Blissful Brunch
This is the last part of my KZN adventure. As you may know if you read my previous blog I got very burnt during my time on the beach in Durban. This is the last photo that was taken of me as we were leaving the Suncoast Hotel. Look at how my arms were beginning to glow. As we drove out of Durban the sunburn really kicked in. Now I felt so burnt that it was like being a human hot water bottle.
We drove to Hilton which is where you find the Jackie Cameron School of Food & Wine. We spent the night in a lovely little room behind Jackie Cameron’s school – it was like a magic room in the Hobbit – up a windy staircase with ivy so you felt like you were going into a secret kingdom. I was so burnt and tired from my beach day. I hoped that I could sleep it off but in the morning I was still quite red and glowy. Even so I was ready for a brunch feast. Which is good because Jackie Cameron is the Queen of Brunch.
We came down the windy staircase and sat down in the restaurant which is part of the chef school. There is a sign in the front of the school and as you can see I completely agreed with it.
The first thing I noticed was how cool the menu was. The menu was what I call a paku-paku but my mother said she grew up calling it a chatterbox. It is a sort of paper fortune teller thing that we use sometimes at school to do dares and stuff. My friend Dumi made one with numbers and colours and when you opened it up it said stuff like you like this girl or you are going to be a millionaire.
Here the paku-paku was the menu and you used it to decide what to have as your starter, main course, dessert and which wine by the glass (sadly I didn’t get any wine). I think that restaurants should utilize that paku-paku system more because it was the most fun menu I had ever seen. Although sometimes restaurants have such large menus so I think that sadly it would not work but it could be a fun idea. This was quite a short menu so it worked well.
I started with a lovely mug of rooibos tea that came with fancy sugar (it was like in giant cubes) which made it heaven with every sip.
There were lovely biscuits that had flowers that were put inside the biscuit which made it taste very good with the tea. I can’t work out how they cooked them without the petals getting burnt.
My luck with the fortune teller began with the pear and gorgonzola tart which was very soft and creamy and was both sweet and sour in a good way.
My mum had ostrich tartare which is raw meat with nasturtium leaves which tasted good too. Nice crunchy croutons.
Then I had an omelet which was a little too salty for me but it still tasted lovely because there was mince and cream inside. It was only the bottom part that was too salty so I just didn’t eat that bit.
For desert I had a chocolate and berry muffin and a taste of my mum’s butternut and meringue pie.
We went to give Jackie a hug good bye and we were off back home after a wonderful holiday.
I had some chips on the road at Van Reenens Pass.
When we got home we got a little bit of a scare when we were messaged by Jackie saying did we had the keys to the room that we had stayed in. We looked at our photos and saw that there was a photo of me holding them and then a few minutes later another where I wasn’t holding them! I looked like I might be a suspect. But we went through the car and they weren’t with us. We were glad to hear when Jackie said that she had found them and I thought pheww! Although I think she found them where maybe I dropped them. We were taking pictures and perhaps they fell then.
The brunch is R150 per person for 3 courses and I would recommend it to anyone who likes food and being alive on Sundays.
241 Old Howick Rd, Worlds View, Hilton, KZN
Tel: 033 343 1784
11 comments to “Blissful Brunch”
That brunch looks so delicious and such good value for money.
Soooooooo wonderful having the both of you Josiah, thanks again for visiting. I will pass on your words to Chef Kate and the team as well. So appreciated!!!Will you allow me to share this on my blog? Cheerio for now
Sure go ahead just make sure you tell people to subscribe and thank you again for letting us stay it was so nice love travel kid.
I’m envious as you seem to have the best holidays and get to enjoy such delicious food. You are one lucky chap. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for reading my blog. I had a very nice time in KZN sadly now I am back home and I dont know when I will go again but it was very cool to have a holiday. Love Josiah
What a lucky young man you are! To experience food created by Jackie Cameron (even with sore sun burnt arms) must have been one of the highlights of your holiday.
it was a very delicious meal and she was very nice to me.
So delicious. So jealous. You are so lucky.
Oh, that brunch looks so devine!!😋😋. I get hungry by just looking at the pictures. I think French Toast must invite Jackie for their next Foof Fair, don’t you think?
You are not wrong. It was a lovely tasting brunch. I agree with you she should be invited to the next food festival in Hartbeespoort. Love Josiah
A wonderful review of my favourite KZN brunch spots. Keep up the good work.