The Gold Museum Restaurant

So as you all can see from my title, the place I went to Saturday was the Gold Restaurant. This restaurant is part of the Africa Gold museum which features a large exhibition of some African artifacts (all in gold of course). I went with my friends to the restaurant because I thought a nice night out enjoying some local food was in order. This restaurant features a menu which consists of different dishes from different regions of South Africa which you sample each and every one. Before eating, I also partook in a Malian drumming session which I forgot to take pictures of myself doing :-( The instructor was from Guinea, but was absolutely outstanding at drumming.

Dish #1, 2: Spiced Tomato Soup

a local dish which was inspired by a similar indian dish. Served with a special type of bread called South African Roostekoek.

African Puppets

Part of eating at the restaurant includes african cultural shows and costumes. :-)

Dish #3, 4, and 5

Cape Malay potato and pea samoosas, Masala grilled sweet potatoes, and South African Smoked Fish Cakes topped with apple and mint relish. The samoosas are a derivative of an ancient persian dish, and can be found mainly in Northern africa as well as the middle east. The Fish cakes (also known as Frikkadels) are a common South African dish as well. 

Dish #6 and 7

Namibian Venison Pie and complimentary bread. This pie consists of Springbok. It tasted really good which makes me want to figure out how to effectively cook Springbok at home :-)

Entertainment

The man in the top picture is wearing a cultural outfit, and was doing west African dances really really fast and jumping around. The lady in the picture below that was singing songs in Xhosa, Sotho, and Afrikkans. All of her songs were either about love or about how wonderful South Africa is which was really nice. She had a very rich voice and a very colorful and lively dance number. 

Dish #8, 9, 10 and 11

(From the bottom left going clockwise): Africa Spinach with Tomato and Pumpkin Seed, Basmati White Rice, East African Braised Spicy Butternut with Tomato and Coconut Cream, West African Peanut Chicken. All were great. I especially loved the West African Peanut chicken. The sauce for it was rich and tasty. 

Dish #12

And for Dessert, South African Pumpkin Fritters with Gold dust, a side of cinnamon and Amarula Mascapone. Amarula is an african drink which is similar in texture to Bailey's Irish creme. Yes they sprinkled 24 carat gold dust onto the top of the fritter. I ate gold.

For Entertainment at the End

A Springbok puppet. Huge, colorful, and creepy enough that it sent a young child into a hysteria of crying fits three tables down.

A king and queen african mask costume. They were pretty cool looking up close. 

More pics to come soon!

Carolyn