Even though the restaurant is housed in the fluorescently-lit Artem Shopping Centre, the space retains its plush and softly lit feel seen during the day as heavy dark curtains obstruct any unflattering lighting from the street and centre.
Before you enter the main restaurant space a visit to the adjacent Rooibos bar is highly recommended. Offering a variety of unique and non-alcoholic Rooibos brews and cocktails, a quick drink at the bar is the perfect way to wake up your taste buds for the delicacies to come. We were treated to a refreshing and lip-smacking Rooibos, grapefruit and lavender concoction before being seated for dinner.
The dinner menu is small but varied and offers the option of a two and three course Prix Fixe menu of R395 and R495 respectively with a decent amount of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options included.
For starters, you can look forward to options such as roasted cauliflower in a leek veloute topped with an olive oil and oat crumble, a beetroot and pickled carrot salad, or a feta mousse with mushroom caponata and croutons.
For mains, items such as smoked brisket, pumpkin risotto, ostrich lasagne, and a Thai bass curry will tempt you. My partner and I sampled the brisket and bass. Hands down the Thai bass curry with rice noodles was the winner. The brisket offered some great flavours of creamy mash and pickles, however, the meat was served in quite thin dry slices and lacked the juicy fatty wonderfulness usually associated with brisket.
The bass on the other hand over delivered on expectations, perfectly cooked with a lovely crispy skin and served in a delectably fragrant lemongrass and ginger broth, it was highly satisfactory.
Only two options are offered for dessert, so we sampled both. By far my favourite was the Botanical and I would definitely recommend this over the Tropical, which basically resembles a mango smoothie with Rice Krispies.
In contrast, the Botanical is nuanced, complex, and exciting. An olive oil ganache, mint pannacotta on a sponge, with pickled apple and cucumber, served with a lemon and thyme ice cream and sprinkled with a frozen yoghurt powder. Fresh, zingy and taste bud challenging, I haven’t sampled anything quite like it.
A nightcap of a Rooibos or coffee affogato is offered at the espresso bar. Affogato is an Italian coffee-based dessert, it usually takes the form of a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream topped with a shot of hot espresso. Both forms were delicious but as nightcaps go, the coffee version was the best.
All in all, a unique and varied menu that in time should satisfy the dinner crowd as much as the breakfast and lunch menu has impressed thus far.
Coco Safar is situated at the Artem Centre (previously Adelphi Centre), 277 Main Road and is open seven days a week. Exclusive tours and cupping experiences can also be booked.
For more info go to www.cocosafar.com.
*Ruth Cooper was a guest of Coco Safar.
