The Westin has recently experienced a little makeover, not a major change decor wise apparently, but much happened behind the scenes - in the kitchen to be exact. Niall Bruyns is the Food and Beverage Manager and his fondness for Chardonnay sparked his imagination to create a menu with the focus on one main ingredient with one cultivar in one venue. Every month they have a dinner series which they aptly call 1 ON19 Dinner Series. Well worth seeing which ingredient cracks the nod of the Chef Anerith Smythe.
Back to our basket of eggs, we started with a quail egg which is just in appearance, in my opinion, the cutest egg around. It was crumbed and accompanied by a crispy shallot, mushroom and tarragon dressing. I enjoyed the various textures and I felt that the Steenberg Sphynx added a crispness from the zesty acidity that cut through the layers of tastiness from the crumbed quail.
Then we were served my favourite dish of the evening: a duck egg with roasted onion broth, thyme (although this was shy on the palate) accompanied by duck prosciutto. The duck prosciutto was lovely and salty and added complexity to the dish. The cutting open of the duck egg was not for the squeamish but honestly the flavours all worked well together. De Wetshof Bon Vallon showed citrus on the nose and a lovely minerality on the aftertaste. I enjoyed the flavours of the wine on its own and not necessarily paired with this dish.
The main was a fish that I love as much as a grizzly bear does. Salmon with smoked garlic and fennel oil which I found was shy, confit egg yolk which added a creamy texture, lemon gel, a parsley sponge and caper popcorn. The parsley sponge added colour to the plate but was too dry to eat and unnecessary. La Vierge Jezebel is a more serious Chardonnay which I enjoyed, lots of stone fruit and combined well with the salmon.
Dessert was a well-kept secret. All we had to go by was a speckled egg which in my mind was those shop bought sweets that my children love. What we did end up enjoying was a beautiful chocolate egg mould filled with a chocolate mousse and granadilla coulis, paired with Waterford Chardonnay. Very yum indeed! The Chardonnay is driven by lime with a gentle oak push that comes through on the palate.
I found the evening very enjoyable.The view from the dining area is spectacular, our waiter was superb and Niall's explanations regarding the pairing was most informative. The hotel also boasts a Spa, Gym, Sauna and a swimming pool you will struggle to get out of. For more information on booking your stay or reserving a table for the Dinner Series, you can click here or make contact with Niall directly via niall.bruyns@westin.com.