In the Francolin Conservancy midway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, you will find the Orient hotel, a mash-up of Arabian Nights and Casablanca, and as incongruous at a midpoint between the two cities as is the fare that is served at the Belle Epoque Mosaic restaurant, which becomes the proscenium arch for the theatre that is the hotel.
Perhaps owners Mari and Chantel Dartnall - themselves of another age and yet on the very edge of what is new - had Field of Dreams in mind when they decided to create a deluxe, intimate hotel and a restaurant that has won every award worth having. As the go-to-place for exquisite cuisine, the path to their door is now well beaten but it wasn't when they built it. Build it, they will come. And we did.
When we last visited, in August 2009, I was able to partake fully of the cuisine and wines on offer. Now, following a restricted LCHF diet, I checked first when chef Dartnall if she might be happy to adjust her offering accordingly.
She said the kitchen is more than happy to cater for food allergies and special diets with advanced warning and so the answer was yes.
The menu, labelled Spring 2014, is something new for Mosaic and Chantel and is steeped in her recent visits to Europe along with remembered flavours - very much the zeitgeist in top kitchens.
Reading the 12-course menu is taking a journey with Chantel through her thinking and, for someone interested in cuisine and its development, this is a rare treat to be so exposed to the development process. Diners enjoying the full experience and international wines should budget R1,485 for their dinner but we opted for their Petite Degustation menu without wine at R565 for seven courses.
Portion sizes are as elegantly diminutive as Chantel herself and I was again reminded how delicate and dextrous her hand is when it comes to creating the most beautiful plates. In her kitchen, ingredients are coaxed to be their best selves like Sunflower Spring, the first dish described as carrot, jelly, puree, orange blossom, yogurt cream on the menu. Inspired by the sunflowers of Provance and as dramatic on the tongue as Van Gogh's sunflowers are on the eye - this is a study of the carrot in its highest form.
The Orient Hotel not only evokes the scent and sight of a bygone era but guests are encouraged to live it too. There are no TV's in the rooms, mobile phone reception is rubbish and there isn't a workstation in your suite. Wi-Fi is erratic, at best.
You are compelled to relax in your suite, roam the grounds or spend time at the Tienie Pritchard sculpture museum or take in a movie in their red velvet festooned cinema.
We took a long walk into the conservancy and saw nyala and francolins as well as many other birds. For petrol heads there are classic Rolls-Royces to enjoy or give in to the imagination and pretend your the pasha of some great land being served dinner by the world's greatest chef. It isn't too much a stretch of the imagination.
For more information go to www.the-orient.co.za.
