The Winston Hotel in Rosebank is no ordinary hotel and The Restaurant at the Winston helps explain why.

Guests who wrote in the hotel guest book had almost universal praise for the food at this five-star hotel. A guest from Morocco wrote, “The food was delicious. Compliments to the chef.” From Cape Town: “Best boutique hotel in Jozi. See you soon.” People give hotels stars and you don’t get five stars without being fabulous in the dining room.

The Restaurant is available for residents, but non-residents are welcome to make reservations there for Sunday lunch.

I was fortunate to have dinner and breakfast at this boutique Rosebank hotel during my stay.

I started dinner with a glass of South African wine — Arabella merlot. The online description says it has “succulent flavours of ripe plum and blackcurrant, enhanced by hints of coffee and chocolate,” but honestly, that didn’t impress me. What impressed me was how it made me feel and I loved the mellow buzz I got from this one.

Enoch Aidoo, waiter extraordinaire, put a linen napkin on my lap as I sat admiring the blue accent wall in the dining room with blue-and-white porcelain plates. They made me want one to start a collection of my own when I got home.

The ciabatta bread came with three dipping sauces: sundried tomatoes with nuts and ginger; oil and balsamic vinegar; and basil pesto with walnuts.

For my entree I chose the rack of lamb with veggies and it was the type of meal you savor slowly, setting your utensils down between each mouthful.

Chef Marvin came to my table and talked abut the potato galette that accompanied my lamb — a classic French potato dish with thin-sliced potatoes that are bathed in cream and then baked. Braised vegetable rattatouille finished out the plate.

I could have chosen Hoisin duck, slow-cooked springbok shank, Cajun-seared tuna or pasta, among others. Chef Marvin said he likes to mix it up on the menu and not focus on a single culture. So you’ll find North African, European and Mediterranean influences.

The dessert menu was compelling and diverse: Mississippi mud pie, tiramisu and sticky toffee pudding were a few I struggled with before eliminating them in favor of marula mamba.

The marula tree that grows across sub-Saharan Africa is the source of marula fruit. Elephants have been crazy about the fruit forever, and have been known to knock down trees to get at it. It’s just in the last 25 years or so that humans have been harvesting it on mass scale. Marula is now a popular liqueur and it stars in gourmet desserts around South Africa.

The hotel caters for special needs — kosher and halaal — and asks guest when they book what their eating preferences are.

Breakfast was included in the room rate, and the soundtrack for my breakfast was mourning doves, a sound I love. The continental breakfast included an array of smoked fish. I ordered shasouka, a North African breakfast of poached eggs cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions. My waiter, whose name was Unity, warned me that the red paste on the side was spicy. The dish also came with olives and salsa.

The mourning doves were an appropriate way to come to terms with the fact I would soon be leaving the Winston, checking out, moving on, out, back to reality, where most stars don’t come in fives. I lingered over a second and then a third cup of coffee.