Exotic flavours in an elegant tradition
|Published
The Oyster Box Grill Room
Where: 2 Lighthouse Road, uMhlanga
Open: Daily 11am to 9pm
Call: 031 514 5000
I was invited this week to the launch of the new menu at the Oyster Box Grill Room, which is always a treat. I looked forward to trying Chef Daniel Payne’s creations.
Joining the Oyster Box from the Westcliffe in Johannesburg late last year, I was fortunate to attend a wine dinner on his second night and I found the food exciting even then. The Johannesburg lad certainly seems to be settling down well at the coast.
I’m joined by food writer Ingrid Shevlin and am delighted to meet an old colleague from the Tribune Yasantha Naidoo, now with the Times. We sip bubbly in the beautiful Grill Room over canapés: quail cigars served in a cigar box, charcoal profiteroles filled with foie gras and spekboom served in a spekboom plant. There’s cauliflower bitterballen, and fresh oysters served in a giant shell so heavy and full of crushed ice the poor chef could barely carry it.
Then Chef Daniel calls us into the kitchen. We’re doing a chef’s table the traditional way and he’s offering a tasting menu that features the dishes on the menu. It was fun to watch the action in the kitchen, which was serving not only the Grill, but also the Terrace and room service.
First up is a bread course of mosbolletjies, the traditional South African sweet bread made with grape must. These are finishing their second proving on the table before being whisked away to be baked. Delicious, especially when served hot with a herb flavoured butter and a really tart apricot compote. I want to take this home for breakfast.
I got my wish. Later that evening, chef presented us with a packet of mosbolletjie rusks to take home. The staff had taken the leftovers and dried them out into rusks for us.
First up was the salmon and tuna crudo (R235) with Asian flavours Kombu (seaweed) miso, green papaya, yuzu, sesame and spring onion. It was beautifully fresh.
The west coast sole ballotine (R380 for a main course) was next. This was sole wrapped around a crab farce with pomme purée, pine nut crème and sauce vierge. It was enjoyable although I would prefer my sole grilled and topped with the sauce vierge ‒ a rustic infusion of tomatoes, olives, basil and garlic in olive oil and lemon juice. Somehow the complicated cooking lost some of the delicacy of the fish, while the crab farce didn’t make its presence felt.
At this point Yasantha passed me some of her mushroom risotto. She was fasting and eating vegetarian. It was the highlight of the evening. Beautiful creamy rice with deep mushroom flavours and shavings of truffle on top. A treat.
Duck confit terrine (R260) was next. This was compressed confit thighs flashed in hoisin sauce and served with apricots and pickled turnips. I enjoyed it.
Other starters include a decidedly opulent-looking beef tartare with all the trimmings and topped with caviar. There’s a springbok carpaccio with blackberries, shimeji mushrooms, avocado mousseline and red sorel, and for vegans a beetroot ceviche with fermented tofu, avocado, mustard greens, walnuts and exotic mushrooms. Yasantha enjoyed the dish and it certainly looked pretty.
Fish options include a lobster bisque, a langoustine risotto and prawns with asparagus in a mild curry velouté. There’s also a crayfish salad on raw zucchini noodles with mango salsa verde, lime and coriander. And naturally fresh oyster feature, done simply with lemon and tabasco.
By now we were well on our way towards an inelegant sufficiency when the sorbet arrived, a lovely creamy coconut sorbet served in a fresh coconut.
Mains was a beautiful piece of wagyu fillet (R1 395 ‒ if, like me, you wince when you read this, there is a regular fillet). It is served with a lovely crisp duck fat potato pavé, watercress crème purée, velouté of cep and sauce Périgueux as waiters grated fresh truffle over it at the table. What is not to enjoy? I particularly enjoyed that sauce Périgueux, a classic French sauce made from beef demi-glace, marsala and truffles. Ingrid opted for their chicken tournedos Rossini (R395), a chicken supreme with foie gras, truffles, exotic mushrooms, chicken velouté and more of that sauce Périgueux. She said it was enjoyable, although I think by this point we had all eaten too much.
My vegetarian friends may have had the pick of the evening’s offerings, but they were sadly critical of their mains ‒ a cauliflower steak with harissa cauliflower, kale, hazelnuts and red pepper romesco. It’s available as a starter on the menu (R195). It just lacked the zing of everything that had gone before.
Other mains take in a seared aged duck breast with spicy Moroccan couscous, red cabbage, wild berries and spiced jus. There’s also pork belly with pulled pork cheek, Shaoxing (rice wine), pineapple, turnip and cashew purée and bok choy. There’s a Karoo lamb rack with oak-smoked rib loin, pressed lamb belly in a spiced jus. And a traditional beef Wellington makes a return, while Norwegian salmon gets treated with a citrus beurre blanc. Would the Cape Malay braaied tofu have been more interesting than the cauliflower? I shudder.
The guéridon trolley is still very much in service, so if you fancy going retro and want the chef to whip up steak Diane, it’s a lot of fun especially when it’s flamed. And what would the Oyster Box Grill be like without its famed seafood platter. But be warned ‒ charge your credit card.
Dessert was a refreshing trio of sorbets ‒ lychee, raspberry and blackberry ‒ on a shelf of coconut panna cotta with Swiss meringue. Lovely. I could have taken a bucket of the blackberry sorbet home.
And then chef insisted we try the cheese board, a lavish presentation of La Grand Roue, mature cheddar and Vacchino Romano served with preserves, grapes, nuts and home-made crackers ‒ and not to forget the hotel’s own honey. It’s harvested from a hive on the roof and apparently every day a fresh batch of honey in the comb is brought out to the breakfast table. It was a hit with that Grand Roue.
I think I’m coming for breakfast soon.
Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambience: 4