TALKING TURKEY
Here's where the well-heeled will be dining this Xmas
SEVEN colours for Christmas lunch can be quite a chore, but if money is no object you’re in for a treat at some of South Africa’s top restaurants.
From sultry salads to roasts and royal desserts, you can eat until your bank balance dries up.
Christo Pretorius, executive chef at the 12 Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town, is laying on a R1 075-a-head feast. “I took things that I enjoy and added things from what the guests suggested they would like. We have up to 140 guests joining us this year,” he said.
The five-star establishment will be serving a buffet filled with Malay flavours, chutneys, salads, meats and a huge array of desserts.
“We bring in a variety of traditional Christmas eats like eggnog and turkey, but we add a little twist to treat the guests,” said Pretorius.
Also in Cape Town, La Colombe, which regularly features on worldwide “best restaurant” lists, will be serving lunch to people who can afford to pay R1 350 each.
The menu includes its tuna La Colombe, langoustine with sweet potato batons, scallops in an umami broth, confit pork shoulder with smoked apple and thyme, and Nyangbo cremeux with burnt milk ice cream.
The 80-seat restaurant is fully booked for Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The younger, trendier set at Shimmy Beach Club will pay R850 to tuck into a buffet including sushi, fire-roasted Karoo lamb and pistachio-crusted turkey. One of the more unusual desserts will be a meringuetopped eggnog shot.
Nearby, Reuben’s at the One&Only, the V&A Waterfront restaurant owned by MasterChef judge Reuben Riffel, is planning a R995-a-head buffet with all the meat you can eat — turkey, sirloin, lamb and pork belly are some of the choices. Dessert options include bourbon and pecan fruitcake, Rudolph’s red berry trifle and decorated gingerbread stars.
The Mount Nelson in Gardens is seating 380 people for lunch in three venues, charging up to R950 a head — and is sold out.
If wine estates are more your thing, a buffet at Franschhoek’s Grande Provence will set you back R960, and you’ll be served truffled wild mushroom velouté, saffron langoustine and pickled ginger risotto, slow-braised Karoo lamb neck, and chocolate and espresso fondant with red velvet and vanilla crumble.
For the bargain price of R425, guests at Harvest restaurant, on Laborie wine farm in Paarl, can tuck in to confit duck salad, smoked trout trio, sugar- and mustard-glazed gammon with mini turkey and eisbein fritters, and raspberry tart with Christmas pudding ice cream.
For even less, R385, Hazendal wine estate in Stellenbosch is laying on roast leg of lamb with merlot jus and gammon, followed by a chocolate fountain and hummingbird cake. There will also be jumping castles and a playground.
For an eight-course offering at R1 790 a head at the plush Oyster Box Hotel’s Grill Room in Umhlanga, guests will be treated to oysters, pan-seared salmon, crayfish and prawn ravioli, merlot gastrique, micro herb salad, home-smoked gammon with soya and honey glaze, and wild garlic marinated leg of lamb with a red wine and mint jus, some of it from a Gueridon trolley service in which food is cooked or finished at the table.
The hotel will also host the English cricket team.
Qunu Saxon Grill at the Saxon Hotel Villas & Spa in Sandton will offer a buffet of cold seafood, game and vegetable quiches, duck confit terrine, traditional turkey, lamb Wellington, miniature desserts, mince pies with spiced cream and frangipane and cherry tart for R1 750 per person excluding wine. — Additional reporting by Taschica Pillay
One of the desserts will be a meringuetopped eggnog shot