Roots

Food:

Allistaire Lawrence’s food is for savouring. Take your time over a gastronomic delight chosen for you. It’s French with subtle Asian and African influences: sometimes quirky, but always sublime. Breakfast and lunch are a languid four courses; six for dinner. Menus change daily so you won’t know what you’ll be eating until you get there. It could be ravioli of snails, tuna tartare, or some form of succulent pork belly. Just know that a lot of thought has gone into putting the food together, which has resulted in a slew of impressive awards.

Wine:

A fabulous wine list with optional paired wine (highly recommended at R95) to compliment each dish.

Service:

Five-star all the way.

Ambience:

Awesome minimalist African, with a sun deck overlooking a nearby dam.

And...:

Alfresco dining on the deck, with views of the lake and game reserve near the world-famous Cradle of Humankind, is a real treat. (JW, October 2011)

Duncan Sandbrook
3-Apr-2012

Set is a delightful environment, Roots at the Forum Homini Boutique Hotel enjoys a fantastic reputation for culinary excellence. After looking forward to experiencing a wonderful evening of first class food and wine I can't express how disappointed I was at how poorly the restaurant lived up to both my expectations and the general hype surrounding this restaurant.



My wife and I endured the Weltevrede Tasting Evening in March, a six-course menu with wine paired to each course. The menu featured Asian salmon tatare (sic), parsley and petit pois soup, a truly dreadful hamhoc (sic) and fois gras terrine, springbok 'two ways' - one of which was so grossly over-seasoned that I was still tasting it hours later, a very disappointing apricot soufflé and to finish marinated Manchego cheese which the chef gaily told us to hushed reverence is an 'Italian Goat's Cheese' when in fact Manchego is a Spanish ewe's milk cheese - a truly appalling mistake for a professional to make.



The wine pairings were disastrous, they actually detracted from an already uninspired and ill-thought out menu although there was one notable exception -the Bedrock Black Syrah served with the springbok, a shining light of deliciousness is a sea of mediocrity.



I like service to be unobtrusive - there is a time and place for a boisterous and over-friendly waiter who wants to be your new BFF but Roots is not that place. Success! Well, not really. I think I would have rather had an over-friendly waiter than the one we had, rarely seen, under-attentive to the extent of not being present at all.



I rarely complain in restaurants - if I have a bad experience I tend not to return - but we had so been looking forward to this experience that I did. My initial complaint was handled very well by the Duty Manager. Sadly she introduced me to the General Manager who fared less well. After listening to my complaint he asked me to put it in writing - what is the point of that when one has spent half an hour iterating the problem face to face? Nevertheless, I did and promptly received an email telling me how (they) 'value any form of feedback immensely' and promising to discuss the matters raised with the relevant parties and provide feedback to me personally. More than two weeks later, not a peep. One can only assume they don't value feedback at all and are simply content to trade on the past glories that Roots can claim.



All told, I cannot recommend Roots. It really isn't worth the bother.



We were so looking forward to the promise of good food, good wine and a beautiful environment. Sadly, we were in for a crushing disappointment with the food and wine - it is a beautiful setting though.

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Deon van Zyl
12-Feb-2012

Was referred to Roots by a colleague that had a memorable dinner there. We went for the breakfast. Was impressed when asked during booking if we had any dietary requirements, to which I responded that my wife does not eat red meat.



The food was very disappointing - quite frankly only one dish was something I could not have done myself at home. We were again asked at the table if we had any dietary requirements (why ask again) and we repeated. This simple lead to the meat being left out of my wife's dish without any alternative offered. We had to ask twice for juice to be served. Won't go back.



Deon van Zyl

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Taryn Ward
4-Jan-2012

Most dissapointed! 5 of us went there for the "gourmet" breakfast brunch on boxing day and I was horribly dissapointed. The portions were horribly uneven, the meat was so tough I could barely cut through it with my knife and our watior kept the courses coming like a racing driver! Added to that he forgot to mention the free glass of champagne we were all entitled to with the meal - was he hoping to have this later to calm his nerves, becasue he almost spilt the tray with 5 champagne glasses all over the one lady at our table? All round, drinks took forever and then when we told the waitor to slow down he basically dissapeared. Cannot believe this place was rated as one of your top 10 restaurants in 2011!

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