The Quest Begins

You know what they say: it’s not always about the destination, it’s about the journey. But I do love it when a metaphor gets unnecessarily literal. Because what happens when the journey is the destination? Enter Elgin Railway Market.

And yes, before anyone points out the obvious, I did not actually arrive by train this time. A slight flaw in an otherwise excellent opening paragraph. But watching it pull into the station, with the Elgin Valley and mountains stretching out around it, did make me immediately decide that next time, I’m doing this properly.

I’ve never really understood people who say they’re bored. There is an entire world outside. Go find something weird to eat. Drive somewhere you’ve never been. Get on a train. Apparently, drink four beers before the afternoon is over. Boredom is a choice.

So, on a winter weekend when staying home and complaining about the weather was certainly an option, I gave myself a much better one: four South beers, four food pairings, one very willing guinea pig. Challenge accepted.

Steampunk, Art Deco & Far Too Many Distractions

The market itself feels like someone let steampunk and Art Deco have a very eccentric love child. It’s quirky, busy and full of things to get distracted by, from food stalls and local makers to live music and those ridiculous valley views outside. Give me too many options and permission to wander aimlessly and I will entertain myself for hours. Not that there would be much aimless wandering just yet. I was on a quest.

Naturally, I headed straight for the bar at 11am to secure some beers. Before you judge me… Markets. Weekends. Different rules. 

“Four South beers. Four food pairings. Several laps of the market. One very full Paige. Quest complete.”

South Beer Enters the Chat

South Beer is brewed in Kommetjie, and what I like about the range is that it doesn’t feel as though it’s desperately trying to convince you that beer needs to be complicated to be interesting. It’s the kind of beer you can just drink and enjoy, then start getting nerdy about once food enters the chat. Which, seeing as I know significantly more about what’s on my plate than what’s in my pint, left me with one scientifically responsible option: eat my way through the problem.

Extremely Serious Research, Obviously

There was, however, one small obstacle standing between me and this extremely serious research: the bar. Literally. If you’re a fellow shorty, bring a tall friend. Ordering involved a little tiptoe situation and suddenly I was a child again, desperately trying to make the roller-coaster height requirement. RIP Ratanga Junction.

Light Lager + Oysters

Eventually, the beers were secured. I went for the smaller 330ml serve, a mini pint, as Amber Heard’s lawyer might call it, because there were four pairings on the agenda and, occasionally, I do make responsible decisions.

We were starting with South Beer’s Light Lager, and there was only one acceptable brunch pairing in my mind: oysters. These were not dainty little oysters politely sitting in their shells. These things were units. Absolutely enormous. Naturally, I couldn’t leave them alone. A little red onion vinaigrette on one, green Tabasco on another, red Tabasco on the next. Consider it an oyster personality test. 

These Things Were Units

We took our haul upstairs, found a sunny spot overlooking the railway and Elgin’s mountains, and got to work. This is where the Light Lager clicked. It’s crisp and low enough in bitterness that it doesn’t bully something as delicate as an oyster. Add the vinaigrette and chilli and suddenly the beer has a little more to bounce off, but the oyster still tastes like the oyster. The beer just made me want another one. Which, as an oyster girly, is really all I ask of anyone.

Confessions of a Food Shopaholic

Beer one down, it was time to pretend this entire outing wasn’t solely about eating and drinking. We wandered out onto the balcony as the clouds rolled over the mountains, which is a particularly unfair backdrop for a market, then investigated the non-food side of things. Obviously, I immediately started trying things on. Scarves. Hats. Anything remotely available for dress-up purposes.



After gallivanting around and living out my Confessions of a Shopaholic fantasy, I was ready for round two. Minus the actual shopping, obviously. Food doesn’t count, which is different and I will not be taking questions. Back to the bar.

True and Pale Enter the Chat

Enter True and Pale. The True Lager and Pale Ale, to be clear. Although give Hollywood five years and I’m fairly certain True and Pale will be celebrity children’s names. Beers secured, we went food-stall hunting and landed on a teriyaki chicken poke bowl and a fried hake and calamari combo, then relocated downstairs for live music, people-watching and a change of scenery. By now the market was properly buzzy. Music on, tables filling, people walking past with plates I immediately needed to investigate. Loud, but good loud. The kind that makes you want to stay rather than Google noise-cancelling headphones.

True Lager + Hake: Kingklip Can Keep Its PR Team

I started with the True Lager and fried hake and calamari. And guys. The hake. Breaking into properly hot battered hake and watching that white fish fall apart into big, steamy flakes is one of life’s very simple pleasures. I’ve never understood why hake sometimes gets treated like the less exciting white fish.

Kingklip can keep its PR team. Hake is the OG. Maybe it’s nostalgia. Hake and chips takes me straight back to growing up in Hout Bay and sitting at Dunes with my mom. Hot fish, chips, tartar sauce. If you know, you know. Except somewhere along the line I apparently grew up, and now there’s a beer next to it. Character development. The calamari was good too, but if you made me choose, I’m going hake every time.

Carbs Need Friends Too

I also appreciated that we got both chips and yellow rice because I have never understood why one carb should be expected to carry the entire burden of a meal. Carbs need friends too. The chilli sauce was great, although salty enough to do the seasoning job all by itself. The tartar, however, had no such complications. We remain very close.

The True Lager was exactly the kind of beer this plate wanted: clean, classic and not arriving with seventeen additional opinions. With hot battered fish and chips already doing plenty, I didn’t need the beer trying to become the main character. It cut through the fried bits, got me ready for another bite and let the hake keep being the main event.

Pale Ale + Teriyaki Chicken: We Had a Winner

Then the dish that completely stole the show: the teriyaki chicken poke bowl. I LOVED this. It had that poke-bowl freshness without feeling like I’d accidentally ordered a salad while everyone else was having fun. The teriyaki chicken was properly grilled and sticky in all the right places, the veg kept things crunchy, and the pickled ginger kept waking everything back up between bites.

Then there was the spicy mayo. Poke bowls and sushi have occasionally fallen victim to what I can only describe as mayo enthusiasm. I like mayo. I simply don’t need my lunch swimming lessons conducted in it. Here, though, it knew its place. Rich enough to pull everything together, spicy enough to stop it getting heavy, with the rice catching all the good stuff at the bottom.

OH. Okay. There It Is.

And conveniently, sitting right beside it was the South Beer that ended up winning the day for me: the Pale Ale. I’d enjoyed the pairings up until this point, but one bite of that teriyaki chicken followed by the Pale Ale and I had a genuine “OH. Okay. There it is.” moment.

The Pale Ale came through with that hoppy lift and made the next bite taste exciting all over again. That, to me, is what a pairing should do. Not sit politely beside the food because somebody said they belong together. It should make you notice something you wouldn’t have noticed in either one alone. And this one did. Favourite food. Favourite beer. Favourite pairing. We had a winner.

 Dessert Was Never Optional

At this point, a sensible person might have considered slowing down. I had precisely one thought: we still hadn’t had dessert. I am getting something sweet, or I am not leaving. Sweet and savoury are the yin and yang of eating. I need both to become a whole human. Also, apparently an angry five-foot human just looks “cute”, which makes me angrier, which apparently makes me cuter. Vicious cycle. Just get me something sweet.

Brown Ale + Belgian Waffle: Plot Twist

So, for our fourth and final pairing, I made one last trip to the bar for the Brown Ale, while dessert came in the form of a Belgian waffle. Tiny bit of honesty, because I refuse to pretend every bite changed my life: the waffle was okay. I wanted that proper freshly made situation: crisp outside, hot and steamy inside. This one leaned softer and more spongy, which isn’t really how I like my waffles to behave. Did that stop me eating it? Lol, never.

The melting vanilla ice cream, strawberries and chocolate still gave me my sweet fix, but plot twist: the Brown Ale was the part of this pairing I enjoyed more. Its malty, lightly nutty character felt right at home with the waffle and chocolate, almost like the beer had quietly decided it was dessert too. But because it isn’t sugary, it stopped the whole thing from becoming one giant pile-on of sweetness.

Pale, Darling. You Won.

And that was the fun of doing the South Beer range this way: four beers, same market, completely different personalities once food got involved. The Light Lager knew when to get out of the oyster’s way. The True Lager was exactly what my nostalgic hake-and-chips moment needed. The Brown Ale found its winter-dessert calling. And the Pale Ale? Pale, darling. You won. No notes.

Boredom Is a Choice

Four South beers. Four food pairings. Several laps of the market. One very full Paige. Quest complete. And somewhere between the oysters, the hats, the hake, the Pale Ale and my entirely necessary dessert, I accidentally proved my own point: boredom is a choice. You don’t need some enormous occasion to do something different. Sometimes you just need to get out of your usual routine, drive somewhere beautiful, give yourself a completely unnecessary little mission and see where the day takes you.

Next Time, I’m Taking the Train

Honestly, steal the idea. Pick a few South beers, pair them with whatever catches your eye and make a day of it. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Except next time, I’m taking the train. Because apparently it is about the journey after all.

Until the next adventure!