IT’S fun dining, not fine dining, says Luke Dale Roberts of The Test Kitchen Fledgelings new winter offering. We were invited to try out the full Street Food Fiesta menu last week (more info here). Being a Friday we were welcomed with bubbles, margaritas and Clover Club made with tequila. Capetonians will recognise an event like this is the only acceptable work at the onset of the weekend.
We began with the restaurant’s signature vetkoek with snoek pâté, warm and moreish. It’s tempting to cram as many as possible into your mouth, which is fine if that’s all you are planning to eat. But we had many courses ahead of us to sample, and even the most robust appetites were reaching capacity by the time we got to the beef sliders on Japanese milk buns, with truffle mayo, and cheese.
Before that there was beef tartare (beetroot as a vegetarian option) with Bloody Mary dressing, capers and gherkins, and smoked garlic aioli, served with wafer thin sourdough toast. Chicken tacos and fish tacos followed, the former with smoky chipotle mayo and kimchi pineapple, the latter (hake) with Cape Malay pickle, basil mojo, and semi-dehydrated tomato.
Brioche toast with mushrooms, Branston pickle and hollandaise, more brioche toast with bone marrow and salsa verde, led the way to the dish that wowed everyone (more than they had already been wowed: the lamb kebabs. When head chef Nathan Clarke came out to say hello he was bombarded with questions as to how he gets the lamb rump to be so tender. The answer: sous vide for six hours. The other end of the table got the fish kebabs.
Sticky baby pork ribs with gochujang glaze, served with celeriac in an apple and orange remoulade, could have broken me but they were irresistible. The beef slider required some consideration but I was like, well why stop now? I’m glad I tasted; also delicious, that soft bun and tender pink meat. There is no formal dessert for the Street Food Fiesta but it can be ordered à la carte. Having reached capacity, I ran away before sorbets were brought out, Monty Python’s Meaning Of Life lives rent-free in my head forever.
Mix it up, order for yourself, for the table, share or keep it to yourself. Whichever way you do it, you can’t go wrong with this easy eating experience.
