Care and attention were taken in fashioning the new menu from start to finish, says Chef Schreuder: “Guests got to savour a seven-course tasting menu during the restaurant’s weekly Earth Hour.”
A starter of white bean and truffle velouté set the tone followed by gin and tonic cured trout; a fresh and colourful superfood salad; succulent lamb with aubergine, beetroot and peas; tender chicken with samp and sour cream, game with a juniper and cacao nib crust; rounded off with two desserts of pear and ginger as well as a milk and cinnamon sago pudding. The menu also offers plenty of vegetarian options.
The restaurant’s aim is to source ingredients within a 160km radius of the hotel. “We are able to reduce our carbon footprint by cooking with what is on our doorstep and available at the time – in doing so, we are also able to support local and small businesses,” says Schreuder. Care is also taken to procure fish only from the Sassi (South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) green list.
There is a considered focus on consumption of resources, he adds. “For example, we use less water by using low-flow fittings and blast chillers over ice baths to cool food.” The kitchen keeps the use of extraction fans to a minimum to reduce electricity usage, employs induction cooking methods and the sustainable-conscience staff switch off gas burners when not in use. The food and beverage department also filter, bottle and carbonate water on site, using reusable glass bottles. Green cleaning is essential and the kitchen uses only non-toxic, eco-friendly products to sanitise and keep the kitchen clean.
Food waste represents a significant cost to the restaurant sector and thought needs to be given on how to use produce effectively and getting creative with what you might normally throw away. “We pretty much recycle everything,” he says.
The hotel has systems in place to minimise the consumption of natural resources, avoid and lower the generation of waste, reduce, re-use, recycle and recover waste where possible and, as a last resort, treat and safely dispose of waste. To date, the hotel has achieved 97,06% of its waste-to-landfill target for 2018.
