Review: Forum Homini (Stayover) + Dinner at Roots

March 4, 2013 by Hasmita Nair • Food, Johannesburg, Uncategorized • Tags: fine dining, weekend getaways • 1 Comment

In terms of fine dining, we’re quite limited in Jozi. CT has most of the best restaurants, but we do have 1 or 2 in Jozi. One is Restaurant Mosaic at the Orient, which I’ll be covering in the Sunday Independent soon. The other is Roots at Forum Homini. I picked this spot to spend my birthday and we enjoyed a divine lunch late last year.

The folks at Forum Homini kindly invited me to spend a night there, and try out the dinner. If the setting of the restaurant is anything to go by, you can only imagine how stunning the rooms are 🙂

Everything is designed in a way that it fits in with and doesn’t impose on the environment, still luxurious though. I found it to be a great, refreshing change from the modern, slick hotel rooms I’m used to.

Undoubtedly my favourite part of the room- double inside rain shower AND there was an outside shower too

Now the hotel would be amazing on its own… but Forum Homini’s key drawcard is its award winning restaurant- Roots. We arrived to a fully booked restaurant and sat down to a very enticing menu.

I have to say that recently I’ve been shocked at restaurant prices. I keep thinking the places I review are expensive, but I’m starting to realize that the cost of meals in general at restaurants has increased. A 3 course meal + a bottle of wine for 2 people can easily cost R800-R900 at a good restaurant. Forum Homini offers a 6 course menu for R320 with an optional wine pairing for R105. I think this is excellent value, and the wine pairings are always premium wines that complement the dishes well. One thing that you need to keep in mind is that the whole dinner affair can be long (3 hours) and adding wine to that, one can get quite tired.

Starter: kabeljou, porcini, roast onion, peas, green beans and grapes

Starter: quail and foie gras, cauliflower, grapefruit, fennel, earl grey and mango

Main: lamb, loin and shoulder terrine, balsamic ashed brinjal, parsnip and lemon, smoked tomato

Dessert: strawberry espume, vanilla and parsnip mousse, peanut butter ice cream

After a soak in that huge hot tub, I had a great night’s sleep and spent the morning reading on the outside deck overlooking the dam. I’m currently reading White Oleander and I absolutely love it. One of the most beautifully written books I’ve read to date. I actually ended up leaving my book behind, and a member of staff took it to his house and allowed me to pick it up from his place in Jhb. How’s that for service! We then headed to breakfast and sat outside. It was lovely being outdoors in the open.

Yoghurt mousse- seasonal fruit

Chicken and pine nut with bacon, mushrooms and pesto

I have to be honest and say that the service was incredibly slow at breakfast. There weren’t that many other tables there so I can’t understand why. We became frustrated and increasingly hungry after waiting a really long time between courses. If the wait time was a bit shorter, it would have been a very enjoyable meal.

All in all, when it comes to luxury weekend getaways close to JHB, Forum Homini ranks in my top 3 for sure.

Go check out their website: www.forumhomini.com

xxx
H