Last week I attended a fun craft beer and food pairing event hosted at the Garden Court Marine Parade. The event was centered around a partnership between the hotel and a local brewery: The Standeaven Brewery. It was my first time hearing about a craft beer and food pairing, I’m so used to wine and food pairing, but I was very open to the experience. We were treated to yummy food created by the chef of the hotel, Qhawe Tshabalala using some of the drinks from The Standeaven Brewery. We were hosted on the rooftop of the hotel on a rare windy and cold Durban day but there was a fire going to keep up warm and toasty. I really enjoyed learning about this partnership between the hotel and a local brewery to showcase the range of award-winning beers and gins from local brewery.
The starter was mini goats cheese tartlets with caramelised red onion and the brewery’s Golden Mile beer reduction and some sushi: cured Scottish salmon roses with a spicy wasabi mayonnaise and caviar, and traditional Japanese nigiri, which were paired with both the pomegranate gin and the Golden Mile lager. I personally loved the sushi because I had a sushi craving a few days before and this baby hit the spot.
This beautiful beef slider fell before I could take a bite *crying* – but trust I got me another one. This was meant to be paired with the ginger beer.
I’m not a big seafood person but I really enjoyed this fillet of cured Scottish salmon with a G&T jelly glaze, this was paired with Standeaven’s Classic Gin with tonic and lemon.
Dessert was dark chocolate truffles infused with a G&T Pomegranate reduction which were divine!
The people behind this partnership telling us all about it, L to R: Qhawe Tshabalala (chef at Garden Court Marine Parade), Shaun Standeaven (Standeaven Brewery founder) and John Aritho (General Manager at Garden Court Marine Parade)
Some of the drinks that were paired with the food. Let me tell you that the Pomegranate G&T is going to be my summer drink! I can’t wait!
The hotel had a rooftop herb garden which spoke to my heart (as an avid herb gardener myself), there was a wide variety of herbs and veggies being grown that are used in the kitchen. I love this sustainable way of doing things.
One of the interesting that we learnt at the event was that The Standeaven Brewery developed a beer exclusively for the hotel in celebration of their 30th anniversary two years ago, the Golden Mile, which is an easy-drinking and light lager designed for KZN’s laid back and warm sunny days – and as the hotel’s exclusive ‘house lager’. So if you’re a craft beer fan and love supporting local brands go visit the Garden Court Marine Parade to try out this beer.
