TALK OF THE TOWN

Published: September 12, 2012 (Issue # 1726)

Sept. 13 will see the fourth installment of the gastronomic Chef’s Discovery project, with the award-winning South-African chef David Higgs introducing a highly creative signature five-course meal at the More.Yachts&Seafood restaurant. Squid and scallop tartare, rabbit and oyster served with beetroot, truffles, seaweed and vanilla, and cinnamon mousse with apple sorbet are just a few of the evening’s promised temptations.

Higgs, who began his career in 1990 at the three-star Protea hotel in Cape Town, has been going from strength to strength as his country’s most innovative chef. In 2011 alone, Higgs, now the man behind such restaurants as Central One (Radisson Blue Hotel) and the Saxon (Saxon Boutique Hotel, Villas & Spa) grabbed an impressive total of eight prestigious awards, including Rossouw’s Platinum Restaurant Award for best overall restaurant, Eatout magazine’s Best Chef in South Africa and the Wine Spectator’s Best of Award of Excellence.

The Grand Palace Shopping Gallery has opened a new restaurant and bar, Chaika, which thrives on a nostalgia concept. Its retro décor and a menu that plays tribute to the Soviet era look set to draw different generations of diners. Located on the boutique mall’s top floor, Chaika offers gastronomic hits of the Soviet and post-Soviet era as well as European bestsellers. According to the restaurant, the chefs rely on regional products and will create seasonal menus. Live music, Soviet film screenings, retro parties and concerts are scheduled to be held most weeks.

The floating restaurant Regatta welcomes a new chef, Yaroslav Medvedev, who will be celebrating his arrival with a gastronomic dinner on Sept. 20. Medvedev, who studied with the established Russian chef Ivan Berezutsky, is something of a prodigy. The job at Regatta — a restaurant that has already won a reputation for its variety of homemade pastas, summer grills and mushroom specialties — is his first major engagement, and hopes are high for the young culinary adept. The five-course meal that Medvedev has created for his debut supper promises a European approach and a Russian character, as the chef himself puts it.

The legendary British perfume brand Jo Malone has arrived in town and set up shop in the newly refurbished DLT department store. The uninitiated will be thrilled to discover the zesty citrus effervescence of the already iconic Lime Basil & Mandarin — a summertime energizer that warms up in winter when mixed with a drop or two of another unisex masterpiece by Jo Malone, the Vetyver. Long-term devotees of the brand, in turn, will find it hard not to be seduced by the intriguing new Blackberry & Bay line. After all, when was the last time that a perfume brand had time for bay leaves? And has anyone ever managed to turn it into a captivating fragrance before?