THAT’S how executive chef Amori Burger describes this triumphant seasonal spread at Upper Union. While the images used here are beautifully professional they don’t do the food the necessary justice. And neither does the one of Amori who has been captured looking so serious when in real life she is effervescent.
“This menu is our winter heartbeat: comforting, layered, and full of the flavours that define who we are,” she says. “We’ve leant into inspirations from North Africa to the Middle East, from spice markets to slow‑cooked comfort and have [almost] recreated the menu that first made Upper Union feel like home: generous plates, deep spices, and dishes built for sharing.”
As it happened with the seating arrangements, I was at an end table and strongly suspect I ate the entire menu by myself. No shame, no regrets. The Pasture main course of beef cheeks were irresistible and an example of what makes food writers want to use the word unctuous. Although its olden-day meaning of fatty, oily, slippery and a bit of an insult to a person’s behaviour or manner, unctuous is now allowing for fatty in a good way. Like a beef cheek.
As always we began with the famous house bread course — kubaneh with three butters: mebos & Klein River Gruberg, Ubuntu EVOO, and Cream of the Crop makhani butter. I think it’s safe to say this will be on the menu forever. From the choice of starters, I selected yellowtail with bokkom XO, pomelo salad, beurre monte and Three Streams trout roe; the other option is lamb kibbeh nayyeh with red onion, guindilla, chilli, paratha and EVOO. This taps directly in to Amori’s assertion there will be things you’ve never heard of; I’ll leave it to you to look them up.
The yellowtail got things off to a fine start. When there’s a media table, they bring out the Pasture and Garden main courses, as well as all the side dishes. Upper Union, for me, remains one of the best restaurants for vegetarians, that isn’t a purely vegetarian restaurant. It also has a fabulous selection of non-alcoholic cocktails (boozy ones too of course) that are way beyond a glass of orange juice for R80. Don’t smirk, I have seen this. The cocktails are created in collaboration with Sin+Tax in Joburg, and our menu was paired with the non-alcoholic drinks. I had something with apples, lime, sherry vinegar, burnt chilli and Earl Grey, which from habit acquired from things like pornstar martinis, I sipped gently, until I realised, hey there’s no alcohol, I can slug it down. Win.
The side dishes with the beef cheeks — or the very delicious lentil terrine with red zhug and naartjie marmalade on the Pasture menu — are hyderabadi rice, crispy onion, saffron and bukhara; turşu – carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, jalapeño pickles; and za’atar kishek, medjool date, and burnt chilli sherry vinaigrette. How you doing over there on Google? I must confess I am not a fan of lentils which probably goes back to my hippy era when it was all we could afford, a very long time ago. However, this terrine is gorgeous, and the marmalade leans into that punchy promise. It is all, if you’ll forgive me, a knockout.
Desserts are jalebi with pistachio gelato, Turkish delight and cardamom crumble; and Colmant passionfruit sorbet, pavlova, curd and white chocolate, but my go-to here is the cheese course: Grana Padano parmesan crème brûlée with gingerbread melba toast (IYKYK). Friandises complete the feast. The presentation is a delight — the chocolates, all intense in flavour, are served on floral plates which renders them all but invisible but no less striking.
I’m fortunate to be invited to all Upper Union’s menu tastings, and this one could be the best yet. Which bodes well for the future as Amori and head chef Jason Jonker will no doubt strive to raise the bar.
