Category Archives: Menu Highlights

Wellington

Wellington B

We are keeping the wellington on the menu for this season. What makes our wellington different?
Well a couple of years ago we wanted to not only show the prime cut as the hero, but also showcase the secondary, at the time we making a sirloin en croute, using sirloin and wrapping it in all the trimmings, but what made it special was the pulled braised tail and short-rib that we worked in around the sirloin. It gave the whole dish more depth and more savouriness. So we continued to di this with our wellington, half is done with mushroom duxelle and the other half with braise. In addition we wanted to use black forest ham instead of bacon. This allowed the less moisture being released and the wellington backing a lot dryer.
We still serve it with all the trimmings including our famous béarnaise sauce.

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CURRIED DUCK EGG #From The Pass

Curried Duck Egg

Curried Duck Egg

We have always featured egg in some form or the other, it is after all the perfect meal. Recently I discovered a wonderful new supplier (Feed Me Free Range Products) situated just below Sir Lowry’s Pass with beautiful chickens, ducks and goose lying in the fields basking in the sun. Lou passed on some duck eggs to try, so I could not resist one of my favourites.

As curry and egg belong together, we decided to cook the duck egg at a low temperature, 63.3 C for one hour, at the base we placed a lentil dhall. Accompanied by a sweet and sour curry sauce, mango atchar, poppadoms and charred potatoes.

Photo credit – www.crushmag-online.com 

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Laingsburg lamb on the menu

lamb-4-october-2016

Lamb Loin, Kidney Jus, Spring Vegetables

On the menu this October a beautiful roasted Laingsburg lamb loin.

This lamb is always so tender and tasty because of the selection of shrub and pasture this time of the year. On this plate we decided to celebrate more than just the loin, but then neck and the kidneys. The neck has been slow braised and put into a little fried parcel, the kidneys we incorporated into the jus. Served with local green asparagus, broad beans, burnt onion puree and peas and pea shoots.

 

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Roast Chicken! #From The Pass

RudiLi (3)

Roast Chicken

I know this is not what one would expect when ordering roast chicken. But everything is roasted and then turned into little pockets of heaven. This dish changes every now and then as we change garnishes or how the breast is cooked, but essentially it is about using every bit of the chicken, picking all the bits from the bones. We roast the breast on the crown in this edition and roast the leg and thigh. Debone the breast and gently finish in butter in a pan with sage and garlic and a hint of chili. The leg and thigh is turned into beautiful tortelloni.(My favourite thing to make and eat)

The whole dish is brought together with roasted cauliflower and cauliflower puree. Crispy bits of chicken skin is added with a little parmesan when served.

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Winter is coming!

Sole_HR_01

Sole Colbert

 

Winter is coming!

Every year we do something a little different during the quieter months, starting this May we are doing an “Old days, nowadays” feature with some menu extracts from half a century ago.

This winter we celebrate dishes served in the First Class dining rooms of the Union-Castle Shipping Lines, as well as the original dining room at the Nellie. The chef at the time was Hans Kuhnel. Chef Kuhnel must have liked it at the hotel as he spent 25 years in the belly of this legendary landmark.

Featuring

Seafood cocktail

Or

Consommé croûte au pot

******

Filet de boeuf à la Richelieu

Or

Sole à la Colbert

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Poire belle Hélène

Or

Crêpe Suzette

This classic winter special is available from 1st May – 30 September 2015 at R395 per person. Please contact Restaurant Reservations on 021 483-1948 or e-mail: restaurantreservations.mnh@belmond.com for any further enquiries or to make a booking.

As always we also be featuring classics like beef wellington and a cheese fondue.

BELMOND VINTAGE MENU v5.indd

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Smoked dusky kob salad

Kob Salad

Smoked Dusky Kob Salad

Featured dish and highlight this week is The smoked dusky kob salad. Since we installed the smoker into production and butcher two years ago we have made great progress in smoking, from cold to hot smoking, salt to brisket, even oil.

We were originally looking for a substitute for peppered mackerel and we ended up using the dusky kob from the Eastern Cape (sassi green listed). We tried cold smoke as well as hot smoke, the hot smoke left the greater impression,  so we decided to rather create a salad in Planet around it. Later we moved the salad to the lounge.

For the rest of the salad we added avocado and charred corn with a jalapeno dressing.

 

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Carpaccio

Capaccio

Beef Carpaccio

Carpaccio

This weeks menu highlight we feature beef carpaccio one of the many carpaccio we do at the hotel, slightly different to the first dish invented by Giuseppe Cipriani with its contrasts of white and red.  As a young chef while doing my training I was taught that only fillet was to be used, for me this never made any sense and it still makes no sense, why would you want to use the most tasteless cut. This dish needs more flavour so for years we have been using sirloin and lately we have started using topside as well as tender chuck. As the beef is sliced so thin we wanted it packed with real beef flavours that speak to you.

We have this featured in almost all our outlets, with Parmesan, rocket, lemon, drizzle of olive oil and mustard mayonnaise, which is not 100% true to tradition. It is  so light that even the countess Amalia would have approved and  it leaves enough space for that ravioli.

Personally I enjoy shavings of celery with shaved mushroom with lots of Parmesan to go with this beef favourite.

 

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Abalimi Bezekhaya Salad 5

AB salad 5

In this weeks Abalimi salad we have kept things so basic, we received beautiful orange pumpkins which looked like a golden nugget, swiss chard, tomatoes, free range eggs and carrots. So we roasted the pumpkin, slow roasted slices of tomato, thin shavings of the carrot and kept the swiss chard nice and crispy all served with a poached egg.

 

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Steak Tartare – #From The Pass

Chef Dee's tartare

We have many secrets in a kitchen like ours, one is the secret spice mix in this tartare. Chef “D” instramental in always making sure we hit the spot, with his secrets. Not even I am allowed to know what is in it. We serve the tartare as a starter or a main with slow cooked egg yolk from farmer Angus, the sweet and sour pickles, grass fed beef, char grilled baguettes,  through in some fries and you are good to go.

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Fitto Misto – #From The Pass

fritto misto

fritto misto

This weeks menu highlight we showcase fritto misto.

Initially we put on a cold seafood platter to show case some opulence. But as in any kitchen we needed to turn stock very quickly, so we decided last minute when doing the menu that we needed to include a mixed bag of fried fish and vegetables as well. This was not a mistake as it outsells most of the other starters.

This mixed fry with a selection of fruits from the sea include prawns, mussels, line fish, oysters, crab is served crisp with a homemade roasted garlic aioli.(I love this with just a bowl of fries)

It is also testimony that people like fried simplicity.

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