Cape Town foodie escapades: One Star House Party Review

You’ll probably never get to experience this dining journey, unless you travel the far regions of the world with this team.

One Star House Party is an organized group of ‘categorically homeless’ chefs, who travel the world, with suitcases filled with pots, blenders and pans, on one basic premise: 20 restaurants in 20 countries in 20 months.

They were inspired by a few pop-up restaurants manifesting in Hong Kong, New York and even San Francisco. One Star House Party is one of the most fresh and fun concept dining establishments, purely because the establishment moves constantly. They create restaurants in Airbnb’s, and on trains – most recently setting up on a float in Kenya – and at one point at Everest’s Base Camp; the team working and living in different countries (Imagine the jet-lag) consistently.

“We have found this wonderful way of building both our menu’s and our restaurants. We discover Cultures through their food, then we serve those discoveries to our guests…One restaurant led to another and while we remained the same; the building, the country and the ingredients became the variables, defining each restaurant we built wherever we built it.”

The normalized nomadic, or sparse lives of those living in developing countries, who somehow find a way to dine on fresh, healthy and ofttimes wholesome meals, seems to be the core inspiration they draw from.

In the 8th stop on the One Star House Party tour, the Cape Town loft venue chosen was a bit of a mission to find, in the otherwise easy-to-navigate Woodstock area.

The One Star House Party does not have time or room to worry about decor and ambiance, and all those trappings.

“…people should expect at least 3 hours of dining and fun. Imagine a dinner party at your friends house; No menus, no waiters, no stress. Just tasty, unpretentious food and great company. The chefs present each of the dishes themselves and take you on a journey spanning courses that should spark nostalgia and new found excitement for the country they live in.”

Guests are always there for the food. HELL! Its even Bring-your-own-booze!

From the first sip of the -frankly startlingly yummy – soup starter, to the succulent mains, guests in Cape Town’s leg can work their way through the carefully curated 7-course tasting menu (inspired by our best local ingredients), tasting the results of skills which Chef Sharman has diligently acquired working in restaurants across the world, like NOMA and The Ledbury.

He is aided by chef Kevin McCrae, and Trish McCrae, to give you the best kind of chill dining experience.

 The Food

Inspired by SA’s most famed ingredients, meals and products, the team created dinner around: Biltong, Snoek Fish, Springbok potjiekos , Short Rib, Pineapple, and Chocolate.

Official Menu List

1. Pumpkin and gem squash soup with fried butternut seeds and gem squash juice in a gem shell.
2. Biltong-style beef fillet (semi-dried) with smoked beetroot and hazelnut praline, churned garlic butter and beef fat glazed focaccia.
3. Fresh snoek warmed over hot coals finished with a blow torch, on a roasted barley grain emulsion with kelp oil.
4. Springbok consommé with half-way raisins and barley.
5. Beef short ribs cooked in miso, wrapped in kale with date chutney, sunflower seeds under a BBQ beef shin bone with bone marrow.
6. Caramelised pineapple in a lemongrass and vanilla oil served with house made ricotta and pineapple puree.
7. Italian meringue warm with smoked dark chocolate and rusk granola.

I found religion in soup.

I KNOW! SOUP!

That Pumpkin Soup was creamy, sweet and utterly delightful on the palate – without being overwhelming.

The Biltong-inspired 2nd dish, was unarguably the star of the night – the succulent meat oozing meatlover satisfaction in each morsel.

Drinks

BYOB

They aint got time to go through the rigorous process required to acquire liquor licences.

Bring your own everything-except-water…they have that!

Verdict?

Worth the $85 (R1 137) per person, for foodie’s to experience this once in a lifetime dinner.

One Star House Party – Here today. Gone Tomorrow.

Want to know more?

The One Star House Party team have put together a short video

Cape Town Reservation Date Availability: 26th of April – 11th of May 2017

Address: Floor 3, 38 Lower Church Street, Woodstock, Cape Town, 7543

info@onestarhouseparty.com

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