Summer is nearly here, folks! What that means for the restaurant industry is that a flurry of Summer menus are being launched in time for the change of season - and the general mood around the city as people come out of hibernation.
The latest Summer menu launch took place at the Cape Grace's Heirloom restaurant on Thursday night, with Executive Chef Wesli Charls Jacobs bringing South African heritage to the fore with his latest offering.
The overall feel of the new menu is one of freshness, with the array of dishes clearly prepared with the impending Summer heat in mind. The attention to detail is something diners have come to expect from Chef Wesli, but one of the starters in particular - the Abalobi Sashimi, caught my attention and then some. Just look at it below...
Candied chilli, an avocado emulsion, lemon zest, grapefruit, and tiger's milk combined superbly with the sashimi, which quite literally melted in my mouth. That theme of freshness was most definitely highlighted here.
Rivalling the sashimi for my favourite dish from the starters offering was the Buffelshoek Venison Carpaccio.
The venison of choice for this dish is springbok, with biltong dust, various textures of mushrooms, a cleverly placed vetkoek and wholegrain mustard ice cream (yes, wholegrain mustard ice cream!) all working seamlessly together to create a flavour bomb of pretty epic proportions. Delicious!
Moving on to the mains, the standout dish of the evening was the Cape Malay Chicken Curry (pictured at the top of the story). Presented beautifully, the chicken curry, biryani rice, and paratha work together as intended, bringing the true roots of the curry to the centre stage and elevating it to a level, which slaps the taste buds pretty ferociously.
Further hitting the right Proudly South African notes was the Karoo Pap & Vleis. This dish brought Mzansi together on one plate with perfectly cooked lamb and boerewors, private school pap, a very lekker chakalaka puree and a clever tomato smoor scoring under the posts - much to the delight of yours truly. Apologies, the Springboks are playing this weekend, so Andrew has rugby on the brain - Ed.
To finish off the feast, the trio of desserts each offered something different for those who enjoy the sweet side of life. My favourite was the play on South Africa's beloved milk tart. The Mille Feuille was crunchy, soft, decadent, and just the right amount of sweet to help cap off an evening of food delight.
Overall, I felt Heirloom hit pretty much all the right notes with their Summer menu, with the freshness theme carried throughout. The dishes highlighted above were my favourites, but there is more available on the menu which will no doubt please foodies. To see the full menu, click here.
Just a word of warning for those who aren't keen on fish that is very 'fishy'. While the Mauritian Seabass is wonderfully put together as a meal, it is VERY fishy.
Time Out Tip: Visit the Cape Grace's Library for a glass of champagne and an oyster or two before your meal at Heirloom.
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