Move over Gareth – there’s a new judge in town.
What, you never knew? Yup, I’m one of the new Idols judges. I’m lying. What I really am is a judge in the V&A Waterfront “Master of the Trade Route Culinary Challenge” – and it’s quite a mouthful, pun intended.
“Yes, I know you think I am just very good at photoshop, but this is actually real!”
#1 was the Portswood hotel’s restaurant, Quarterdeck. The restaurant’s focus is on Cape Malay cuisine, which is heavily influenced by India. This influence was obvious in the menu but wasn’t felt in the décor, which was a tad colonial.
For my starter I had the Motjie Platter, which included:
Crumbed Haddock – light and crispy.
Kababs – minced beef meatballs, stuffed with a boiled egg. Delicious.
Savoury pie – spicy mince.
Dhaltjies – spicy veg fritters that were a little oily.
Samoosas – crispy little guys.
Springroll – mildly curried veg. Not bad.
The platter was served with chilli blatjang (chutney), cucumber mint tzatiki, tomato and onion sambal and was doused with a rich, meaty jus. I wanted to get a feel for the authenticity of the menu and taste a few things, but I was quite disappointed. Other than the kebabs, each element tasted the same. I should have tried the Toor Dhal, Red lentil soup with bone marrow and veg, served with chickpea chilli bites. Sounds amazing.
My friend had the Kingklip and shrimp paella, served with a chilli and lime mayonnaise. The paella alone was delicious, jam-packed with fish, shrimp, peas, carrots and chilli. Instead of using the traditional (and more expensive) short-grain rice, they used a long-grain, which tasted a lot like Basmati – but the flavour was still quite astounding. The lime mayo, although tasty (urgh, I hate that word) was unnecessary.
For mains I had the competition dish: Grilled Norwegian Salmon on spicy Toor dhal (a type of pea) mash with tomato chilli chutney, lemon parsley butter and white sauce, topped with a cheese crisp. The fish was PERFECT. Literally, perfect. I wanted to walk into the kitchen and make out with the chef because I’m so often let down by salmon. It was perfectly balanced with the sweet but chilli flavour of the tomato chutney and the earthy spiciness of the mash. The European influence of the creamy white sauce and the parsley butter worked well together, and with the fish, but the cheese crisp was more of a cheese rubber. The whole point of the competition is for each participating restaurant to create a fusion dish – and for only R90 (with a glass of wine) this ticked all the boxes.
On the other side of the table, my friend had Pienang lamb curry infused with masala spiced chilli oil and served with white rice, poppadums and roti. Thankfully my main was equally as delicious or I would have had some major food-jealousy. It was rich and spicy without being overpowering, and the lamb was as tender as can be.
For dessert I had a very boozy, very rich and very delicious brandy pudding with vanilla whipped cream and the friend had apricot sago, which was a bit runny for my taste, topped with a berry coulis.
We found ourselves whispering the entire night because the restaurant was a bit on the quiet side. It needed background music that could be heard by more then just the odd ant who made it in unnoticed. It was so quiet, someone eating alone at one of the tables actually fell asleep. Asleep. Fast asleep. Zzzzz….
My starter wasn’t great, but the main and dessert totally made up for it. Whether or not you go for dinner – although for R90 I would definitely try the Norwegian Salmon – you need to have that brandy cake. Trust me.
