Traditional dishes with flair and finesse at Karibu

What do you eat when you go to a restaurant? Something safe and well-known, something slightly out of the ordinary, or something outrageously daring? I choose something that I can't make myself. As a keen cook, this can be limiting in a conventional, family-type eatery. But when it comes to fine dining and speciality restaurants, the criteria for choice are: must not include ingredients that disagree with my digestion, and must not be offal or insects. I wouldn't say I am an adventurous eater, hence have never tried mopani worm, and must confess I would rather eat the tree it lives on.
I recently had the opportunity to enjoy an extensive sampling of the menu at Karibu, a restaurant at the V&A Waterfront dedicated to traditional South African fare. Their patrons tend to be tourists who are looking to try everything from abalone to zebra, and I have many times passed by and given a cursory glance at the menu without choosing to go in, and I think the reason is probably that, as a local, I make some of the dishes anyway. It's traditional. So I looked forward to comparing their offerings with my own version - something that I think we all do when confronted with our 'own food'. The benchmark is always a personal comparison.
The extensive sampling involved ten courses, each accompanied by a wine tasting, and despite not being much of an imbiber, I can state that the pairings were excellent and perfectly complementary. We started with a Karibu Kiss cocktail, of which two ingredients were Amarula and Frangelico, and that went down extremely well. My favoured use for Amarula is as a milk substitute in coffee, but this was not the occasion. The starters were: snoek pate (so delicately delicious I ate it before taking a photo!), smoked salmon on rosti, fish frikkadel with salsa (sensational ginger bite). Mains: kebab of springbok, kudu and impala (each subtly different) on pap with chakalaka; perfectly braaied, succulent Karoo lamb with samp and beans (I never make that, so it became my downfall!). By then, the seams were starting to strain, but there was more to come - duck confit, always a favourite, and denningvleis, a sharp yet sweet lamb dish that deserves to be eaten more often. And then the desserts: malva pudding (always a favourite), brandy pudding that I just couldn't fit in, ice cream and then a very interesting cheese platter that titillated the taste buds despite not being able to do it justice. If only I hadn't had a second helping of samp and beans!
There were quite a few things on the menu that I make myself, but there's no doubt everything was elevated to a much higher level at Karibu under the expert hand of Executive Chef Jamie Rowntree and I would encourage locals to step out and enjoy some delicious home cooking with flair at Karibu SA Dining, V&A Waterfront. My only regret was that I didn't get the chance to sample the bobotie!