Gold Restaurant - Cape Town

We've been to many culture and dancing dinner shows and I generally do not enjoy them all that much. However, Gold Restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa, is an exception and I rank it far and away as the best of that genre we've visited. 

First, we got there before the dinner show and had drum lessons. That was okay, but I could have passed on it. It was not what made the night a success.  

Next, we found our reserved seats in the balcony and enjoyed a 14 small dish meal that featured dishes from many parts of Africa. As we sat at our two person table and waited for our meal, we had a person stop by and paint a design on our faces. 

At one point during our meal, a troupe of singing dancers and musicians stopped by the tables in our area and played, sang and danced. They were energetic, fun and good. And one thing I really appreciated was the lack of pressure to get up and sing or dance with them. Toward the end of dinner the troupe went on stage on the main level and performed. In Judy's post on eating in Cape Town, she has some video of the singing and dancing. 

The main focus of this post is the amazing variety of food. One of the main things we strive for in our travels is to eat what the locals eat. In this case, we got a slice of Africa. There was not a dish that grabbed me and said, "I've got to have more," or where I thought, "I would love to have that recipe." However, I appreciated the variety and the exposure. Our first course was two dishes: Zanzibar tomato soup, flavored with spices from the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania; and South African corn pot bread, served in a clay pot. At this point all I remember was that the soup was very good and the bread was not memorable. 

Our second course was five servings of street food: First, Ethiopian lab was made from cottage cheese, yogurt and herbs and went well with the other street food dishes.  

Part of the street food.

Ethiopian lab.

Second, Moroccan lamb phylo cigars were phylo pastry wrapped around spiced lamb mince. It is usually fried, but these were baked as a healthier option. 

Third, South African fish cakes made of smoked snoek (a species of snake mackeral), chopped coriander and a tangy Indian relish.  It was a little fishy, but not over-powering so. Fourth,  Kenyan irio patties made of pap (maize meal) and spinach, a dish of the Kikuyu people. 

Fish cake on the left and irio patty on the right. 

Fifth, Zambian kondolo balls made of sweet potato, cheese and ground spices rolled in sesame seeds served in a creative ice cream cone type cardboard container out of a miniature kiosk, keeping with the street food theme. 

The next course consisted of five main dishes. Congo chicken was chicken breasts served with a fusion of mango, lime, ginger and parsley. 

Moambe chicken is the national dish of the Congo. This is a variation. 

Second, Zanzibar vegetable pilau was layered rice with spices and seasonal vegetables. 

Third, Namibian venison pot was a stew made of springbok, an antelope common in Namibia. I was into local game meats on this trip and particularly appreciated having the springbok. It was not gamy at all. 

Venison pot with springbok. 

Fourth, Tanzanian mchica w'nazi is spinach and other edible leaves with coconut and ground nuts. 

Tanzanian mchica w'nazi

Fifth, Nigerian corn and beans, which is fresh corn cooked with onions, tomatoes and beans. 

Nigerian corn and beans.

Finally, for dessert we had two dishes: First, Cape Malay boeber, a milk pudding with sago, vermicelli, sultanas and roasted almonds, all flavored with cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla; and Second, Cape Malay karamonk biscuit flavored with cardamom and orange zest, in the shape of a rhino and the continent of Africa.  Cape refers to the Cape of Good Hope and Malay refers to an ethnic group in South Africa mostly from the Dutch East Indies, mostly modern Indonesia. 

The boeber is top and the karmonk biscuits are bottom. The boeber was great, the biscuits were okay.