IF ANYONE HAS FOUND MY BALLS, PLEASE LEAVE THEM AT RECEPTION. THANKS.
I wrote a funny intro but deleted it. It’s because I didn’t back myself. It was current, funny, it linked perfectly to what I was saying in this review, but couldn’t bring myself to say it. Why? Because I was scared it wasn’t funny and I would fail.
Being scared of failure wasn’t an option for Upper Eastside – a hotel that so many said wouldn’t last more than a year. It’s not often that a 4-star hotel is opened in what’s considered a more dangerous suburb of a city. But that is exactly what they did and this 183-roomed luxury hotel, spa and conference centre is going strong.
Since its launch, an initiative to stay as “green” as possible was employed by the hotel. To decrease their carbon footprint further, they created their own organic herb and vegetable garden on the hotel’s roof, currently holding 40 varieties of plant – a first for an urban South African hotel.
In just two months the garden already supplies 80% of the fresh herbs needed to cater for up to 250 covers at the restaurant and 1 000 meals at the conference centre every day.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the launch of Chef Simon Kemp’s winter menu for the Liberty’s restaurant and it went a ‘lil somethin’ like this:
BASIL
Creamy goats cheese bruschetta with strong, but not-overpowering, basil pesto and sundried tomato salsa with peppers, tomato, parsley, spring onion. It still had its cruch, the flavours blended well and nothing tasted processed – a lovely change from the norm.
SWEET BASIL, OREGANO, ROSEMARY
This white tomato soup (which I was so captivated by that I forgot to take a photo) actually blew my mind. A thin, pure white soup, topped with basil foam. How the soup is made, they refused to tell me – one day, I will find out. It was rich, tasted like the essence of tomato with a dash of cream. None of the 3 herbs overpowered one another, but worked together to make a perfect soup.
FENNEL, SWEET BASIL
I eat most things but I hate fennel. I have also had… hmm… a bad experience with Ouzo. So when the fennel and Ouzo mussels came out, I almost cried. The first mouthful made me wince. The second made me flinch. The third made me frown. And the fourth made scowl. And the fifth, well, there wasn’t a fifth, because I had eaten the whole thing. To be honest, I really, really liked it. The aniseedy/liquoricey flavours of the fennel and the Ouzo, when combined with a little cream, actually balanced one another out. The freshness of the tomato concassé (pronounced con-ca- say) lifted it and the mussels added a delicious seafood undertone.
CORIANDER, SPRING ONIONS
I love a springroll. Who doesn’t? The Szechuan duck spring rolls were served in a sweet plum sauce, which sadly, made half the roll go soggy. The crispy half, however, was delicious – with tender duck, beautiful seasonings and the perfect ratio of pastry to filling.
CORIANDER, SPRING ONIONS
Char Siu (barbequed) salmon seared over an open flame, in a sweet, sticky, chinese BBQ glaze and topped with a pineapple crisp. Deeeelish!
OREGANO, THYME, ROSEMARY
I thought the salmon was my favourite, but then I tasted this. And then I tasted it again. And again. And again. Just to be sure I had the flavours down. Ostrich Fillet with Gorgonzola cheese and balsamic onion marmalade. The ostrich was tender, juicy and all-round wonderful and was complimented beautifully by the strong flavour of the cheese. The marmalade was the cherry on top, completing a perfectly delicious… erm.. taster. I wish it had been a full meal.
I don’t care if it’s a tad old-fashioned, is glorious. Amaretto and vanilla bean crème brulee, with espresso biscotti – amazing.
Double chocolate cheese cake with chocolate ganache. Very rich, very decadent.
This isn’t even the full list of tasters that were on offer but it is clear that the kitchen is using the garden’s produce to the best of its abilities. I definitely need to go back, to actually sit in the restaurant and have a proper meal, but from the looks of things, everything seems to be going right.
I should have written that darn joke.
