Linni Eats South Africa: Lalibela Game Reserve

I know this site is not meant for hotel reviews, but my recent lodging at Lalibela Game Reserve was as much of a culinary safari as it was a wildlife experience, and it deserves that kind of attention.

I psyched myself up for a gluttonous vacation our first day, when the lodge hostess explained our gastronomical schedule—continental breakfast at 6:30, coffee and snacks after the sun rose, brunch around 11, lunch if we wanted it, high tea at 3:30, snacks and drinks at sundown, a pre-dinner glass of sherry, dinner and dessert at 7:30, then more drinks if we desired. I am exhausted just typing that, and my stomach recoils in fear at the memory.

Ok, maybe fear isn't the best word. Me and my lower half certainly enjoyed ourselves. But where to even begin explaining the diversity of dishes put before me on this trip?

We arrived midday and were almost immediately seated in a dining room lined with at least 30 djembes and lighting fixtures made of kudu horns and ostrich eggs. The buffet lunch featured a hearty and complex bobotie in a charming little iron pot—in case I haven't explained yet, bobotie is made by mixing ground beef with raisins and sweet spices, then topped with an egg custard and served over yellow rice. It quickly became one of my favorite South African dishes. Lalibela opened me up to a new world of bobotie, though, by serving it with condiments like banana slices, coconut shavings, cucumber yogurt salsa, and chutney. A fruit salad, parblended vegetable soup, and vegetable salad bar were also available, but I was especially blown away by the dessert options—camembert, brie, and bleu cheese on a wood block with preserved figs and walnuts, in addition to miniature lemon pies and mint-Amarula phyllo tarts.

I doubt even two hours had passed before they were calling us for high tea, which included meat pies, strawberries, kiwis, and coconut, chocolate, and biscuit truffles. On the night game drive, we stopped the car to have drinks, trail mix, and chutney-flavored crisps in a field of zebras. The post-drive, pre-dinner sherry was phenomenal, though I don't know how high my sherry standards are. Dinner was enormously packed with springbok stew, cheesy cauliflower, steamed veggies, rice with gravy, multiple salad platters, potato wedges, and a meringues drenched in some gourmet cherry pie filling. No, thank you, I will not be needing an after-dinner aperitif. I might pass out at this table, actually.

Their "light" breakfast had yogurt, fruit, toast, cereals, muesli, and cookies, and our coffee break on the game drive brought rusks into the equation as well. These are like biscotti—too crunchy to eat unless dipped in some beverage. The next big feast was already smelling good when we returned from our drive--we were met with eggs cooked three different ways next to fried mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, sausage, and bacon. Further down the line, I spread a crumpet with cream, doused it in sherry nut syrup, and topped it all off with more fruit salad.

Unfortunately, due to lions roaming wild, we were not allowed to hike or walk so the time between meals was spent digesting by the pool. My body hadn't done much to work up an appetite before they called high tea again. Lalibela's definition of high tea might not be up to British snuff, but you're not likely to hear complaints when chocolate raspberry and chocolate ganache cupcakes or pizza are on offer. I'd learned my lesson the previous day, though, and only nibbled, saving room in my dreams and my stomach for what dinner would bring.

Along with more company from new guests at the communal dining table, this evening's bounty came in the form of lamb with mint sauce, springbok schnitzel with bleu cheese sauce, mealie pap, green beans, and two cold side salads I had seconds and thirds of. One was a curried vegetable slaw and the other a simple mix of beans that must have been spiced by a magician because I could not get enough. And needless to say, I was more than full when dessert came round. I glanced at the brown lump in front of me and briefly considered foregoing sweets altogether that night.

But as they brought more and more of the decorative plates to the table, each swing of the kitchen door wafted more of the spellbinding aroma my way and my spoon had dug into the dish before I even had time to consider the capitulation.

And thank god for that decision, since this Cape Brandy pudding was possibly the best dessert I've had in South Africa thus far. It was a simple cake with pecan chunks throughout, but the brandy syrup drizzled on top had caramelized in the oven and the top layer was ever-so-slightly crunchy, chewy, a little like an under-fired creme brulee. I ate the whole thing and was going to town on my mom's leftovers before I realized I still had another day at Lalibela. Pace yourself, Linni.

Our final day's brunch had mushroom stroganoff and mince this time, and high tea featured lemon cream tarts and sandwiches. Our goodbye dinner had mixed meat curry, vegetable rice, cinnamon butternut slices, spinach salad,

carved chicken, steamed vegetables, and a ham and tomato couscous that looked and sounded simple yet outshined all the other dishes. Dessert was an apple raisin cobbler, served beside an adorable sprinkling of cocoa powder over a bushman stencil and almost as hard to stop eating as the previous night's masterpiece.

But it wasn't time for a detox diet yet—next stop, the Victoria Falls Hotel.