My first time in African soil

One year after my first time in Africa all that colours, flavours, aromas, landscapes still remain as I had just come back yesterday...

Restaurant of the Week: Tokara

If you read the previous posts about our gastronomic experience in South Africa, you will know that in this post I will write about extreme quality meat and wine but, when you enter Tokara Restaurant something bigger is waiting for you: an excellent setting and an excellent chef, Richard, a former EatOut SA Chef of the Year who brings your experience to another level...

We started with a Beef tartar and cured beef with sushi rice, lemon, kimchi, black garlic & spiced lemon emulsion and an exquisite tuna tartar also with sushi rice, watermelon and crispy biscuit. Then we had a Roasted duck with szechuan cucumber, sushi rice, pak choi, litchi & Cantonese sauce and an spectacular Pan-fried springbok with carrot ginger purée, croquettes, salted apricots, yoghurt sorbet & Japanese curry sauce...

This meal would't be so perfect without the excellent wines that we had: Tokara Walker bay Sauvignon Blanc and Tokara Director's reserve. If you are around Cape Town or Stellenbosch this is clearly a must go...

Where?

Helshoogte Road (R310), 7600 Stellenbosch

Tel: +27 21 885 2550

e-mail:reservations@tokara.com

Web: http://www.tokararestaurant.co.za

How much?

Aprox: 30€ /pax

Wine of The Week: Tokara Director's Reserve 2009

This wine is one of the reasons why I still have clear in my memory the gastronomic experience in South Africa, and in this case in Stellenbosch, a paradise for any winelover in the world...

This excellent blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Merlot and Malbec, was perfectly with our meal at Tokara Restaurant which I will share with you on the next post, so perfect that when we finished we ordered some bottles which arrived Portugal on the same week of the rest of the group! 

I could not finish this short post without a very special dedication to Teresa, our amazing and tireless guide during these couple of days in Cape Town area...

Wine of The Week: Rupert & Rothschild Classique 2011

As you might be expecting, the wine of this week comes from South Africa, more precisely from western cape region. This was my first wine of this trip, at Grillhouse so it had to be the wine of this week...

Pilanesberg National Park

We had our first contact with the African Wildlife in Pilanesberg National Park. If you are on a business travel to Johanesburg and you have a couple of days or a weekend free this may be an excellent option as it is not too big (about 550 km²) and is a bit less than three hours from Johannesburg the largest city in South Africa. 

It was an excellent appetizer before our trip to Botswana. It brought us the first emotions of watching some game that, till then, we’d just seen on TV or on the zoo just a couple of meters away from the car.

These were very special moments that I’ll never forget…

Please click the photos to enlarge 

The Grillhouse, You will never forget its meat...

Maybe due to the fact that I haven't really involved myself on our last holidays planning, I left Madrid thinking almost only on wildlife and on the safari experience I was about to live... 

And then, after 18 hours travelling and just a couple of hours in Johannesburg, this mindset completely changed... and I have now to correct the first sentence and add the amazing gastronomic experience we lived...

It may be difficult to explain, but if you are a meat lover like me, in the right moment you arrive the GrillHouse you feel that this is clearly a must go in South Africa and that you are about to experience an "another planet" meal... Just one tip for the next time you go to a Steakhouse: apart from the weight of the knife pick up the knife with one finger just in the middle between the blade and the handle. If it is heavy and it stays equilibrated you are dealing with a very special top quality knife, and it may mean you are about to taste same or better quality food...

In fact I was completely right! From the starters, of which I would highlight the snails to the main courses that, to be honest, were the best ribs and rump steak I've tasted the whole holidays and, no doubt, if not the best one of the best I've ever eaten!

If you sum to this a very correct staff attention a really interesting wine list, and most important a great group of friends, you get an excellent meal like we had.

After the meal I understood why our friend Juan made the dinner reservation in advance, we could not miss it! It is really a pity that it is so far away from Madrid... 

A tip If you live around: visit the amazing shop, just in front of the restaurant and try do this amazing steaks at home!

Where?

The Grillhouse, Corner of Oxford Road and Bierman Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg (+27 11 880 3945; www.thegrillhouse.co.za)

How Much?

Aprox. 25 - 35€