Clark’s the guy who cooks a feast
WHEN an establishment noted for its great service and fine-dining menu invites you to taste their new offering, you can’t say no – especially if it’s one that happens to be Cape Town’s best-kept secret. Word on the foodie street (including sites such as TripAdvisor) has always been that if you are looking for a five-star dining experience, Tintswalo Atlantic restaurant is the place to go to.
It makes sense when you take into consideration the location (at the foot of Chapman’s Peak with endless views of the Atlantic).
With Jeantelle van Staden moving into her new role as its food and beverages manager, there’s new blood in the restaurant, Guy Clark.
The 36-year-old, who sharpened his culinary skills in India and the US over the past four years, is the eatery’s new executive chef and it’s a bold move as he is selftaught and went professional six years ago. Clark aims to turn the venue into the go-to restaurant for Capetonians.
“I would like to offer diners a new perspective on food and a unique taste experience, with dishes that are simple yet sophisticated, and beautifully presented,” he says.
He does that by using clever ways to incorporate different flavours into his unique creations.
The eight-course Ocean and Ash tasting menu is based on themes using local ingredients.
From the moment you sit down Clark’s creativity is apparent – from the serving of bread rolls from a tree branch centrepiece to the burning of wild garlic with a blowtorch to create a smoky flavour for one course then using the same garlic to add flavour to another.
Seaweed was the theme of the first course, where Clark used seaweed salt for the oyster, pickled seaweed for the mussel and sautéed seaweed for the marron. For the second, third and fourth course, smoke was the theme.
Clark served springbok, snoek and pistachio ash-balls and rooibos-smoked kudu with wild garlic-smoked Skattie cheese and ocean-water cured egg yolk.
In courses five and six are Atlantic linefish with burnt lemon rind, scallop and seaweed velouté and Fynbos- themed rabbit with wild sorrel butter and fermented goats’ cheese.
The second last course is a dish consisting of unique textures of six types of mushrooms including shimeji, king oyster and shiitake.
To end on a sweet note, for dessert there is buchu ice cream with ash meringue, ocean salt itakuja valrhona chocolate.
The menu is priced at R1 100 per person and is on offer once a week for a maximum of 10 guests.
Walk-ins are not allowed at the lodge so reservations are essential.
Clark’s culinary journey started when he finished in MasterChef South Africa’s top 11 in 2012.
This motivated him to quit his job at an auctioneering company and finally chase his culinary dreams. Before joining the Tinstwalo family, Clark worked for the Madame Zingara restaurant group.