Six weeks, eight food critics and 27 restaurants later, the finalists for the V&A Waterfront’s Master of the Trade Routes culinary challenge have been announced.
Specially created fusion dishes inspired by the vibrant and diverse flavours representing South Africa’s roots from Dutch to Chinese, Indian to Italian, Portuguese to Malay and French to British, were judged by eight of Cape Town’s hottest bloggers, journalists and cook-book authors.
Restaurants which found the judges favour are the Cape Grace’s Signal Restaurant, Queen Victoria Hotel’s Dash Restaurant, Reuben’s at the One&Only, Den Anker, The Grand Beach, Sevruga, Harbour House and Willoughby’s & Co.
The shellfish and asparagus combination at Den Anker had the Food Blog Cape town team “longing for more”, while the Reuben’s pie had “tender steak, mushrooms, onions and oodles of peppery gravy”. At Dash, event co-ordinator Aleit Swanepoel discovered his plate was “a work of art” and at Willoughby’s & Co his sushi was an “unbelievable combination of the freshest flavours I have tasted in a long time”.
Expresso presenter and chef Michael Olivier found “passion and caring in the kitchen” at Sevruga, while blogger Kamini Pather experienced impeccable service at The Grand and blogger Bernice Griffiths said Signal’s babotie was “truly amazing” and that Harbour House had beautiful views and a ‘vibey’ atmosphere.
“Since June 1, almost 4 000 people have tried a special Master of the Trade Routes dish at one of the participating restaurants and entered their comments for the chance of winning restaurant vouchers or tickets to the gala dinner. The competition closes on August 22 so there is still time to be a food critic and win,” said V&A Waterfront’s Executive Manager of Strategic Marketing, Chantelle Cole.
The Master of the Trade Routes will be crowned at a gala dinner aboard the SA Agulhas II on August 29, when chef and food editor Justine Drake, radio host John Maytham and Food24’s resident chef Caro de Waal will select the final winner.
“We hope locals and international guests have enjoyed our competitive twist to the usual winter specials which Cape Town enjoys during the cooler months, which also showcases the variety, creativity and affordability of our restaurants. Despite being known as a tourist destination, some of our biggest supporters live right on our doorstep.”
