Mzansi Life & Style was recently invited to the Tsogo Sun Tasting Table event, which was held at the Southern Sun Hyde Park restaurant, Lucé. Invited media were treated to an eight course tasting menu, prepared by eight of its group’s executive chefs, showcasing some of the diversity that can be found at their over 80 restaurants and food outlets across the group.

The eight executive chefs were on hand to share their inspiration behind the selected tasting portions of signature dishes, which were perfectly paired with wines from the Lucé cellar. This cellar also holds some of the high quality R2 million worth of wines, bought by Tsogo Sun at the Cape Winemakers Guild auction last year.

The eight-course tasting menu consisted of:

Mollusco By Greg Gautier of Lucé at Southern Sun Hyde Park

 

After eating the tasty scallop, the rest of dish tasted bland, even the sorbet did not have the zesty taste I would usually associate with sorbet, but it could just be the taste of the green tea flavour.

 

Smoked Chicken Breast Supreme By Jade Sullaphen of Punchinello’s at Southern Sun Montecasino

 

After my first forkful, I thought “oh no, not another bland dish” but after mixing all the ingredients a bit, all the flavours jumped out and made it very enjoyable and tasty.

 

Chilli Garlic Prawns By Deena Naidoo of Aarya at SunSquare Montecasino

 

The lovely, lightly spiced prawns were tasty from the first mouthful. It contained the right amount of “bite” without the “burn”.

 

Duck Calvados By Preshanthan Pillay of Back O’ The Moon at Gold Reef City.

I don’t normally eat duck, but I thought I would give it a go. Unfortunately, the duck still did not work for me. It tastes too gamey (raw) in my opinion, but I ate at Back O’ The Moon recently, and I know that there are many other tasty dishes on their menu.

 

Grilled Salmon By Kenneth Ngubane of Jenda at Montecasino

This was an OK tasting dish. Nothing overly impressed me, as it tasted like most grilled salmon dishes found at most good restaurants.

 

Durban-Style Lamb Curry By Shaun Munro of Lingela at Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani

This was my favorite dish on the tasting menu, and this curry was lovely with the right combination of spice and flavour. And if you are used to enjoying your curries at the Jewel of India restaurant at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban, (which is no longer there since the hotel revamp last year) then this is the dish for you. Chef Shaun Munro and his team’s ambrosial curry will not make you miss the Jewel of India restaurant.

 

Spiced textured carrot cake By Garth Shnier of San at Sandton Sun

This was the best tasting carrot cake I have ever had, and I will definitely be going back to the San at Sandton Sun for the full sized portion. As the ingredients read, everything was mouthwatering and lovely.

 

Valrhona 5 Chocolate Bomb By Prenolan Naidoo of The Grill Jichana at Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani

This dessert just had too much chocolate in it for me, but if you love your chocolate, then you will definitely like this.

Tsogo Sun’s restaurants are not just intended to be enjoyed by guests of the hotels in which they are located. Mzansi Life & Style has already opted for going to some of their fine dining restaurants in Johannesburg and Durban, when craving for amazing food and excellent service. We highly recommend these restaurants for your business lunches, birthday parties or a romantic dinner with someone special.

Reviewed by Siraaj Cassiem