HOW’S this weather, hey? We Capetonians love talking about it and there’s certainly been enough to keep the conversations going for quite a while. A lot of it is disastrous: trees falling down all over the place, including onto cars, with people dying or injured as a result. Floods have displaced hundreds of residents of informal settlements, and there’s never a storm where I don’t think about the animals without shelter. So much doom and gloom. That’s winter for you.
Peering through the murk, winter is also the time for restaurant specials, and they have to be jolly good to get us up, dressed and out the house. The Luke Dale Roberts group never lets us down, and the Winter Feast at Pot Luck Club in Salt River this year is something exceptional you must add to your To Do list. All the dishes are unique to this special, not appearing on any other PLC menu, and they’re all Asian-inspired, Korean in particular. I’m still confused by the number of courses it’s supposed to entail but I do know it’s plenty of food for R695 per person.
Let us begin with the bread: steamed dombolo-inspired dumplings in a bath of mirin tea and a slowly melting quenelle of miso and yuzu burnt butter. There are chopsticks but you’re better off using your hands, and you should also ask for a spoon for the sauce. This is followed by a soft masa taco filled with a firm, plump butter-poached prawn, kimchi and a tamarind chilli sambal (not too burny, just subtle heat that doesn’t overpower). The Japanese vegetable salad is a glorious thing, which I am certain can never be recreated by a home cook, and we fell upon it with glee. Crunchy sweet potato chips, beetroot chips, lettuce leaves, pickled vegetables (beetroot, turnip, radishes, carrots), a generous shower of herbs, and a fresh apple and soy dressing.
Crumbed pork loin criss-crossed with tonkatsu sauce is accompanied by green cabbage, carrot julienne, and radish slices, dusted with sesame seeds; the spiced confit duck leg was an outright winner for me; and the main courses come to an end with kingklip toban yaki with shiitake and enoki mushrooms, bok choy, baby corn and shallots in an umami-punchy broth. It’s served with premium koshihikari sushi rice garnished with spring onion, black sesame seeds, ginger julienne, and garlic chips.
Dessert is Japanese cheesecake with roast sesame ice cream, poached strawberries, quince purée, quince syrup, flowers, basil leaves, and caramelised white chocolate crumbs. If you have not yet had Japanese cheesecake, it’s very much like a light and wobbly soufflé and I think we can all take heart from the fact the PLC team had to have several goes at it before it was perfect. I find that very encouraging; when we try a new recipe at home, it can go either way and to know the professionals also might not get it right the first time makes me feel a whole lot better, and a reminder to be kinder to myself and refrain from throwing pots.
Drinks pairing is still under construction but I had sake with passion fruit and it was delicious, going well with everything.
The Winter Feast is available until October. Reservations here.
