26th June 2012 – Fine dining at Orient-Express’ Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town has long been an event to remember. Now under the dedicated supervision of acclaimed Chef Rudi Liebenberg, the hotel’s award winning Planet Restaurant is strengthening its reputation for serving delicious high-end ‘green cuisine’ with the establishment of an extensive vegetable farm intended to provide the kitchen with over 40% of its vegetable ingredients.  

         

Located nearby in South Africa’s wine paradise, Stellenbosch, the organic and sustainable vegetable farm will be overseen by farmer Eric Swarts who shares Chef Liebenberg’s passion for fresh, healthy and sustainable ingredients. Seasonal dishes served in Planet Restaurant will reflect what is grown in the garden, combining  beetroot, carrots, cauliflower, peas, chard, leeks and broccoli in the winter and pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, baby marrow, strawberry’s, butternut squash and button squash in the summer. Mount Nelson will even use vermiculture from the hotel’s own worm farm as compost for the organic farm at Stellenbosch. 

Chef Liebenberg has long been an ardent supporter of the ‘farm-to-fork’ method of cooking. To create the delectable dishes served in Planet Restaurant, a herb garden is grown wildly on the sundrenched roof of the hotel providing the property with fragrant herbs such as fennel, basil, mint, coriander and lemon verbena. Plus the kitchen uses only line caught sustainable fish, breads and pastries are baked on site and all cheeses served in Planet Restaurant are South African, from the Natal Midlands all the way down to the Cape wine lands. 

Mount Nelson is also in the process of setting up its very own free range guinea fowl supply that will be located near the vegetable farm at Stellenbosch. This will join the pasture reared chickens and eggs and grass fed lamb that is already served in the restaurant. 

Cape Town’s most stylish dining venue, Planet Restaurant is graced by Swarovski crystal balls, while a galaxy themed carpet, a planetary chandelier and twinkling ceiling adds to the stellar and ‘out of this world’ feel of the restaurant. The menus at Planet Restaurant include degustation, vegan degustation and á-la-carte options.  

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Note To Editors: 

Sample Recipe Using Ingredients From The Vegetable Farm 

Baby Marrow And Patty Pan (Button Squash) Salad

Ingredients: 100g thinly sliced baby marrows, 100g thinly sliced patty pan, 5g toasted sunflower seeds, 5g toasted sesame seeds, 5g pumpkin seeds, 10g baby mix leaves.

Ingredients for the dressing: 1/2 a clove of garlic, ½ tsp ginger, ½ chilli, 1tsp chopped coriander, ½ tsp  dijon mustard, ½ tsp  honey, 25 ml canola oil, 12 ml rice wine vinegar, juice of ½ lime, little zest, salt and pepper to taste.

Dressing: 

- Finely chop or grate ginger and garlic, add chopped coriander and chopped chilli.

- Whisk the honey and mustard and add the vinegar, add oil slowly to form a dressing.

- Add the remaining dressing ingredients and stir. 

- Assemble the salad by tossing all the ingredients together with the dressing as required.

Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. is a luxury hotel company and sophisticated adventure travel operator which seeks to deliver memorable experiences that are the ultimate expression of each destination's authentic culture.   The Company has offered exceptional luxury travel experiences since 1976, when it purchased Hotel Cipriani in Venice and then shortly thereafter recreated the celebrated Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, linking London, Paris and Venice, along with other European cities.   Today the Orient-Express brand embraces 46 hotel, cruise and luxury rail businesses in 23 countries, including distinctive properties such as Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Grand Hotel Europe in St Petersburg, Hotel Ritz Madrid, Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro and Maroma Resort and Spa on Mexico’s Riviera Maya.  The Company also operates six luxury tourist trains, two river cruise operations and the ‘21’ Club, one of New York’s most iconic restaurants and watering holes.  www.orient-express.com

For further information, please contact Sara Mirza or Emily Wilson at Orient-Express on 0203 117 1376 or sara.mirza@orient-express.com, Emily.wilson@orient-express.com