375 Albert Road, Shop 104 A, The Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock, South Africa
Cuisine:
Contemporary
Good for:
Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner, Doing Business, Entertaining Clients, Late Night, Lunch, Reservations, Romance, Special Occasions
Expert Review
Since opening in 2010, The Test Kitchen has consistently been ranked as one of the world’s best restaurants, and it’s...
Since opening in 2010, The Test Kitchen has consistently been ranked as one of the world’s best restaurants, and it’s been awarded the status of best restaurant in Africa for 2014. The problem is, everybody knows it. When I first asked for a reservation, the next available spot was in six months! Luckily since I live close by, I was put on the waiting list and managed to snag a last-minute seating due to a cancelation.
So is it worth it? The Test Kitchen serves up probably the best and most interesting food I’ve eaten. The whole process is such an experience—the kitchen is totally open to the small dining room, and I was seated at the bar, directly overlooking the bustling team of chefs at work. The artistry and effort that goes into each plate is simply amazing. You can order lunch a la carte, but if you manage to get a table, I would definitely go for the five course option. At dinner time, there are two set menus on offer: the five course or the more elaborate “gourmand” menu.
My lunch journey started with a homedried tomato starter with spiced eggplant and feta, burnt eggplant jelly, and goat cheese mousse, followed by an amazing grilled scallop with fine beans, tofu miso suke, braised scallop dressing and shitakes. Then I moved on to a pork belly portion served with parsley pressed apples, wild rosemary infused honey, blue cheese cream, and crackling. The main event was a confit duck leg served with mushroom and liver stuffing, duck liver jus, and my favorite—an “egg” made of foie gras, chicken mousse, and truffle. Dessert was a carob mousse with roast banana butter, rum foam, coffee and tanariva cremeux, and meringue served with a honey liqueur. The wine list is also amazing and the wait staff really know their stuff.
If you manage to get a booking, jump on the opportunity!
Expert Review
The name says it all really. The Test Kitchen. For owner/chef Luke Dale-Roberts likes nothing more than to push the...
The name says it all really. The Test Kitchen.
For owner/chef Luke Dale-Roberts likes nothing more than to push the boundaries of fine dining; reducing flavours to their essence, teasing new textures from traditional ingredients and challenging local palates at every turn.
With many years spent in Asia, Luke manages to balance both richness and acidity on every plate: with the line fish, a spring onion and fennel salad squares off against the langoustine velouté; with duck liver chawanmushi the morel-glazed sweetbreads dance with a foam of burnt thyme; while miso-cured egg yolk is a perfect contrast to smoked fillet with gorgonzola catalan.
Lunches are offered a la carte, while dinner set menus range from simple three-course affairs to the spectacular nine-course Gourmand – 11 courses, in fact, with the amuse bouche and friandises – that is available with wines paired to each course. Happily, and unusually for many fine dining restaurants, the vegetarian menu is as exciting as the carnivorous.
An army of chefs toil in the open kitchen, with seats at the counter ideal for solo diners or couples wanting sight of the action. In the restaurant proper, efficient yet knowledgeable service is a hallmark of what continues to prove itself as the most exciting restaurant in Cape Town. The modern sparse décor and bespoke crockery concentrates all the attention on the food, while a focused wine list includes both trend-setting boutique wineries and classic Cape estates.
With outstanding innovative cuisine The Test Kitchen has become a firm fixture on the S. Pellegrino list of the world’s best restaurants, thanks to the man Heston Blumenthal of Britain’s Michelin-starred The Fat Duck calls “a truly fantastic chef”. And judging by the waiting list for a table, it seems that hungry Capetonians and tourists would agree.