Zinzi, Plettenberg Bay area

22 September 2019

ZINZI

Hunter’s Country House

Off the N2, 10km west of Plettenberg Bay

The next overnight stop, on a whim (the wife googling on the fly), after Serendipity Guest House in Wilderness, was Hunter’s Country House, on the farm that also houses the Tsala Treetop hotel, somewhat beyond our pay grade, both set amongst magnificent forested grounds.

The hotel offers three dining options: a fine dining restaurant on the hotel premises, a bistro and Zinzi (“abundance” in Swahili, of all languages to use in South Africa), an African themed restaurant about midway between the Country House and Tsala, and within easy walking distance from each.

The building is dark grey and angular, with its stark, modern lines softened by the abundant shrubbery around it. The interior is as modern; divided into separate areas to break up what would otherwise be a hangarlike space, with dim lighting and carefully placed decorations to mitigate the hard lines. The effect is of luxurious understatement. When you’re inside you wouldn’t know you’re in the midst of the African wilderness (well, you know what I mean.)

The menu is quite extensive, with the starters called small plate dishes, though I suppose one could simply eat tapas style from these and not order formal main courses.

The bread course was Spartan: two slices of ciabatta and butter.  We’ve become used to all kinds of weird and wonderful bread and butter pairings and this low budgie offering did not bode well  but fortunately this wasn’t  an augury of the quality of the rest of our meal.

We each had the seafood chowder and shared the plates of butternut and thyme arancini and pork and chorizo balls. The chowder and the arancini were the best of the three. The creamy leak and potato and truffle oil, with generous amounts of seafood, of the chowder warmed us physically and emotionally on a cold night and created that happy buzz when you know you’re eating a superior dish. The arancini were lightly crusted, soft inside and wallowing in a perky, creamy, curry sauce. In contrast, the pork and chorizo balls, quite tasty in and of themselves, were a let-down with a puttanesca sauce that had flavour but not on the level of the soup or the curry sauce. I’m sure they’d stand out more if we’d had them in a different context.

The wife’s main course was a spicy prawn and chorizo pasta (linguini) and my choice was the confit duck leg with parsnip puree, olive relish and salsa Verde, and rainbow carrots. The duck was tender and succulent, the puree properly smooth and with the slight sweetness that goes well with duck, all of it spectacularly complemented by the sweeter relish and the salsa. The carrots were nicely al dente yet not crunchy. A very accomplished dish. The wife loved her pasta dish. It had a lot of very fresh, perfectly cooked and good sized prawns in it with a very flavourful sauce and loads of fresh rocket. A real winner.

We were quite full and rather contented after the starters and mains and decided not to tempt fate by trying any of the desserts. However, presented with the bill was a little glass bowl with chocolate stuffed dates as a type of “petit four”. It was absolutely delicious.

If the quality of cooking at Zinzi is always as good as our meal tonight, this is the place to eat in the Plettenberg Bay area.