Zachary’s at Pezula Resort Hotel, Knysna

I’m always a bit dubious of anything that arrives with big fanfare – read big bucks -thrown at it. Why, I wonder, does it need that? Surely the merits of the place/chef/food – with, perhaps, a discreet ad in WINE magazine - will convince Miz Public to visit?

Frankly, I was pleased to have been invited to stay at the fabulous Pezula Resort Hotel on the Shekel-ridge of Knysna.

Owner Keith Steward’s philosophy is to create a blueprint for an environmentally sensitive real estate development that uses only ten percent of the land to build. Invasive alien trees have been removed and the forest is being reseeded with indigenous Fynbos.

I arrive in Knysna – and the lauded Pezula – late afternoon, exhausted. I fling myself on the bed the size of a medium-sized ferryboat, a Bloody Mary clutched in one hand. In the other, the TV remote. I idly flick through the channels. The meantime the russet-red of my drink tones perfectly with the earth-toned Zulu-Zen décor of glass, stone and wood.

Activities, I muse distractedly, include golfing on the championship course, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, squash, bowls and a world-class cricket oval. I’m exhausted already.

To the left of me through the window, that green that glows as the late afternoon sun, diffused because of the rains yesterday and the lingering moisture in the air – on the golf course. To the one side, an azure view of expanses of sky and sea. To the other, a picture-perfect lagoon with the town hugging it. I have it in stereo-vision, so to speak.

I watch someone in a bright red shirt, a ‘contradiction proves the rule’ of the artificial against the green of the course, the mountains on the horizon and the pale blue wash of the sky.

After a four hour journey of heart stopping beauty and speed from Port Alfred, I’m reclining on the bed, having swiveled the television in my direction.

Let me not relax too much. I’m here to meet the chef everyone’s whispering about already. He’s a Los Angeles boy, I’m told, and has arrived here via a rather circuitous route. Which of course, in life, is a good thing. With him he’s brought global culinary trends, experience and of course a keen eye, tastebuds and intellect.

Speaking of brainwaves, when I sat down to talk to the man, he’s rather, well, disconcertingly Zen. As I watch him watching me, he answers my questions in a low, measured tone. My frenetic mind seems to start to settle down almost by itself.

He tells me about his philosophy on food – and if you’ll forgive me for raving for a moment – both simple and profound. He says, “Our goal (as humans beings) is to become more and more aware. In food, as in life, awareness brings understanding”.

Geoffrey Murray was brought in to set up the kitchen for the restaurant. His first visit in 1998 had him falling in love with the country and although he’d been offered a job at the White House, the white beaches of South Africa triumphed.

Before that, his ‘modern ethnic’ menus at his restaurants, Boom, in New York (voted Best New Resaurant by Esquire magazine in 1992) and Madrid and Bang in Miami and Mexico City had diners and major international travel and food magazines raving.

The restaurants, Zachary’s – named thus because of a “well-loved and widely traveled Labrador who truly had a dog’s life, from fishing for oysters to sniffing his way home from forest soirees”.

The restaurant is found through the double volume, pale wood-clad entrance – with views – an intimate, oblong room where international celebs dine incognito, their voices hushed by the clever cushioning of carpets, cladding and décor.

Speaking of celebs, controversial football manager Sven Goran Erikson and I propped up the bar for hours one night while every journalist in the country was looking for him. But that was a happy happenstance. The management there don’t divulge this information – I recognised the man.

The restaurant was full the night I was there, but not a kink showed in the entire experience. Service was as it should be at a swank place like this – seemingly effortless – which of course means the ‘swan’ principle applies. Graceful on the surface, paddle like hell underneath.

Murray personally sources “the very finest” local ingredients and organically-grown produce to create his inspired cuisine.

I had the chef’s tasting menu, with a matched glass of wine in each case. The Kingklip, presented as a Malay-style Laksa, with coconut milk and the slight crunchiness of rice noodles. The wine, 2004, Klein Constantia Rhine Riesling.

 

The Mille-feuille celeriac and duck confit, seduced with star Anice and a clever counterpoint of mandarin vinaigrette, served with 2003 Cape Point Semillon.

What followed was the teasingly-illusive taste and texture of the Tamarind-marinated lamb loin, served with sweet potato rosti, tatsoi and sesame (with 2002 Katbakkies Ryrah).

Dessert, Roast Pear Tart with pear coulis and vanilla-verjuice (so clever I could swoon) caramel, served with Sylvanvale Vien Dried Chenin. An inspired, beautifully-balanced menu (R195 per person, food only, or R295 per person, food and wine).

The Secret Season menu, simply for another example because dining here is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience – includes Onion and Sherry soup with goat’s milk camembert croutons, Coz au Vin with buttered noodles and a swooningly scrumptious Dark Chocolate Torte with white cocolate ice cream and orange sauce.

Breakfst, too, is good (the menu has a picture of a puppy on the cover). The usual mueslis, yes, but also cheeses with pickles and chutneys, smoked salmon trout with caperberries. Hot menu includes single malt scotch oats, apple bread French toast with apple, pear and cinnamon compote and mascarpone cream, buttermilk flapjacks, eggs absolutely any way you’d like. There’s also a brunch menu with good sandwiches and the like.

The booze-list is a liver-boggling 46-page one. Murray is also responsible for the more-than-a-thousand wines - most, limited, hand-crafted ones, although there are also “honest, easy-drinking” (in other words, more affordable) ones. Wines by the glass on this list are dependable choices – Louisvale Chavant Chardonnay, Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc or Weltevrede Gewurtztraminer for the whites, then Raka Rose and Boekenhoutskloof the Wolftrap or Louisvale Dominique for the reds.

White wines by the bottle here include Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Seidelberg Viognier and Wterford Sauvignon Blanc. Reds, Ken Forrester Petit Pinotage (R70), villiera Merlot, Alto Rouge and Kanonkop Kadette (R160).

“The Big List” wine list includes locals as well as foreigners. There’s a page on wine and food combining, a useful tool to open up debate if you’re sitting with particularly taciturn guests.

Wines by the glass or carafe in this section include a local and an imported bubbly, and well-priced whites, roses and reds.

The local Methode Cap Classique list contains almost all the top ones. Then 25 champagnes, and an impressive list of handcrafted wines. As can be expected, Ports, Sherries, Cognacs and liqueurs are equally notable, as is the list of whiskeys.

With each item there is a short – and thankfully not to flowery – description.

Then, a page on Zachary Shiraz. Marcel van der Walt, winemaker of Veenwouden private wine estate in Paarl is to thank for the limited release 2003 Shiraz, R60 per glass, R175 for 375 ml and R320 per 750ml bottle.

The whispers about Geoff Murray and his cuisine are without exception those of unabashed admiration. As is my wont, I give credit where it’s due, and conversely, won’t let an eating establishment get away with shoddiness.

So here’s the credit: that zen-like attitude of Murray’s grace without effort reflects cleverly in the cuisine. That the menu changes daily tells me is more Swan than Zen in the running of the place, but not an iota of it shows.

Oh, and there’s also a fabulous Spa at Pezula, I’m told. I should have taken time to loll there. Zen’s out the window - I’m frantic again.

By Gwynne Conlyn

Average three course meal: R150 – R250

Rating:
Food: Nirvana
Winelist: Deep-thinking inspiration
Ambience: Hushed and sophisticated
Service: Graceful
Value: Blue-chip

Zachary’s at the Pezula Resort Hotel.

Phone: (044) 302 3333; booking essential.

Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.