“I did not kill that man,” I announced dramatically, with a flip of my hair and a flick of the wrist, “It was obviously one of you!”
I live for drama. And attention. And fun. And dress up. Oh and of course, food. So combine them all and you practically have my heroin. As I have mentioned before, it was the much-anticipated Five Flies Murder Mystery launch party last week and it was absolutely amazing.
You have an evil face
About 40 or so bloggers, chefs, writers and SA celebs (+ partners) were invited to the launch, the theme of which, was Horrific Hieroglyphics. We were each sent an in-depth character bio and a synopsis of events prior to the murder and were told to dress up like Cleopatra (ka-chiiiiing, totally my style!) or the Pharaohs.
Finding parking outside the venue was a pain in the headpiece but it was a blast walking along Long Street in my Egyptian wedding dress. Once inside I was amazed at both the size of the restaurant as well as how beautifully it has been styled. We were led upstairs (the downstairs was open for public use) and it, as well as the people mingling, looked gorgeous.
Almost everyone dressed up, which completely added to the magic of the night. Glass of wine in hand, we judg… I mean, admired one another and soon were led to our tables.
Other than my friend at the table with me, I didn’t know any of the others, which was actually quite fun. You can really get into character and behave the fool when people around you don’t know who you are. Each table is made up of 8 people so you can book a table of 8 friends, but bookings of 2 and up are welcome. Each person is given their character name tag and a booklet of info, which has sealed sections that can only be opened during a certain course.
With each course you find out new info, are given clues, different CSI reports and are told when you should reveal certain pieces of information. We were also given a new glass of wine and a cocktail, which meant that for me, deciphering this information and finding the killer started to get a little tricky.
I hate to admit it, but I didn’t figure out who the bad guy was. Everyone was so suspicious and I was in no state to be deciphering clues, reading facial expressions or calculating motives. I bounded over to a few other tables and asked the person at each who was playing my character if they had an idea – they didn’t. Mariette Auguste clearly ain’t no detective.
There are 5 Murder Mystery nights hosted between June and September, traversing 5 continents and 5 decades. It’s R300 per person but if you go to all 5, its R250 per person. You will receive a complimentary drink, 3 courses and of course, the thrill of the game. Although you don’t have to go to each, the stories are linked, so it is worth it.
This truly was one of the most incredible nights I have experienced in a long time and definitely the best restaurant event I’m yet to attend. It was well organised, well coordinated and most of all, so much fun. Well done to owner, Jo-Anne During, for pulling off such a brilliant night! I would highly recommend that you go to at least one of the dinners – I know I will be back for more.
OH! I suppose I should talk about the food. Admittedly, the wine did get the better of me so a very thorough explanation of the meal can’t be expected. We had 5 smaller courses, so we could taste one course from each theme:
EGYPT: Flat bread with humus, labneh, roast carrot and date salad and a sesame dressing.
The bread was crispy but doughy – very similar to Bedouin bread I had in Israel. The humus was less garlicky than usual and the labneh (a cheese dip made from yogurt) was light and creamy. I loved the carrot and date salad and ate more than I should have.
NEW ORLEANS: Blackened Cajun-spiced Kingklip with avo puree, grilled corn and smoked chilli salsa.
This course was great. It was very hot and spicy, which I absolutely loved, but had a few others at my table clinging to a glass of water.
MEDIEVIL ENGLAND: Green pea soup with oxtail and chive cream.
I don’t often eat oxtail, so when I do I can really appreciate the richness of the meat. I’m not usually a fan of pea soup, but since it didn’t taste like it was made with 2 year old, dried peas out of a box, I really liked it.
PERU: Char-grilled rib-eye on sweet pepper and potato puree with braised red kidney beans and walnut chimmi-churri.
Just 3 words for this one: Wow. Everything, wow. Ok, I suppose I can say more. The steak was tender and spicy, which worked well with the sweetness of the puree. The beans were a great and the chimmi-churri, which is a sauce made with garlic, olive oil, salt, cumin, paprika and thyme, among other spices, was delicious.
ANTARTICA: Artic roll with vanilla-seed, red raspberry puree and white chocolate truffle.
To be honest, this wasn’t my favourite. The cake was dry and the flavours didn’t really do it for me. After chatting to Jo-Anne, she agreed and said that it would be changed – that’s the thing with Five Flies, it’s a gorgeous, high-end restaurant, but they really care about their customers.
