Zest Restaurant's June special is something to try

We had the pleasure to experience Zest’s June special. It is really something to try and the best of all is that the prices are so reasonable – you won’t be able to make that type of food at home for the price they are offering it for.

It was a cold evening in Nelspruit, yes, I know, it doesn’t happen often, but it did! We arrived and was welcomed with a cosy warm restaurant with a crackling fire and beautiful background music. To get our senses going Zest started us off with a bread platter with homemade tapenade and bean spread.

We had a hard time choosing which starter, but ended up with the truffled potato and caramelised onion, smoked bacon soup with Emmenthal croutons, which was out of this world! You can taste every component that is in the soup and the pairing with Spier Chenin Blanc was really outstanding. The seafood salad with salmon bon bons, tempura mussels and poached prawn tails was also a good choice and paired very well with the Spier Chardonnay. The woodiness of the wine brought out all the different seafood tastes on the plate. We didn’t try the steak tartare, but I am sure that it would also have been a winner. The highlight was the soup for me from the starters. You HAVE to try it!

The main course was… A M A Z I N G! I haven’t seen such portions in a fine dining establishment like this before! It was lip smacking! The Osso bucco came not in one plate, but TWO! In the one plate was this heavenly, saucy, fragrant beef dish and the other plate was the creamy polenta and stir fried veggies that all went so well together. The Spier Shiraz that paired with it was really good and complemented the dish even more. It goes without saying, I couldn’t finish it even through I so badly wanted to! The other dish that we tried was the smoked pork neck, wowie, also another winner. Sadly, their baby chicken was so popular that it sold out at lunch, but I think I will go back for it as it looked really good.

To end this sensory evening off we had the brandy tart with homemade buttermilk ice cream. Again, it was delectable. Just the right portion size to satisfy your sweet tooth whilst not leaving you too over indulged. This was paired with Weltrevrede Oupa se Wyn, the perfect match! I love the tall sherry it glass it came in and almost took it home with me. (jokes)

Well done Zest, it was really a special evening at such affordable prices. If you want to go, it is R135 for a two course meal (R185 with wine) and R185 for a three course meal (R255 with wine). You have to try it, you won’t regret it!