Johannesburg - In this second part of my feature on hotel restaurants, I look at another two venues that put paid to that old notion that you can’t find a good restaurant in a hotel…
Level Four
54 on Bath
54 Bath Avenue
Rosebank
Tel: 011 344 8442
With its acquisition of the Grace Hotel, the Tsogo Sun undertook a huge refurbishment and rebranded it 54 on Bath – a luxurious urban hotel with an upmarket yet not insanely priced restaurant that’s so popular that it’s advisable to book a table when you make the accommodation reservation.
And if you’re not a hotel guest, you should book for Level Four in advance.
With new executive chef Phil de Villiers, Level Four is quietly showing the dining public what can be done in a hotel kitchen.
As before, the menu credits each of the chefs for menu items, so you know who’s behind the attractive plating and preparation with each dish. Another nice touch is that many of the vegetables and herbs they use in the kitchen are harvested from the rooftop garden.
The winter menu is solidly focused on comforting, traditional flavours, but not quite like Mum used to make.
As a starter, the coal-fired peri-peri prawns with avocado, lime and gem lettuce is my recommendation. The prawns are beautifully fresh, plump and juicy, with a lovely braaied flavour from the charcoal.
The chef’s signature dish, of braised lamb “ribbetjies” served with lamb rump coated in biltong spices, peas, pumpkin fritters and home-made apricot chutney is a novel approach to a traditional dish.
Philile Msibi’s sea bass with smoked snoek tart, apricot purée and curried lentils dances with delicious Malay sweet, sour and smoked flavours.
For fans of malva pudding, look no further than the dreamy milk tart espuma, amaretti crumble and tonka bean ice cream.
Service is polished and knowledgeable, with staff well acquainted with the wine list. A champagne bar is attached to the restaurant, which invites having pre-dinner drinks and doubles as a waiting area, while the landscaped gardens on the rooftop terrace offer a welcome fresh-air seating option (definitely not for our cold spell, though).
Tsogo recently signed a deal allowing it to sell champagne more cheaply than anywhere else, which is good to know for those with champagne tastes.
Lacuna
The Maslow
146 Rivonia Road
Sandton
Tel: 010 226 4600
As part of its charity drive in poor communities, Lacuna has a “Winter Wonderland” (as tired a travel writing cliché as there is) menu, which is supported by Lindt chocolates. Anything with Lindt is right up my alley, and supporting a cause that feeds the needy adds to the feel-good factor.
Chef Jason Millar, who started with Lacuna earlier this year, is among Joburg’s finest chefs, having worked with Raymond Blanc, Jason Atherton and Gordon Ramsay.
The floor staff are also accomplished – Nonkululeko, who attended to us, is a real catch, serving with professionalism, intelligence, intimate knowledge of his product and the kitchen’s capabilities, and an understanding of food and wine pairing, a skill that is often lacking in restaurants.
The set menu, which costs R325 a head, rotates on a four-weekly cycle. There are two choices for starters, two for mains, and the finale is a Lindt chocolate “surprise”.
A little tired of minestrone soup, which was one of the starter options at the time, I had the sea bass, which they served last week as a warm Nicoise-style salad, with smashed potatoes, black olives, cherry tomatoes, fried leek and fresh basil. My partner ordered from the main menu, starting with beautifully tender salt and pepper squid, and a 500g rib-eye steak on the bone with a red anticucho sauce (with a base of aji panca, a Japanese chilli and garlic paste, cumin and lots of sherry) and home-made chips.
The Lindt surprise was a little surprising though – a dome of chocolate encasing a recognisable Neapolitan ice cream (not home-made) over which the pastry chef poured an utterly divine Lindt chocolate sauce.
The ice cream aside, the winter set menu showcases what they’re about – not only in terms of what the chefs can do, but also that they’re not paying lip service to corporate social responsibility.
Saturday Star