AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

Naysayers are a dime a dozen, in politics and in life, but such an amazing restaurant with such stunning food is as rare as a patient South African

Of course there are naysayers. I see them all the time. They are on social media, in print and even on television. They read this fine column and repair to their own miserable meals at inconsequential eateries.

“Malala doesn’t really write about food,” they mutter. “He is really a politics writer masquerading as a food writer.”

They are a bit like the Cyril Ramaphosa naysayers. Steadily and methodically, the man and his team torpedo a Jacob Zuma acolyte every week.

Yet listen to some of our “analysts” and you would think Ramaphosa is sitting on his hands. Change things faster, they scream. Send Zuma to jail. Grow the economy by 7%. Take the currency to R5 to the dollar.

As if it can be done just like that. Turning this country around is going to take some serious work, people. And some serious time. And some patience and belief that Ramaphosa and the good people of SA can turn things around. It needs us to believe again.

So I hope you will believe me when I say that the reason food doesn’t feature that prominently in my restaurant reviews is that most of it is so uninteresting that it is not worth writing about.

Until you go to a place like Epicure, the new(ish) fine-dining restaurant and bar by the famed Belgian-burundian chef Coco Reinarhz. It is absolutely original, absolutely plush and the food is absolutely delicious.

Reinarhz grew up soaking up the tastes in his mother’s restaurant in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, trained as a chef in Belgium, has travelled widely and has opened restaurants here and elsewhere on the continent.

Epicure, with a menu encompassing stunningly delicious dishes from Nigeria to Côte d’ivoire to Ethiopia to Angola and beyond, brings it all together in a virtuoso display of his culinary skills.

Most “African” restaurants tend to exploit one’s memories of delicious home cooking from one’s childhood. There is no inventiveness, no extra effort. Reinarhz brings his skill, experience and talent to every dish. It’s not what you may have experienced in Lagos — it’s better, yet the same.

The restaurant is in a slightly soulless Sandton building, but when you finally walk into Epicure you leave all that blandness behind and enter an exquisitely decorated

160-seat fine-dining restaurant, bar and outdoor eating area that must have taken some serious work and cash to pull off.

There were four of us. We went for dinner, though they do breakfast and lunch.

To start we chose, from the “share share” section of the menu: the Senegalesestyle lemon marinated grilled red snapper with a yam puree; deepfried white bait; octopus char-grilled on Nigerian suya spices; and something called the Rolex (Ugandan-style miniature chapatti wrap that was filled with beef curry).

It was divine.

For mains my lovely wife had grilled ostrich fillet with butternut mash and pinotage jus, our friends had the grilled Nile perch on a tomato and courgette tian, and I opted for the best dish I have had this year: Congolese-style guinea fowl with palm nut sauce and cassava leaves. I nearly stood up and danced.

Joburg consistently fails to make a significant dent in the top 10 restaurants awards in SA. We have now found a serious contender.

Epicure ★★★★★

Turning this country around is going to take some serious work, time and patience

3-5 Lower Road Morningside Central Sandton, Johannesburg Tel: (010) 594-5336

★★★★★ Thuli Madonsela ★★★★ Excellent ★★★ Good ★★ Poor ★ Supra Mahumapelo