Bread & Wine’s Neil Jewell and his passion for food

Bread & Wine, a name as pure and down to earth as its chef longtime chef Neil Jewell. Behind the simple name goes one of Franschhoek’s favorite restaurants, with an ever changing menu of creative dishes and daring flavours. The combinations of ingredients of the dishes reveal that despite it being hard work, Neil Jewell hasn’t lost any of his great passion for cooking, driving the success of the restaurant.

Seventeen years ago, Neil arrived in South Africa with his wife Tina. Tired of the fast-paced life in London, they decided to travel and eventually settled in Franschhoek. Driven by passion and his love for food, he remembers the aroma of the fresh herbs being delivered to his kitchen from just down the road that made him realise he’d found the right spot. Neil loves South African flavours, which he describes as big, bold and fresh. It provides for a great playing ground to experiment with flavours and different ingredients. A new dish on the Bread & Wine menu that is not to be missed is the risotto of patty pan, almond and mint.

Behind the beautifully plated dishes goes real craftsmanship, and the use of fresh local ingredients. In the kitchen Neil’s OmniBlend is a great helper. He’s applying the blender to prepare Caesar salad dressing, sweet potato red curry, salt baked kohlrabi puree, parsley puree, mebos and carrot chutney, fermented red cabbage gel, popcorn dust, grinding seeds for breads, smoked almond puree, gazpacho… “She works hard!”, he adds, speaking fondly of his blender. Where most blenders process high volumes of smoothies and iced coffees, Neil’s OmniBlend has even been used to make a Trout Boudin Blanc, which turned out to be a winner!

One thing he hasn’t tried as yet, is to use the OmniBlend to create a drink with M­­ôreson's Miss Molly Bubbly, the bubbly with the same passion for life, so we gave that a try. Check this classic Bellini with the Môreson Miss Molly Bubbly.