By Desie Heita
WINDHOEK – The invitation landed on my inbox a tad late, passed on by one of my colleagues, but the scribbling were promising, an exclusive seat at the Chef’ Table, the Slovakian Executive Sous Chef at Windhoek Country Club Resorts and Casino, Kabat Kvetoslav, in the elegant Kokerboom Restaurant, overlooking the golf green intercepted by the water features, and of which their cascading sounds can be heard in the restaurant.
So there we are, all 25 selected guests, for what is promising a four-course feast of dishes with a distinct Windhoek Lager flavour. Accordingly we let the food, beer and conversation flw. As guests we drink the beer while the Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) Brew Master, Christian Muller, explains the ‘do and don’t’ of beer etiquette. Until the prawns cocktail announces the first dish in this four-course ensemble, accompanied by Kvetoslav, to explain the beer in the dish. It is an explanation that we miss, but we can neither escape the aromatic beer flavour on the coating of the prawns nor the dip, which has an after cooler effect to the beer bashed palate.
The flow of beer continues uninterrupted, as does the conversation with Desi Stevenson, from NBL, on Windhoek Lager golf championship to what the evening has been dedicated. By now our stomachs are grumbling with anticipation of what the menu is promising to be, a ‘Windhoek Lager soup with freshly baked beer and corn bread.’ None of us has really any idea of what is to emerge from Chef Kvetoslav’ kitchen, other than expectation of a ‘beer-ish’ kind of soup, with bread.
Then comes the soup. It looks normal. The Chef emerges again to tell us of this very foreign dish, his bee-rish soup creation. “It was traditionally made as morning soup,” he says. Quickly we, – Wilet de Jager and Anna Man’s from Radio Wave, Gerrit Koekmoer from 1FM, and Jesse Jackson from Observer -, ponder out loudly if this tradition was not triggered by old village ladies running out of water or perhaps just too tired to walk to the fresh water source for morning soup, hence they reached for nearest barrel of liquid suitable to make soup, fresh beer. Our cynicism is quelled by the taste of the soup, which is tangy, frothy, and warm as all perfect soups should be.
By now the table discussion is quite naturally, on the history of beer. In between photographer Tony Figueira takes pictures of us, the guests, while the rest pass on the smartphone of dearest Yolanda Nel from Channel 7 looking at her digital art creations on it. Then the reality of a beer infested four-course meal washed down with beer hit home. Someone orders the Spier Signature Cabernet Sauvignon, but as tempting as the escape from beer to wine, the fear of confusing the palate to extend of not enjoying beer infused cuisine, stopp the 24 of us from joining.
Soldiering on we do to the main course. But first we look, really inquisitively, at what the waiters has just planted in front of us. Which according to the menu is roasted chicken with beer butter. We notice the carrots and potato on the sides, with the bird laid peacefully in-between. Our stares are eased by the Chef who informa us, to our delight, that the chicken had been marinated in beer for half a day and roasted with beer butter, before it landed on our plates. We tuck into our ‘poussin’ – small chicken – that took half a day post-mortem bath in beer simply for our gluttonous pleasure. It is indeed a beautiful taste.
Bellies filled up, we gingerly lift ourselves from the table, having forgotten the desert – chocolate mousse infused with Windhoek Lager and berries – for a group photo on the stairs leading of the restaurant. Fellow diners stare at us as each of us look for the best spot for Figueira’s piercing lens.