La Colombe Restaurant reviewed June 2010
THIS is a story about a tomato. Not any tomato but a very special tomato that was selected from all the tomatoes in the field to be made, finally, to taste the way a tomato should and be celebrated on a plate with Springbok tataki and tartare with rolled cheese and baby-marrow cannelloni.
Like the foie gras which La Colombe continues to serve despite a fury of emails, this tomato is given the chance we all crave: to be its best, true self.
The psychotherapist or alchemist assisting in this individuation is Luke Dale-Roberts.
Faced with the heat from all sides of the crucible, Dale-Roberts has created a series of dishes and tasting menus that I think justify his vaunted position as a celebrated chef but I can’t agree that La Colombe should be ranked as the 12th Best Restaurant in the World.
Not only because I think it puts unnecessary stress on Dale-Roberts and his team but also because La Colombe is let down by its structural environment.
Irrespective how good the food is, and it is, I don’t accept that a restaurant with no major artwork investment or interior decoration and outhouse toilets with overflowing bins and exposed electrical boards can be so ranked. It is naïve to consider only the food when so many other factors also contribute to a standout experience.
The evolution in taste and texture is experienced in the first few moments. Previously, there was a make-your-own sauce farrago with mini pestles and mortars, confit garlic etc which I didn’t care for – as a lazy eater dipping my bread into the cheese fondue is the extent of my desired physicality during a meal.
Now, the tappas-style amuse bouche is served on smoothly rounded bosky tongue depressors and autumnal wooden boards such as you’d expect to see in Wallpaper Magazine.
The moment the foie parfait was in my mouth, I needed more. A primal, needy urge was awakened in me. JP didn’t eat his, which was a great relief, as, without an immediate, second creamy-mouthed hit, I might have lashed out at a passing staffer in desperation.
I noticed a young couple at the next door table. Perhaps it was the pain of the price (although the winter special is superb value for money) but they seemed unhappy with each other and, indeed, life.
I only had moments between courses, when my rapture dissipated slightly, to catch a glance of them. If it true that we are what we eat, then La Colombe’s transformation of ingredients into delight was infusing the unhappy couple with life-force. Just like the way the green radioactive stuff fills Peter Parker’s spidery veins, so I watched this couple unfurl into fullness because of the food.
I like that even in such a celebrated restaurant that service is friendly and efficient and the snootiness I judged previously was, thankfully, nowhere to be found.
Although every dish was faultless, I enjoyed the sweetbreads on aubergine with chickpeas, mushrooms and prawn most. Luke’s Asian influences show up in the Miso and Teriyaki notes.
Suckling pig three ways is served with beetroot and Jagermeister sauce, smoked chickpea and celeriac puree, creamed leeks and, of course, divine crackling. While a root vegetable and bone-marrow risotto, served in a mini fishbowl, topped with a wooden tile to retain the scents and the final addition of chive dust, is what you can look forward to on new menus.
A five-course degustation dinner menu with individual wine pairings costs R280 and R380 respectively, available until September 30, with the exception of the Sundays between August 9 –August 29, when they are closed.
La Colombe,
Constantia Uitsig Estate.
021-794-2390.
lacolombe@uitsig.co.za
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[24-Jun-10]
Brian Berkman
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