I love the trio thing that’s happening on menus. I have been noticing it for a while but over dinner on Friday night, my husband leant over the table and whispered ‘What’s this trio thing? One bit of bliss and then it’s gone, then onto another bite that’s sometimes not as blissful, and then one last one…’ I had to giggle – oysters three ways, chocolate three ways and even beef from the tail to the cheeks – or preferably the other way round.

Sometimes these samplings work, but I do rather enjoy a full plate of nosh. I do have some favourite trios though. I had the first one at Restaurant Mosaic in Pretoria. A tomato plate: warm, delicate tomato broth, intense ketchup and a seaweed salt with pickled tomato petals. The second one was at Overture in Stellenbosch – a sardine done tempura style, then pickled and, finally, poached with a fennel salad. And lastly, the pear plate at Jardine in Cape Town – a gorgeous pear ice cream, a sublime pear jelly and dried sheets of pears.

Eric Bulpitt, the chef at Jardine, is working at the best restaurant in the world – Noma in Copenhagen – for six weeks. I have asked him to prepare one of the four courses for the 201O Eat Out Restaurant Awards this year, together with David Higgs from Rust en Vrede, PJ Vadas from The Roundhouse and Chantel Dartnall (last year’s chef of the year) of Restaurant Mosaic in Pretoria. The awards celebration will be held on 28 November at The Westin Grand in Cape Town. Tickets are on sale!

Happy eating!
Abigail