You certainly expect a lot when going to the number one restaurant in South Africa. We have waited for this day for some time now and it was with much eager anticipation that we entered the refurbished Tasting Room. They certainly are a well drilled machine and very welcoming. The decor, some will like and others won't, but I think there is meant to be a horizon with trees on it on the one wall but you can't really see it when sitting on that side of the room. Well, did they deliver, in one part yes, on another, not really.
On the food side the restaurant was fantastic and they really do delight the palet with some deft touches in the dishes and some delightful interpretations. Eight courses is a long time to keep people interested and they certainly achieve this by giving you a wonderful array of tastes and food to keep you waiting to see what is next. All of this starts with their bread which is fantastic and really sets you off on a delightful journey ending with the best petite fours I think I've ever eaten. We have attached the menu so that you can see for yourself what we had and again I would like to say that the food is top class.
It's part of the wine side that I have a problem with. One would expect that being at the top restaurant in SA that they would pair the food with the best possible wines without making the price outrageous. What I did notice as a matter of interest is that less than half the wines accompanying the tasting menu were on the wine list. I understand that these will however be on the wine list in the near future. The wine list I might add is fantastic and includes a section detailing wines being matured for future consumption that you may enjoy when coming to the restaurant again.
So many neat touches and some lovely pairings, but the one that got to us was the pairing of the Vergelegen vin de Florence with the most sensational dish on the menu, the sous vide quail breast. This dish really is the star of the show and I must admit that I am sure that there is a better South African wine that can be paired with this. It really did not complement the food and we felt a bit let down by this. The sweet wines with the last dish was okay, but again nothing special, how about Vin de Constance or something else instead, this is after all South Africa's premier dining experience?
Our overall feeling was that the meal was absolutely fantastic, but some of the wine pairings could have been better and when I compare this experience with that of Restaurant Mosaic, The Tasting Room would match the food delivered by Chantel, but not the wine pairings which just did not deliver that something special to round off a fantastic meal.
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