Aurum Restaurant, meaning “gold” in Latin, will be opening its doors soon.
Overlooking Sandton from the 7th floor of Africa’s tallest new building, The Leonardo, the restaurant is the brainchild of esteemed chef and culinary consultant, Paulo Santo, in collaboration with the Legacy Group and its chairperson, Bart Dorrestein.
True to its name, this golden nugget delivers understated prestige with an excellent return on investment. “Aurum represents luxury, but not in an intimidating, pretentious or ostentatious manner.
Just as gold is timeless in its appeal, we too wish to exist beyond time as a successful, renowned business serving a cosmopolitan African city; the City of Gold,” says Paulo Santo, MD and Senior Partner of Aurum.
Chicken and leak from the tasting menu. Picture supplied.
The kitchen is headed up by Paulo’s former chef colleagues at Cube Tasting Kitchen; Darren O’Donovan (Head Chef) and Lisa de Beer (Sous Chef and Sommelier). The menu features Contemporary European cuisine with a touch of local flair and has been inspired by Darren and Lisa’s travels around Europe and the types of food they like to eat.
Aurum has two seasonal menus per year; Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, with the majority of its ingredients being locally sourced. By day, Aurum presents the Light menu, Solis, comprising of an a la carte breakfast, brunch, and lunch offering. By night, Aurum takes on a sense of luxury manifested by the Dark menu, Luna, for dinner.
Signature dishes include the Cured Springbok, Slow Braised Pork Belly and ‘Afternoon Tea’, a dessert inspired by the memory of dunking Ouma rusks into tea, showcasing flavours of rooibos, buttermilk and Clemengold.
“A meal at Aurum will aim to engage our patrons on an emotional level. We want to create experiences, share memories, build strong relationships and gain the trust of our patrons through our product and service offering. Aurum stands to take an Old-world approach to service with a modern, New-world approach to cuisine,” says Paulo.
Inverroche G&T from their extensive cocktail menu. Picture supplied.
Aurum’s wine list was compiled by de Beer and features 99 of both South Africa and the globe’s finest wines, many of which will also be available by the glass. The wine list has been designed in such a way as to convey the best on offer from around the world, without being pretentious and inaccessible. The list will enable guests to be exploratory but also offer them their familiar favourites from the Cape Winelands.
In the Wine Library, there is a smaller list on offer that boasts special vintages, limited releases and some different, more ‘edgy’ options for the adventurous.
The cocktail menu has been designed by specialist mixologist, Alex Farnell, and features fun, trendy and edgy drinks with the right amount of traditional sophistication. Expect to find some of the world’s finest spirits brought to life in exquisite cocktails and signature mixes.
There is an impressive selection of after-dinner options such as Grappa, Cognac and fine whiskies, as well as a fully stocked bar of premium spirits.