Hot Food at the coolest hotels

Food as creative as the funky hotels where they are served is the order of the day at the Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Cape Town and the Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Melrose Arch in Johannesburg. And as winter approaches, the hotels’ executive chefs are cooking up their favourite rib-sticking fare – with a Fire & Ice! Twist.

Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Melrose Arch executive chef Vincent San says the Lekker Lions Loins are his menu favourite, because of the “classic combination of old and new fusion flavours”.

“We create this dish by slow roasting a rosemary-infused lamb loin to perfection and slicing it thinly. The Fire & Ice! twist is changing the traditional mint sauce to a mint and basil Salsa Verde topped with flaked onion garnish, on a bed of grilled whole-grain mustard potato terrine.”

Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Cape Town executive chef Jason Scotts has much the same idea, but his seasonal favourite is a Proudly South African springbok.

“Wintertime is synonymous with words like ‘comfort food’, ‘hot cuppa soup’ and a kitchen smelling like warm nights under blankets with a meaty stew. Combine this picture with clichés like meat falling off the bone and you have a great recipe for success that will make a ‘chilli’ night a perfect one. “

Scotts said the shanks were slow roasted in white wine with fragrant spices such as cardamon seeds, cloves, coriander seeds and bay leaves. The stock was then infused with chilli, Bulgarian yoghurt, tomato paste and cream, and the resultant jus drizzled over the succulent, sticky shank.

Scotts said: “Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! is definitely the home away from home and at every step of the way we strive for GUEST comfort so we design recipes like springbok shanks for wintertime to encapsulate this essence. All I can say as a chef is “ENJOY”!