Last night we climbed a small road to heights above the Knysna (pronounced "nice-nah) estuary (lagoon) and settled into an amazing luxury resort perched on walkways in the natural forest. You must stay at PHANTOM FOREST to eat there as it is closed off from the world after dark, and really is an amazing semi-adventurous experience. We dined with the reserve's quasi-eccentric but totally delightful owner, Kat, who hails from Scotland, speaks like a Brit and created this brilliant eco reserve to teach us all about how easy it is to preserve our ecology. She has built the resort from alien (non-native plants) poplars which were wrongly planted by the early Europeans who settled here. We sat in the bar and drank HAUTE CABRIERE Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend 2008 from Franschhoek which was odd enough to begin with, as it was a white wine dry and refreshing from red and white grape blend. The little WONTON DUCK hor's d'oevres that came with them were superb as well.
Down in the FOREST BOMA restaurant (they have two restaurants, the second a Moroccan spot called oddly enough Chutzpah, which Kit insists is her way to improve relations between the Jews & Arabs.
Dinner started with CURRIED APPLE and WATERBLOMMETJIES Soup which is a water lily-like cabbage. It was a simple but divine soup with lots of flavor and made me want more. The Twice Baked Butternut Squash Souffle with Caramelized Walnuts and Watercress Salad was cheesy and tasted superb as the Calamari Fritti with Sundried Tomato and Basil Aioli was a huge thick but not tough squid imported from Patagonia in Argentina (Kat likes their calamari the best). At this point she also ordered us up a couple of bottles of her favorite wine, THE CHOCOLATE BLOCK 2007 from Franschhoek as well was full of spice fragrance and dark creamy chocolate overtones. The Beetroot Risotto was divine but my MOROCCAN spiced ELAND CARPACCIO with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Olive Oil, Zhough (Moroccan spice) and Sumac Paste with Parmesan Shavings was revelation of local ingredients. Eland is another venison/antelope relative and maybe I will figure out all the differences between these and kudu/springbok and the rest by the end of the week!
PAWPAW (local term for Papaya) SORBET was a superb palate cleanser. The main courses were quite varied from a delicious Pan Fried WARTHOG FILLET with Gorgonzola Polenta, Almond Mange Tout(Snap Peas) and Cider and Thyme Sauce to my sadly a bit tough GINGER & QUINCE GLAZED Smoked DUCK BREAST with Creamy Sherry Lentiles and Wilted Spinach, Ginger Jus as the presentattion and ingredients were indeed all fine. It was like a Chinese lacquered duck and only the fact that i was a bit chewy was a problem.
CAMEMBERT CHEESE with TOFFEE APPLE was a nice local cheese with a mini-toffee apple on a stick on the side for fun.
The desserts were divine and came with Kat offering again the VIN DE CONSTANCIA dessert wine. I opted for the MALVA PUDDING (you will recall this from a week ago) and AMARULA Toffee Sauce with Toasted Hazelnut Ice Cream. Amarula is a sweet liqueur that goes great on desserts and I actually had it today at breakfast with my OATMEAL and it was even more divine, despite the fact the vervets (tiny monkeys) were attacking our table at every chance hoping to get a scone or piece of bread. They were funny, but Kat hates them and upon her arrival, her tiny dog scared them off for good.
What fun, what a treat and despite the duck, this place is a real adventure in every way.
