Over the past weekend I was invited to join in on some Sunday vibes with Stella Artois in association with Cafe Tibz. Hosted at the beautiful Epicure restaurant in Sandton, Le Cafe Artois fused the lovely combination of good food, good people and good music via a live band element. The four course dining experience was a unique collaboration between head chef of Epicure, Chef CoCo and Tibz of Cafe Tibz.
To get us warmed up for the four course menu, we were served an assortment of canapes. By then, my taste buds were already buzzing and ready to experience the different spices from Africa. The first course was a Deconstructed Seafood Thieboudienne, offering a play on some Ghanian flavor. The second course was Ethiopian style, berbere – spiced dovo wat chicken stew with injera pancakes.
A few weeks ago, my sister and I were hosted by Kitchen Vibes SA where we had our first ever Ethiopian dining experience. One of the dishes we tried out was Alabab Tilapia Fish served on Injera dough. For those of you who haven’t a clue what Injera is, it is Ethiopian sour dough flatbread. It’s soft in texture, and comes in white or brown. I must say, it definitely is an acquired taste, but isn’t as bad to handle if you have it in conjunction with the served soup or vegetables. The texture of injera allow for it to soak up all the juices and gives you a blast of flavor.
Anyway, I mention this because the second course featured Injera pancakes, and boy were my sister and I nervous to try it out once more. She didn’t particularly have the best first experience, but I must say she handled this serving quite well.
Overall, I absolutely enjoyed the vibe and am definitely keen to experience more African dishes. There are such a wide variety of spices and other ingredients which have made it easy for us to “globe trot” while still in the comfort of our homes/city. Look, don’t get me wrong, I would definitely LOVE to physically travel for that authentic experience of the culture and lifestyle to better understand the food choices and how certain flavors are established.
I love Stella. It’s a premium beer, so it’s one of those things also that when you’re traveling and you ask for it, it’s always going to be there! – Siyanda Dzenga
