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| Culinary wizardry in apartheid haunt | |||
A grand South African manor house that once served as a sanctuary for apartheid presidents seems an unlikely setting for the culinary wizardry of bacon and egg ice cream. |
But young chef Steven Kruger is determined that conservative South African diners should try the bizarre concoctions that gave Spain's El Bulli its reputation as the best restaurant in the world and made Britain's Fat Duck famous for snail porridge.
Kruger took over as head chef at boutique hotel Lynton Hall from one of South Africa's top-rated chefs Richard Carstens, who pioneered so-called deconstruction or scientific cooking here.
"I'm not sure South Africa is quite ready for some of the stuff they do at El Bulli, but I want to take us in that direction," said Kruger.
In Kruger's kitchen, there's no fried rabbit ears or quail jelly – both of which have graced menus at El Bulli. But he does top dishes with flavoured "air" – a light foamy sauce – and drops a scoop of ice cream into each bowl of soup.
While dinner at El Bulli will set you back €180 and the tasting menu at the 's Fat Duck costs £115 pounds according to their websites, a five course set meal at Lynton Hall on South Africa's east coast costs just R245.
And at Lynton Hall, you don't need to book a year in advance, a day or two will do.
The menu changes daily but might include atomized mushrooms with springbok loin, pomme anna, banana and white chocolate and milky truffle mousse – and that's just the main course.
For dessert, guests might tuck into frozen gorgonzola 'air' and ice cream with a red wine cloud and granola.
Kruger, who spent several years as a pastry chef under Carstens, says his signature dish is a dessert called four flavours 22 textures, in which he combines orange, basil, almond and vanilla into ice cream, sorbet, parfait, mousse, caviar, nougat and 16 other formations, all on one plate.
Image: Chef Steven Kruger
| story by Rebecca Harrison from REUTERS | |
| image by www.lyntonhall.co.za | |
