The Test Kitchen

The Test Kitchen by Luke Dale-Roberts. Un-be-fucking-lievable.

So I went out for a much-belated birthday meal last night to The Test Kitchen. I felt like a little kid, I was so excited. Luke Dale-Roberts is a world-renowned chef, who pushed La Colombe to 12th place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list last year. The man is a food genius, proven by the fact that The Test Kitchen has been open for about 8 months and is fully booked two weeks in advance.

There are two menu options on offer for dinner: the à la carte menu, where you can choose either 3 or 5 courses, with or without wine pairing, and then there's the other option - the reason you go to The Test Kitchen - the tasting menu. Currently The Test Kitchen is offering an incredible tasting menu which has been meticulously put together by Luke Dale-Roberts and winemakers Adi Badenhorst and Eben Sadie.  I know very little about wine, but I know that these guys produce some seriously good wine and I was very keen to see what kinds of foods would be paired with which wines.

Needless to say, I opted for the tasting menu. The menu is called "The Fantastic Eben, Adi and Luke show". And what a show it was. I wish I could describe the quality of the food which I was served. We were sitting at the kitchen bar counter, which was literally right next to the pass (where the food is plated and sent out). Luke was standing a metre away from me plating the dishes to be served. It was unreal to have that kind of dining experience. I was able to ask him questions about the food, and it was incredible how open he was about the food, his preparation methods and what his flavour combinations are. The food itself was mind-blowing. Every ingredient complemented the next expertly and made my mouth sink into a cloud of blissful enjoyment. The tasting menu is an 11 course meal, composed of small flavour explosions which just happen to arrive in the form of food on a plate. I couldn't believe how complex the food was (yet it seemed so simple? - incredible), and at the same time how balanced the flavours, textures and ingredients were in every dish. This is extremely difficult to get right, so to get it right 11 courses in a row was phenomenal. Everything was (dare I say) perfect. It seems like whirl of colour, flavour and emotion made up my world last night. Little surprises probe your tastebuds to ask "Hey! What is that? Thats a match I never would have imagined but it just works so well."

I would explain each course to you, but that would take far to long and would not even do the garnish on the plate justice. The wine parings were beautiful, and brought out flavours in the dishes that were hiding away. This really opened up my eyes to just how well wine can complement food.

To say that I had a meal would be lying. What Luke and his team provide is an unparalleled, mouthwatering, exquisite food experience. The food, the service, the wine, the setting, everything came together to provide what is probably the most intimate, sensual food experience available in Africa. Don't hesitate, get yourself to The Test Kitchen for a food experience like no other.

dK

*please excuse the lack of quality pictures. It was a "I-half-forgot-my-camera-at-home-half-left-it-there-because-I-thought-it-might-be-rude-taking-pictures-of-restaurant-food" kind of situation. But I'll be sure to take it next time. The potential for great photos is huge in that space. The photos of the menu are taken by me, the others are copied off the interweb.