Cape Town - In the words of its creator, Luke Dale-Roberts, The Test Kitchen is a journey, a voyage of discovery with food. “That’s what makes people buzz and keeps them coming back,” he said.
It’s also why the innovative restaurant not only keeps winning awards here at home, but was placed 28th in the world in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. And like last year, The Test Kitchen also achieved best restaurant in Africa.
This is an astounding leap of 20 places up from last year. While there is no doubt Dale-Roberts and his team work extremely hard at what they do, he remains humble. “We carried on doing what we were doing and concentrated on the finer details. It’s amazing to wait 20 more numbers before being called up.
“The machine is quite well oiled now. The training of the service staff is another factor. It’s a combination of all the little things together, it’s not just the food.”
In fact, everything at The Test Kitchen is important, including the decor, the choice of plates, even the leather aprons worn by the service staff. “We’re selling an experience - people are coming to eat the food but they’re also interacting with the waiters, looking at their uniforms, the surroundings. We have a new friend and artist, Mark Rautenbach, who is very, very cool. It’s like your house, isn’t it? You put nice things in there and it creates a whole experience for guests.
The Test Kitchen is literally that and where Dale-Roberts puts in most of his hours, experimenting, developing, and creating. “I do that mainly in the morning when I try to put all the other stuff aside and concentrate on the food. I’m here for some lunch services, and most dinners. If I get home at the end of the day and I’ve created something new then I’m happy and excited.”
Dale-Roberts said he would never stop learning. Last month he attended a charcuterie course - a thoughtful birthday gift from his wife - in France. “I think it was a very important thing to physically go somewhere to learn a new thing from scratch which I knew nothing about before.”
Now, when he opens his third restaurant in the Biscuit Mill - the other is The Pot Luck Club - in a few weeks, Dale-Roberts will be able to bring in a whole pig every week and use every bit of the animal.
The concept of the new restaurant, Naturalis, is evolving and Dale-Roberts confessed he still didn’t know exactly what it will be. “I am going to develop a style of food that is very natural, with everything taken from its origins… things like lavender - scented labneh served with raw honey, very elemental. We’ll do dinners from time to time, maybe once a month, and that will feed through to The Test Kitchen as well.”
While he was overseas, Dale-Roberts spent some time at Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, which is owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz and houses a collection of historical airplanes, helicopters and Formula One racing cars, as well as the restaurant Ikarus. All this month it has been serving Dale-Roberts’s latest meat- and fish-based dishes. “First their head chef came out to spend time with us and learned everything we do. Then we spent two days there prepping, another two days operating the kitchen, and after that we run it for the month of July. It’s an amazing concept and they do it brilliantly. It’s a huge honour to be chosen.”
This recent trip wasn’t all work; Dale-Roberts managed to relax in Majorca for a week but after a few days he grew restless so he cooked a meal for the host of the villa where they were staying.
But when it comes down to it, what is it like to eat at The Test Kitchen? In a word, spectacular. You can have your comfort foods, but at least once in your life you need to have this encounter. My tip - other than booking well in advance (even Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi couldn’t get a table when they were in Cape Town recently) - is that you try to sit at the counter where you can watch the kitchen team at work.
The lunch tasting menu begins with an appetiser (crispy pork crackling topped with pork cheek and teeny tiny garnishes), followed by pickled fish. This is a nod to a traditional Cape dish, but done Test Kitchen style with tuna rolled around smoked snoek, curried snoek crema, tosazu jelly and salt-cured apricot.
Courses which follow - with or without wine pairings - include squid ink royale (a black custard with salt-aged scallops and foie gras infused mirin tea); pork belly (the only dish to remain on the menu since the restaurant opened in 2010) with parsley pressed apples, wild rosemary infused honey, and blue cheese cream; and lamb loin with lamb sweetbreads, parsley veloute and smoked bone marrow. There are two desserts, and an optional cheese platter. It is true art on the plate and the palate.
In the spirit of keeping things fresh and exciting, from September there will still be an a la carte menu as well as a five-course tasting menu at lunchtime, and dinners will consist only of a single 10-course tasting menu along with a small but constantly changing selection of specials.
“It will enable us to focus more on exactly that plate going to that person,” said Dale-Roberts. “It’s a big decision which has been a long time coming and I’m sure there will be some resistance, but we’ll feel our way through it to make sure everyone is happy at the end of the day.”
The Test Kitchen is at Shop 105a, The Old Biscuit Mill, 375 Albert Road, Woodstock, Cape Town. To book call 021 447 2337, e-mail [email protected] or online via www.thetestkitchen.co.za
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 12.30pm to 2pm, 7pm to 9.30pm.
Bianca Coleman, Weekend Argus