EVERY ALTERNATE MONTH JANUARY 2006

T H

GOOD TASTE

BEST 'ISHES

HIGH ON - . ~ .

A By JUSTINE DRAKE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DIRK PIETERS

THE CHINESE CHEF is having a bit of a hard time

replying to my questions in clumsy 'sign language',

so I give up. Instead, I pick up my chopsticks and

pop one of his dim sum specialities-the heavenly

tasting prawn-chive har gau-into my mouth.

Xianqun Luo-one of China's top ten master chefs -heads up the kitchen at Haiku, an extra- ordinary Asian restaurant that's set to take Cape Town to new culinary heights. As none of his talented kitchen crew of eight speaks English either, luckily I'm joined by owner Sabi Sabharwal for lunch.

"I wanted to open a new restaurant but I had absolutely no plans for anything Asian," says the man responsible for bringing North Indian cuisine (and style) to Cape Town in the form of his Bukhara restaurants and Indian cook-

in sauces. "I was thinking along the lines of a coffee shop or a "Tex Mex' joint. I needed a bit of a challenge," he laughs. While on holiday in India ('getting bored doing nothing') he rang up one of his managers and they decided to meet in Singapore for a brainstorming session, "By the time we'd spent a week there, we were sold on all things Chinese," he says. Research continued, and Sabi took a team with him on a culinary trip to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, In London they covered

How to go on an Asian culinary adventure without even leaving Cape Town- and find mouthfuls of pure poetry

trendy restaurants like Nobu and Hakkasan. In the East they delved into the more traditional and authentic.

~ ~ SingapOre sets the trends for the continent," he explains, "while Canton Province

is where you go to find the source of original flavours before they're adapted to suit the more cosmopolitan tastes of the Singaporeans and their tourists." On the Eastern leg of the trip they sourced 30 chefs, Each was interviewed, tasked with presenting a number of dishes and judged on everything from their chopping skills to cooking, presentation and taste, No mean feat with a language barrier that made hand signals the order of the day, Finally nine chefs were selected, permits granted and they winged their way to Cape Town, What followed was a rigorous three-month training stint in Bukhara's central kitchen. They worked on a principal of preparing dishes that were 100 per cent traditional, and then eliminating flavours and methods unsuited to South Africa's western-inclined palates, Once the dishes were mastered, each chef was trained to handle every section of the kitchen-the Japanese sushi chefs can thus prepare dim sum and the Chinese dim sum chefs, sushi and tempura, by way of example. All very helpful in such a busy kitchen.

"It's really important that everyone knows what's what," says Sabi. "There are 200 dishes on Haiku's menu; each contains ten to 15 ingredients, so everyone must be absolutely sure what goes into what." Even he can make many of the dishes-"Well, maybe

GOOD TASTE

restaurant's interior is chicly moody, if a little stark, with its polished granite floors, dark wooden tables and leather chairs, This was all part of the plan. With little to overshadow it, the artistically crafted food that appears on each of the halogen spot-lit tables proudly takes centre stage,

The bustling open-plan kitchen can be seen through the intricately designed room dividers reminiscent of the tearooms of Iapan. And what a kitchen it is, replete with huge Peking duck ovens, dim sum steamers, enormous high-pressure woks and charcoal robata grills. A glass fresh

JANUARY ISSUE 37 TWO THOUSANO ANa SIX

'THE INGREDIENTS ARE FOR THE MOST PART SO FOREIGN AS TO BE UTTERLY CAPTIVATING'

not the sushi," he laughs. With that he whips open his laptop and up comes each dish complete with photographs of each ingredient, as well as the completed dish itself, It's this attention to detail, planning and procedure that reminds me that, while Sabi comes from a family of restaurateurs, he's a fully-fledged theoretical particle physicist-a vocation I have trouble spelling never mind understanding.

"Although Haiku is three quarters Chinese in terms of food, it's the opposite in the decor and design; Tokyo most inspired us when it came to those elements," he says. The

GOOD TASTE

IALTHOUGH HAIKU IS THREE QUARTERS CHINESE IN TERMS OF FOOD, IT'S THE OPPOSITE IN THE DECOR AND DESIGN;

TOKYO MOST INSPIRED US WHEN IT CAME TO THOSE ELEMENTS'

produce section runs the outer length of the kitchen so there can be no doubt about the quality and freshness of the ingredients, These are, in turn, for the most part so foreign as to be utterly captivating.

You're encouraged to eat from each kitchen section, Dishes are served as and when they're ready. And there are no 'courses' per se-rather, a smorgasbord of flavours, textures and

inspired delights. This way, you're feasting rather than merely eating. It's a hedonistic happening of epic proportions.

The dim sum section features an array of steamed, fried, rolled, open and closed noodle pockets with such fillings as scallop and water chestnut, or more Western concoctions like salmon or spinach with cream cheese.

The extensive wok menu offers

various meat, seafood and vegetable stir fries served with melt-in-the- mouth homemade Chinese noodles, Nothing at all like the usual bland soy sauce ensembles served at so many establishments. There's salt and pepper calamari and delicious twice-cooked chilli chicken. I try the Peking duck (the crispiest skin imaginable) served with homemade pancakes, hoisin sauce and finely shredded cucumber.

Sabi is generous to a fault and I suspect suffers from 'Jewish mother syndrome'-each time I turn around I'm given another taste bud-altering treat, Richly aromatic seared beef with shitake mushrooms, chicken and leek yakitori, sublime ginger beef fillet with bean noodles, all hot off the robata grill. There's sushi too. But, as good as it is, it pales in comparison to the host of other treats just waiting to be sampled.

Haiku-the Japanese-styled poetry that is a deceptively simple com- bination of words hiding a powerful message-is an insightful name for this extraordinary restaurant. The

. simplicity of its decor, design and food presentation belie the complexity of skill, training, textures and tastes that lie in wait for you to discover.

Pure poetry indeed. &

Justine Drake has written I about food for 15 years. The

author of several cookbooks and presenter for TV

series, Just in Africa, she edits the food pages of Men's Health and Shape, and contributes to several other titles.

JANUARY ISSUE 38 TWO THOUSAND AND SIX

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