sheer lack of stalls. What was pronounced as gourmet cuisine on the radio (702) was merely Boerewors rolls and stuffed burgers. There were however stalls from local duck farms serving up pates; the Silver Orange restaurant was there, with their famed chocolate spring rolls and duck samoosas. Some local wine farms were scattered around, from whom we bought a glass and then a bottle to keep us warm. We did sample delicious home-made cakes, rusks, toffee and olives. I think the issue is that the fete was oversold as a festival. It was sweet but not worth the drive. I have sampled better food at the Neighbourgoods Market, for the same price, and have used less petrol and time getting there. It was however a lovely day out. The Hartbeepoort is a wonderful part of South Africa.
