Save the best for last. The Test Kitchen: it's not just food, it's an experience.
An adventurous chef, a remarkable man with an eye for detail, a passion for creativity, and a social sensitivity that rounds out this rare trifecta.
He leaves a letter to his guests on each table, and it makes a fascinating read. Rather than working around the drought or through it, he embraces it as inspiration. As an effort to reduce dishes, for example, he creates a plate that resembles a paper canvas; painting, sketching, smearing his delectable art within a wooden frame.
The first course starts with an amuse bouche of delicate greens for dipping. The tiny radishes are almost too cute to eat, and the leaves are a sassy assortment that have some bite to them. The sauces are unique - the green is an uplifting garden, the brown a grounding gravy.
Next a never-go-wrong trio of tender Wagyu Biltong spun around a pungent licorice skewer, a luscious Lamb Bruschetta with buttery bone marrow and burning angel hair chilis, and a delicate Fried Curry Leaf with a robust chick pea and an airy sour cream and lemon preserve.
The creamy Goat's Cheese permeates a panna cotta that quivers in anticipation of the glossy babaganouj. A single green bean lends a breath of fresh, green air, making those drops of marjoram oil fly. The spritz of frozen goat cheese makes the dish move, and the hint of pine needles puts some spring in its step. Each item can be consumed alone, but they make an explosive combination together. That said, putting them together is quite a bit of work...
You try not to fill up on bread, but each piece is exquisite. From the crusty Country Loaf to the caramelized Onion and Leek, finishing with an otherworldly Sweet Potato Lamb Fat.
"Deconstructed" seems to be a prevailing theme. The TTK Tuna Nicoise Salad is a fantastic example of constructive deconstruction, where deconstruction does not equal destruction. Ring around the rosy tuna, one topped with a delicate poached quail egg, both encircled by all sorts of curiosities. The kimchee sweet potato is a highlight, and the grey stuff, it's delicious! It's tofu garlic paste, and the garlic makes it taste a tiny bit fermented, like stinky tofu without the stink.
The menu diverges here, and that's what husbands are for. I try the Pork Jowl Salad and Trotter Pie first, and it's absolutely fantastic. The jowl is a fatty melt, and with a sweet n' smoky apple chimney and comfy cabbage, both confit and pickled. The pie is so much mouth-watering, lardy good stuff, with an edgy accent of blue cheese.
We make a halftime switch, and I get the Beef Sweetbread. This one is breathtaking, a glandular cushion on a mat of mushrooms. The porcini hollandaise is, as the server described it, "to DIE for," the moist morels just ooze with dampness and dew. Sheets of pickled king oyster mushroom line the bottom, an extra layer of refreshing earth.
Next comes the perfect South African steak. Rare medallions of Springbok sing with audacity as they bleed of bone marrow and beetroot.
And just like that, dinner is done. Dessert is a Tea Roasted Quince, gelatinous, barely-there fruit with a statement rum and raisin ice cream and nutty Madeleines.
The canvas is painted with a hardly-sweet quince syrup, a treat both tasty and aesthetic.
Last but not least, the Petit Fours are bittersweet, much like the end of this meal. The ginger and cardamom are bold against an unsweetened 100% chocolate backdrop, and the gold leaf is simply a layer of luxury.
The Test Kitchen is a taste of South Africa, my whole beautiful trip an art on a canvas, painted across a culinary sky. Everything about this country is a work of art, and everything I've experienced is as unique and unforgettable as the one before.
Words cannot express how much I appreciate the experience. The Test Kitchen possesses its own distinct creativity. It was voted #63 in the world for good reason, but it's really in a league of its own.
