Durban - Exciting things are happening on the beachfront with the merger of the Elangeni and Maharani hotels into Durban’s super hotel. And with exec chef Shaun Munro, you can be assured of exciting things happening in the kitchens too.
First, the pool deck is now open to the public with a relaxed lunchtime café menu, and then there’s the new Jichana, a top-notch steak house, where the old Jewel of India used to be. More will be on the cards as renovations progress.
Jichana is Swahili slang for eating good. The idea is to embrace the tastes of the East African spice route that so complement meat and fish in a grill room setting. It’s a dramatic room, decked out in black and white with splashes of red. The ambience is classy but casual, a restaurant with none of that hotel dining room feel.
Jichana offers a small menu that focuses on superb ingredients, and simple grilling in front of you. Steaks are from grass-fed beef from Heidelberg. They’re aged to perfection. Fresh kob comes regularly from the southern Berg. Lamb is from De Aar. It’s a food chain that’s known and monitored from field to plate.
So think rump and fillet, in two sizes, plus T-bone for the man-sized appetite. Lamb chops are both T-bone and cutlet, French trimmed and thick cut. The chicken and duck are cooked on the rotisserie – the chicken basted with a Dar-es-Salaam pili-pili sauce, the duck with a cinnamon-scented citrus basting. Both are on the list to try, next time. There’s even a home-made burger, and a veg stack and medley for those who aren’t big into the red stuff.
But first, starters. Well, here it’s a little different, the thinking being that with all those meaty mains, starters should be an option of light salads in two sizes, with a couple of traditional starters on a regular specials menu – grilled calamari or carpaccio the night we were there.
The biltong and blue cheese salad, piqued with peppadews and dusted in toasted granola, was the more interesting of the two. It was topped with a pomegranate vinaigrette, while prawn tails and avo were enlivened with slices of citrus. There’s a “naked Caesar”, spicy chicken and a pure veg option. A nice easy way to whet the appetite.
As guests of Shaun Munro, Terry and I were offered a number of menu highlights. Both rump and fillet were superb cuts grilled to medium-rare perfection and served with a creamed black pepper sauce that had a good kick. Their own take on a 20-ingredient Café de Paris butter would also crack the nod. Other sauces might include truffle-scented mushroom, a spicy chakalaka relish, roast garlic cream, or a traditional Béarnaise. A cut above the usual gloopy steakhouse offerings.
The lamb cutlets too were testimony to excellent grilling, the flavours of the different cuts coming through nicely. The dusky kob served with a good aïoli got the thumbs-up.
All mains come with a side order and the selection goes beyond the usual chips, mash or baked spud. Jichana’s so-called bafana chips are a hit – the hand-cut fat chip is thrice fried to a golden crisp outside and has a soft centre. Being more a shoestring fries man, I’ll go here next, but caramelised baby onions with sautéed button mushrooms and braised spinach with garlic cream paint the picture.
But do save room for a dessert, which turned into a veritable piece of theatre. It’s somewhat misguidedly called a five chocolate ball – a chocolate bomb more like it. Think layers of dark, milk and white chocolate mousse, encased in a solid chocolate ball in the middle of the plate, scatterings of berry coulis around. The waiter then pours hot chocolate sauce over it and, boom, an explosion into a deliciously rich, dark, sticky mess.
Yum. Terry and I were like kids fighting to lick every last morsel off the plate.
The deconstructed milk tart – a tower of custard and flaky biscuit with caramel sauce – was very good, especially if like me you don’t like your desserts very sweet.
There’s a selection of homemade ice creams, fresh fruit in season and a Midlands Brie with all the trimmings.
The wine list is a substantial affair with the choices you would expect from a big hotel, with a good selection by the glass. You can even pay a visit to the wine room and choose your glass.
Prices: Starters/salads R45 to R65; mains R75 to R160; seafood R110 to R220; desserts R20 to R50.
Service: Efficient, friendly and most of all knowledgeable, without being in your face.
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday lunch, Monday to Saturday dinner.
Telephone: 031 362 1300. - The Mercury