Friday 13th Feb'09

Zebras African Steakhouse


Tonight we went out to celebrate Shallen's change of workplace. It's been a while since we've dined together. The four of us - Ling, Shallen, Kong and I used to go out regularly for dinners. Trying new places, new cuisines - as long as there was a good wine menu or BYO. It was just like the good ol' times tonight!

We've heard from a few people that the decor of this restaurant was a bit on the cheesy side, but when we got there, we loved it! It's basically one large room with African themed artwork pieces. I really like the sheets of brown fabric covering the ceiling to make us feel like we were eating in a large tent. We were seated right next to a window but there wasn't a view since the neighbouring house was about a meter away. There was a brick wall and a large sheet of fencing, a t-shirt, socks and a bike strung up on some string. There was 'Free Mandela' written on the fence so we're not sure if it's intentional decor or someone's random stuff outside.

The door at the end of the room leading to the toilets has 'ZOO LOO' painted in large letters on it. I thought it was amusing and kept chuckling to myself everytime I looked past Ling's head and saw it.


We were all feeling adventurous and eager to try some game meat tonight! The obvious choice to start with was the 'safari platter'.

Entree
Safari Platter

A selection of bush delicacies including crocodile, ostrich, buffalo and boerewors served with monkey gland and piri piri dipping sauces.
Go on, be game!



Yum! I think the stunner was one of the tender pieces of meat in the centre of the dish. We don't know if it was buffalo or ostrich though. I was very curious about the 'monkey gland' sauce too. It tasted similar to the piri - don't know if there really was any monkey gland mixed in there though...


We complimented our meals by ordering a South African wine.


Mains


Ling - the Braaivleis
The African equivalent of the barbie! Tender sirloin coupled with the spicy boerewors sausage and served with one of our special sauces.


Shallen - Chicken Marimba Afrique
Zebra's very own char grilled crispy half chicken served with cous cous and your choice of either our own bbq or piri piri sauce.


Kong - Chicken Shosholoza
Tender chicken breast with king prawns and capped with a creamy garlic white wine sauce as served to the victorious rugby springboks!


I don't know what 'springboks' are...but the chicken looked damn delicious!

Myself - Sirloin Zambezia
A tender thick sirloin steak topped with king prawns and a coconut based spicy piri piri sauce.


OH - MY - GOD - my steak was DIVINE!! I asked for it to be cooked medium and it certainly was. It was one of the most tender steaks I have ever eaten. Ling had his steak rare and with the madagascan green peppercorn sauce - I tried a bit and it was sooo good. Peppery!

With our main courses we had the choice of either a baked potato or fries, and seasonal vegetables or salad. We all opted for salad when we found out that we helped ourselves to them at a little station in the centre of the room.

Orange & Coconut
Beans & Spinach in a Creamy Dressing
Couscous
Potato Salad


I polished off my steak, a bowl of salad, and a second serving of the potato salad.


We definitely recommend this restaurant.


After dinner, we went to Ling and Shallen's for dessert and coffee. We'd stopped by my place so that I could grab some things to make mini pavlovas. Ling made us coffee on their new coffee machine.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream
White Nectarines
Grapes
Passionfruit Pulp


Not the greatest ingredient combination for pavlovas, but this was the best we could do with what we had.

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