EXPERIENTIAL FOOD BOOKINGS
An exclusive evening for twenty seats only. An ever-evolving series of unique food experiences.
The menu will change with the seasons and availability of ingredients.
By arrangement only.
ESCAPE TO NATURE
Escape into my studio for a suspension in time. Using the mediums of scent, sound and light and the textures and tastes of food, I offer to translate my curiosity and fascination with the natural world, the elements and what I find inspiring and exciting.
I have realised that to create something unique is not ‘thinking up a new idea’, but, is to share my passions of what interests me, reflecting who I am.
“I have a wonder of the space between, the ‘twilight space’ where things are not only tasted, smelt and seen, but they are felt as well. It is that ethereal place where mood and energy lives.”
Menu
Mountain
Carissa berry, lime and rose pelargonium cocktail
Fresh fig, wild boar and charcoal goats cheese
.
Earth
Mushroom, truffle creme with hazelnut brown butter
.
Sea
Seafood tartare with pickled alikreukel and samphire
.
Fire
Lamb on the bone with sour fig glaze, wild rosemary smoke and greens
.
Bees
Honey, quince, fresh berries and fynbos
Four courses, paired with wine, twenty seats maximum.
R1950 p/head all inclusive. Pre-bookings only.
Fynbos | Floral | Sour
Carissa berries or ’numnum berries’ grow wild on the pavements and mountains around Cape Town. They are often used as security hedges because of their sharp y-thorns and thick impenetrable bush. The fruit, when ripe has an incredible deep pink colour, are extremely high in vitamin C and have slightly sour taste. Snack: Charcoal goats cheese with fresh fig
Forest | earth | omami
Wild mushrooms, truffle, hazelnut, gotu kola, nasturtium. Mushrooms are the flowers of mycelium, huge tracts of underground networks of white spiderweb-thin fibres that can span kilometers in size. They grow into the roots of all the trees and plants in the forest using their nutrients, who in turn, use them, to communicate with other trees and plants in the forest. A loving, balanced and giving relationship.
The sea | salt | fresh
Tartare of angel fish and cured tuna, pickled alikreukel, lime and fresh herbs. Samphire, usually grown near the sea or in salty river water is a crunchy sea asparagus. We have been growing it in fresh water, which has resulted in a much finer ‘finger’ and less salty taste… an exciting project that has spanned the last two years. Alikreukel (giant sea snail) hold a rich reserve of intense ‘green’ that is thought to have been part of the food that was eaten by early humans, to increase cognitive function and creativity. The ‘foot’ of the shell is unmistakable with a beautiful smooth, jewel-like Fibonacci swirl on one side and a bright white texture on the other.
Fire | meat | smoke
Lamb with wild rosemary smoke, roasted bone marrow, sour fig glaze and greens. Fire, meat and marrow are part of our successful evolution over hundreds of thousands of years and the feeling of safety, social and cultural development associated with smoke is written into our DNA. The sour figs that I use in the sauce, are a wild food that grows all over the south western coastal region of South Africa and are also known as a Hottentot fig or ‘vygie’. Delicious sour little fruit yield a sweet and sour sap that is used in preserves. The leaves have medicinal uses, the most prevalent is a poultice for cuts and burns.
Honey | quince | pelargonium
This dish holds some of the magic of nature for me. I am fascinated by bees and everything they represent. One thing being the colour and flavour of honey depends on the flowers from which they collect their precious pollen. In the Fynbos Floral Kingdom in the Western Cape, the flavours can be very strong and the colours can vary from golden to deep caramels. The quince fruit has the enchantment that transforms completely in colour and texture from picking to plate and the pelargonium plants that grow all over Table Mountain are heavily scented and vary from limes to rose to peppermint.
