Myoga’s menus are famous for pairing intriguing ingredients, and the latest winter menu from the popular restaurant at The Vineyard in Newlands does not disappoint. Robust roots, fresh fish straight from the fishers, foraged dune spinach and waterblommetjies, wild mushrooms, slow-cooked lamb, tender beef… Ah!
“The menu is a fusion of styles and ingredients – that’s the ethos of Myoga: to fuse ingredients harmoniously,” explains chef Germaine Esau. “Please indulge us as we indulge you!” We’d be more than happy to – just consider these dishes.
For starters, there’s tuna tartare and tuna pastrami with miso egg jam and aged balsamic ponzu. (That’s one dish.) There’s also salt-baked beetroot tart, a ‘braai’ salad of brassicas and alliums with parmesan cream, green onion oil and crispy ciabatta. Maybe you’d like a warming mussel curry with pickled potato, coconut crumb and green papaya salad? Or would you prefer duck liver or hot-smoked Abalobi snoek with cauliflower soup, feta, caper and pine nut mostarda?
It’s so hard to choose!
Deciding on a main is no easier but whatever you choose it’s sure to warm up a nippy winter’s night! From the beef tender cut with smoked potato, braised short rib pudding, broccoli with blue cheese and 5-pepper jus, to slow-cooked lamb neck waterblommetjie bredie with pommes souffle and spinach puree in roasted onion lamb broth… There’s also a chicken and artichoke roulade, and Abalobi fish with leeks and aubergine.
The vegetarian options would warm a carnivore’s heart, too: local wild mushrooms and gnocchi with truffle black garlic and dune spinach salsa verde, or slow-cooked carrot, carrot puree, caramelised walnuts with walnut and watercress pesto and puffed grains!
Desserts include whipped panna cotta with black-sesame frozen yoghurt and compressed winter melon, sour meringue, ginger and shiso; num num parfait with poached guava, crispy naartjie custard, guava-and-rose sorbet and kataifi pastry; a chocolate fondant tart served with dehydrated mousse, salted caramel ice cream and brown-butter powder; and a pina colada, pineapple saffron curd served with coconut lime sorbet, Riesling poached pineapple, lime isomalt and coriander sherbet.
A meal at Myoga is always much more than the food – it’s an unforgettable experience. Myoga’s warming Cape fusion cuisine is exactly what you need right now.
Pictures: Supplied