Join me in an epicurean adventure. You’ll encounter playful items like a silver pig with slices of onion on cocktail sticks protruding from his money-box slot along the way. But there’s no lift to whisk you up to these quirky delights.
The climb is worth it. You’ll find yourself in a candelabra and chandelier-lit pure-white setting – a classy ambience for inventive, imaginatively presented food that adds playfulness to fine dining. And while the environment is cool, the welcome is warm, the service friendly and informed, and you’re expected to interact with your food.
It’s easy to spot those who are strangers to a kitchen: handed a pestle and mortar, one patron pounded the contents of her mortar to dust, while her partner licked his pestle.
Menus are designed round the element of surprise: there’s no pre-publicity. Only when you’re seated does a spiral-bound booklet reveal all. Should you have an allergy, inform the staff when booking. Menus are designed to accommodate special dietary requirements, and given the kitchen’s flexible, can-do attitude, you’ll be catered for.
In fact chef Vanessa Marx’s proud boast is that you should be able to eat at Dear Me “every day and never feel guilty about compromising your health, weight or wealth”. For her engaging liveliness is underpinned by a respect for seasonal bounty, fresh, natural ingredients and local suppliers who share her views on sustainability, artisanal principles and ethical practices.
Winner of Eat Out’s 2013 Rising Star Award, her food is inspired by people, places and seasons. The people include her mother, whose recipes she still uses; the chefs whose kitchens she has worked in; and places she’s seen or dreamt of seeing.
For her frame of reference is wide. After graduating at the Institute of Culinary Arts, she took off for the south of France and Zurich to work in a private capacity. In London, she gained experience at food and wine bar Vinoteca, soaking up the skill of creating menus daily using only the freshest seasonal produce, pairing the dishes with fine wines.
At The White Room, she’s charting a five-star journey, but has still to grow. While I loved the presentation and exciting experimentation, dishes are more a disparate collection than a cohesive menu, and to my palate execution occasionally let down presentation.
Take the mushroom terrarium. Lift the cloche and turn it upside down and I defy you not to gasp. But to my mind, a dash of brandy would have enhanced the flavour of the truffled mushroom mousse. And to cook raw kob in a soy broth poured into your mortar (once those sesame seeds have been ground to your satisfaction) killed the taste of the fish. Perhaps miso soup would have been less overpowering?
But I’d go back for the olive sphere that bursts in the mouth, the tempura oyster, the deconstructed classic American chowder steamed in Jack Black craft beer, and the confit pig’s tail.
Go with an open mind and a sense of adventure and you’ll have fun. I did. But I’d have liked a sturdy tray to toboggan down those stairs.
l Currently R395 for the menu, or R640 with wine pairing (the wines are excellent, including CWG wines and top producers). Menu and price will change mid August.