These reviews are from my trip journals. They are long & detailed for my own personal pleasure. I don't scrap, I'm not a huge photographer (although I have pix of this meal to upload eventually) I prefer to write about my meals as rememberances of my trips. This is the type of review I enjoy & I hope at least one person finds this enjoyable.
Jiko, Mothers Day 2007
We planned Jiko for Mothers Day. This was the dinner I was most looking forward to on this trip. For the past 2 trips, I wanted to try it, but couldnt fit it in & neither Max nor Gary seemed as excited about it as I was. I was determined to eat there this trip no matter what.
We had a 7:30 reservation & the plan was to eat at the Cooking Place so we could watch the Chefs at work & just sample our way thru the evening. It turned out that the Cooking Place seating was full & we would have to wait 45 minutes to an hour to be seated there. None of us thought that was worth it, but they were able to seat us at a table right next to the Cooking Place so we could see the action somewhat from our table. I was able to pop up & take a couple pictures very easily. In retrospect, I am glad we wound up with the table, it turned out to be perfect for our meal & we had the most wonderful waiter. It turned out he was also a trained sommelier, which was perfect.
I knew as soon as I made the reservation that one wine I had to have was a South African Chenin Blanc. I asked the sommelier if that would pair well with my food choices & he said that it would & chose the Raats Original, Stellenbosch 2005 for my first wine. Lisa had a Tusker Lager, which was very light & refreshing. Max went with the Savanna Premium Dry Cider, which he really enjoyed. All three beverages are ones I will be seeking out in my area.
Since we really wanted to experience as much of what Jiko had to offer as possible, we ordered a sampler platter of appetizers. This isnt on the menu, but if you ask, they will do it for you. It serves 2-3 people. For our party of three, it was plenty for an appetizer, given that we were going to do a first course as well. The appetizer platter consists of 4 dishes from the Cooking Place. It has 3 each of the Lamb Patis with Mint-Cilantro Chutney, the Lentil Pastilla with a Sweet & Sour Sauce, the North African-spiced Beef Bastela with a Cucumber Yogurt and 2 of the Maize & Sweet Potato Tamales with Shredded Goat Cheese. All 4 of the appetizers were wonderful. The Raats Chenin Blanc paired beautifully with all the flavors Its bright acidity was particularly lovely with the Lamb Patis, The Tamales & the Cucumber Yogurt. I was curious about the Tamales as I had read some negative reviews about them, but we all really enjoyed them. Yes, the flavors are much more subtle that the other offerings, but I enjoyed the sublime flavor & creamy texture very much.
For our First Courses, Lisa chose the Green Asparagus Soup while Max & I split a Tikka Marinated Ahi Tuna. Lisa was very happy with her soup. I am not an asparagus soup lover, but it was good as far as asparagus soup goes. It was served with Pancetta Brittles, which I think makes anything better. The Tikka Marinated Ahi Tuna was delicious. It is a serving of Tuna Tartare served over a bed of Heirloom Beans. The Tartare is mixed with the Tikka seasoned yoghurt. Our server recommended that it all be mixed together for eating, so that you could enjoy the flavors & textures together. It was the way to go. The buttery smooth texture of the tartare needed the al dente bite of the perfectly cooked beans to give it more mouthfeel. The tikka yoghurt was delightful, full of warm spice. The Chenin Blanc really shone in this pairing. Its crisp finish cut thru the silky textures & warm flavors.
For our entrees, Lisa chose the Pan Roasted Jumbo Scallops with Golden Brown Mealie Pap & Spicy Tomato Chaka-Laka. The scallops had a gorgeous brown caramelized crust with a perfectly tender, sweet inside. These were served over the top of a rectangle of the mealie Pap. I love Pap. It is really the African version of Polenta. I think it makes a perfect vehicle for sauces. The Chaka-Laka sauce was very thick, chunky & had a perfect zip to it. I only had a tiny little taste. Lisa loved it as well as Max who finished it up for her the next day, lol.
Max had the Berbere-Braised Lamb Shank served with Toasted Couscous, Baby Spinach & Berbere Sauce. I am not a Lamb lover, but this was delicious. I would not hesitate to order this again. It was fall off the bone tender & not at all gamey. Max who is also not usually a huge Lamb lover raved about it & said he was very glad he took a chance & ordered it. He cleaned his plate completely.
I went with the Maize-Crusted and Seared Pacific Sturgeon. It was served over a bed of Vegetables of the Moment & topped with thinly shaved Crispy Sweet Potatoes. The surrounding dish was drizzled with the Tomato-Butter sauce. For this course, the sommelier recommended the Rustenberg Five Brothers 2004 Chardonnay. Ive never been a huge Chardonnay lover, having had some whose styles I just didnt care for. But the Rustenberg was truly amazing. It was the best wine Ive ever had. Apparently, 2004 was a perfect year for the Chardonnay grape in the Stellenbosch region, producing a wine with a perfect blend of fruit with a gorgeous finish of buttered toast. There were only 480 cases made of this wine. My local wine guy is looking for me & as a back-up I located a bottle in CA I want to add to my collection. In doing my research, I found that WS gave ot a rating of 91. I was not surprised, but I was impressed that with my newness to the wonderful world of wine that I was able to really appreciate the subtle nuances that made this wine such a winner.
But, getting back to the food, my dish was just sublime. The sturgeon has a nice firm texture, but is mild &sweet. It was perfectly prepared with a nice golden brown sear on it. The inside was tender & flaky. Paired with the tomato-butter sauce & a little of the Rustenberg & you have the stuff Dreams are made of.
The way the buttered toast of the Chard echoed the butter in the tomato-butter sauce emphasized it's creamy smoothness. Like a soft cloud of velvet wrapping around the fish. The Vegetables of the Moment are no mere after-thought to this composed plate, not at all. They could have absolutely stood on their own. In fact, I have already done my best to re-create them for my own table. The medley was not your usual, easy suspects. Instead, it was a mélange of HaricotsVerts, Edamame, Taro, Collards, Parsnips & Sugar Snap Peas. These were actually prepared quite simply, blanched & then sautéed in a bit of butter & seasoned lightly with salt & pepper. I appreciated the simplicity of preparation allowing the varied flavors of this delightful blend of vegetables to really come thru. I enjoyed blending a bit of the crispy sweet potatoes in with the vegetable, rather than with the fish.
After indulging in so much food, we had no room for dessert. For once, I didnt miss it. Normally at the end of a meal, I feel like I need a tiny little bite of sweetness to cap it off. All I needed after this Culinary Adventure was one more sip of that delicious Rustenberg.
I cannot believe it took me this long to experience Jiko. Trust me, it will not be long before I am back again. I know October will find me there at least once.
Jiko, Mothers Day 2007
We planned Jiko for Mothers Day. This was the dinner I was most looking forward to on this trip. For the past 2 trips, I wanted to try it, but couldnt fit it in & neither Max nor Gary seemed as excited about it as I was. I was determined to eat there this trip no matter what.
We had a 7:30 reservation & the plan was to eat at the Cooking Place so we could watch the Chefs at work & just sample our way thru the evening. It turned out that the Cooking Place seating was full & we would have to wait 45 minutes to an hour to be seated there. None of us thought that was worth it, but they were able to seat us at a table right next to the Cooking Place so we could see the action somewhat from our table. I was able to pop up & take a couple pictures very easily. In retrospect, I am glad we wound up with the table, it turned out to be perfect for our meal & we had the most wonderful waiter. It turned out he was also a trained sommelier, which was perfect.
I knew as soon as I made the reservation that one wine I had to have was a South African Chenin Blanc. I asked the sommelier if that would pair well with my food choices & he said that it would & chose the Raats Original, Stellenbosch 2005 for my first wine. Lisa had a Tusker Lager, which was very light & refreshing. Max went with the Savanna Premium Dry Cider, which he really enjoyed. All three beverages are ones I will be seeking out in my area.
Since we really wanted to experience as much of what Jiko had to offer as possible, we ordered a sampler platter of appetizers. This isnt on the menu, but if you ask, they will do it for you. It serves 2-3 people. For our party of three, it was plenty for an appetizer, given that we were going to do a first course as well. The appetizer platter consists of 4 dishes from the Cooking Place. It has 3 each of the Lamb Patis with Mint-Cilantro Chutney, the Lentil Pastilla with a Sweet & Sour Sauce, the North African-spiced Beef Bastela with a Cucumber Yogurt and 2 of the Maize & Sweet Potato Tamales with Shredded Goat Cheese. All 4 of the appetizers were wonderful. The Raats Chenin Blanc paired beautifully with all the flavors Its bright acidity was particularly lovely with the Lamb Patis, The Tamales & the Cucumber Yogurt. I was curious about the Tamales as I had read some negative reviews about them, but we all really enjoyed them. Yes, the flavors are much more subtle that the other offerings, but I enjoyed the sublime flavor & creamy texture very much.
For our First Courses, Lisa chose the Green Asparagus Soup while Max & I split a Tikka Marinated Ahi Tuna. Lisa was very happy with her soup. I am not an asparagus soup lover, but it was good as far as asparagus soup goes. It was served with Pancetta Brittles, which I think makes anything better. The Tikka Marinated Ahi Tuna was delicious. It is a serving of Tuna Tartare served over a bed of Heirloom Beans. The Tartare is mixed with the Tikka seasoned yoghurt. Our server recommended that it all be mixed together for eating, so that you could enjoy the flavors & textures together. It was the way to go. The buttery smooth texture of the tartare needed the al dente bite of the perfectly cooked beans to give it more mouthfeel. The tikka yoghurt was delightful, full of warm spice. The Chenin Blanc really shone in this pairing. Its crisp finish cut thru the silky textures & warm flavors.
For our entrees, Lisa chose the Pan Roasted Jumbo Scallops with Golden Brown Mealie Pap & Spicy Tomato Chaka-Laka. The scallops had a gorgeous brown caramelized crust with a perfectly tender, sweet inside. These were served over the top of a rectangle of the mealie Pap. I love Pap. It is really the African version of Polenta. I think it makes a perfect vehicle for sauces. The Chaka-Laka sauce was very thick, chunky & had a perfect zip to it. I only had a tiny little taste. Lisa loved it as well as Max who finished it up for her the next day, lol.
Max had the Berbere-Braised Lamb Shank served with Toasted Couscous, Baby Spinach & Berbere Sauce. I am not a Lamb lover, but this was delicious. I would not hesitate to order this again. It was fall off the bone tender & not at all gamey. Max who is also not usually a huge Lamb lover raved about it & said he was very glad he took a chance & ordered it. He cleaned his plate completely.
I went with the Maize-Crusted and Seared Pacific Sturgeon. It was served over a bed of Vegetables of the Moment & topped with thinly shaved Crispy Sweet Potatoes. The surrounding dish was drizzled with the Tomato-Butter sauce. For this course, the sommelier recommended the Rustenberg Five Brothers 2004 Chardonnay. Ive never been a huge Chardonnay lover, having had some whose styles I just didnt care for. But the Rustenberg was truly amazing. It was the best wine Ive ever had. Apparently, 2004 was a perfect year for the Chardonnay grape in the Stellenbosch region, producing a wine with a perfect blend of fruit with a gorgeous finish of buttered toast. There were only 480 cases made of this wine. My local wine guy is looking for me & as a back-up I located a bottle in CA I want to add to my collection. In doing my research, I found that WS gave ot a rating of 91. I was not surprised, but I was impressed that with my newness to the wonderful world of wine that I was able to really appreciate the subtle nuances that made this wine such a winner.
But, getting back to the food, my dish was just sublime. The sturgeon has a nice firm texture, but is mild &sweet. It was perfectly prepared with a nice golden brown sear on it. The inside was tender & flaky. Paired with the tomato-butter sauce & a little of the Rustenberg & you have the stuff Dreams are made of.
The way the buttered toast of the Chard echoed the butter in the tomato-butter sauce emphasized it's creamy smoothness. Like a soft cloud of velvet wrapping around the fish. The Vegetables of the Moment are no mere after-thought to this composed plate, not at all. They could have absolutely stood on their own. In fact, I have already done my best to re-create them for my own table. The medley was not your usual, easy suspects. Instead, it was a mélange of HaricotsVerts, Edamame, Taro, Collards, Parsnips & Sugar Snap Peas. These were actually prepared quite simply, blanched & then sautéed in a bit of butter & seasoned lightly with salt & pepper. I appreciated the simplicity of preparation allowing the varied flavors of this delightful blend of vegetables to really come thru. I enjoyed blending a bit of the crispy sweet potatoes in with the vegetable, rather than with the fish.After indulging in so much food, we had no room for dessert. For once, I didnt miss it. Normally at the end of a meal, I feel like I need a tiny little bite of sweetness to cap it off. All I needed after this Culinary Adventure was one more sip of that delicious Rustenberg.
I cannot believe it took me this long to experience Jiko. Trust me, it will not be long before I am back again. I know October will find me there at least once.
I'm glad you finally made it to Jiko and had such a nice Mother's Day dinner! Jiko is on our must-do list for each trip! 
