Dario de Angeli is sticking to his tasting-menu guns. Cube Tasting Kitchen has been reimagined to become Est Est Alea, where there are no more a la carte options, just tasting menus. For lunch you can choose between two, three or four-course options, while for dinner you could go for six or nine courses. Our Joburg restaurant editor, Kholeka Kumalo, has a taste.

Fast facts

Food type: Contemporary fine dining
Parking: Street-side parking is available
Best for: Treating yourself or a loved one
Star ratings: Food and drinks: 4; Service: 4; Ambience: 4

Food

Have you ever tasted octopus that made you want to eat it that way for the rest of your life? If not, try it at Est Est Alea. The baby octopus teriyaki starter is prepared al dente and served with the prettiest and tastiest accompaniments. The octopus is lightly poached, with freshness and crunch from baby radish and pickled daikon, served with squid ink mayo, garlic emulsion, samphire shoots and a seaweed element from a black sesame-seed sponge. Cooked to perfection, it’s complete magic in the mouth.

A post shared by EstEstAlea (@estestalea) on Apr 26, 2018 at 4:46am PDT

Forget a lot of what you know about tom yum. Est Est Alea’s tom yum essence is a delicious interpretation of the classic hot and sour Thai soup, with charred corn and a warm foamy cloud of potato, sautéed langoustine and a tom yum jelly. If you’d like to stick to seafood for mains, options include prawn bisque tagliatelle and coconut-milk trout. To change tack, the Three Little Pigs is a happy gathering of slow-braised pork belly with sticky honey mustard, soya-glazed eisbein, crispy streaks of bacon, and crunchy pork crackling served with a side of smashed bean salsa that’s quite like umnqgusho.

Equally tempting is the beef fillet in a red wine reduction with truffles, winter vegetables and crispy but soft roast potatoes. Their spin on duck magret is just as tempting. Expect the unexpected, in a delightful way. Plate after plate and forkful after forkful, you can tell that the chef has a somewhat playful approach to cooking and is eager to surprise you.

A post shared by EstEstAlea (@estestalea) on May 8, 2018 at 12:05am PDT

For dessert, go for the one named Digging for Carats. You’ll find a golden ball atop a slightly salty chocolate crumble, beneath which is a smear of crème brûlée custard. Crack the ball with a spoon to expose a fresh and moist carrot cake pop inside.

A post shared by EstEstAlea (@estestalea) on May 7, 2018 at 8:02am PDT

Drinks

Hallelujah! All wines are sold by the glass, with wine pairing options available for dinner. Expect the likes of Raka, AA Badenhorst and Lust en Vrede. Premium offerings include Leeu Passat and Mullineux.

Service

The waitrons are eager to advise on dishes if you seem torn. The chef is happy to tell you more about what you’re eating and the bartender is very open to allowing you to taste your wine before committing.

Ambience

Contemporary cool yet cosy. It’s hard to fault the mood of a restaurant that has the likes of Aretha Franklin, Etta James, The Five Stairsteps and Dionne Warwick crooning away in the background. What could be warmer?

A post shared by EstEstAlea (@estestalea) on Apr 14, 2018 at 3:42am PDT

Have you been to Est Est Alea? Write a review on our new Eat Out app (download it here) and we will pledge a meal for a hungry child. Register on the app before 31 August and you could win a Le Creuset casserole. 

Eat Out critics dine anonymously and pay their way in full. Read our editorial policy here.