When choosing an establishment to dine at, it’s hard to avoid generating preconceived profiles based on the (occasionally eyebrow raising) title of the business. Cream cafe and bar sounds smoothly suave and one expects the decor to reflect the off-white adjective. Tongue & Groove drips with young, quirky and contemporary, I have geographic expectations of Waters Edge, Alto sits approvingly on a mountain and Kingsleys Steakhouse seemed pretty self-explanatory. Following this logic, attending the recently opened Saffron on Kennedy street in Kingston had been something I anticipated highly.
The younger, larger sister of the well-established and highly awarded restaurant in Manuka opened its fantastically appealing doors to the public in March of this year. Born out of necessity to accommodate diners the intimate space in Manuka couldn’t, Saffron’s Kingston set up has achieved more than it set out to – unintentionally breathing some much needed pizzazz and variety back into the dining scene of one of the city’s oldest suburbs.
The interior is meticulously thought out, consisting of a vast open dining space tiered, textured and intelligently segmented to levels of such appealing comfort I felt both in awe and pleasantly content no matter where I sat. The application of rippled crimson against varying manifestations of grey create a powerfully strong atmosphere, balanced deliberately with detailed touches including the flawless application of petite tiles to the entire surface area of the glimmering black bar, comfortable lounge style poufs and intriguing clusters of lighting installations which induced a childish bemusement as I marvelled over the mix of opaque and translucent over-sized bulbs.
Thoughts of food momentarily vacated my mind (a very rare occurrence) as I wallowed in the magnificent interior. I was pleasantly pulled back to reality with a visually stunning entree of Prawns in a crushed tomato sauce with kalamata olives, crumbled feta and fresh, spritely rocket leaves. What a taste sensation! Displaying layers of flavour complexity not often seen in entree dishes, I was pleasantly surprised and began a mental duel with my dining companions over who would get the last prawn. I won. The peppery tones and crisp texture of the rocket added an element of freshness to the overall flavour, carrying allusive hints to seafood without the often overpowering pungency of brine. The fresh tomato sauce lightly coated everything in thick ruby globules and the scattering of fetta added a beautiful creamy element of balancing saltiness to every last spoonful.
For a main we were presented with the Castaletta – an Armenian style lamb cutlet marinated in Shiraz and seasoned with traditional Middle Eastern spices. It arrived garbed in perfectly seasoned tomato puree, hints of chilli, luscious licks of olive oil and the creamiest potato mash known to mankind. When dining in public I usually show some manneristic restraint, but the proverbial gloves were off for the moment as I gnawed the cutlet bone in quiet and unabashed content to the amusement of my dining companions. The char-grilled morsels were unbelievably tender and absorbed the fruited berry characteristics of the full bodied Shiraz beautifully. Paired with a heat delivering spice rub, rich tomato accomplice and creamy coolness of the dill and butter spiked mash – I was in a very happy place. The appealing display of red onion, cucumber, tomato and lettuce tossed in olive oil to the side was an addition welcomed with open arms, adding a versatile lightness to an otherwise full-on dish.
I would be telling a lie if I stated a preference for meat and vegetables over sugar. Dessert is my favourite meal and on frequent occasion makes up the majority of my food pyramid. The Saffron Pear we ordered is aptly titled – consisting of a tall ripe pear poached in saffron syrup, dried fruits and local gourmet pistachio ice-cream. It was absolute heaven. The poached pear was soft, tender and oozing beads of sweet saffron infused syrup, transcending far beyond the taste and texture of any standard poached fruit. Matched with plump, sweet and tantalisingly warm dried fruits infused with the same golden nectar, the chef is on to a real winner. The local gourmet pistachio ice-cream tied everything together with a vibrant, cooling nuttiness, rounding out the sweetness of the fruits and adding some much needed earthy bite.
Did Saffron meet my title based preconceptions? Thankfully, yes and no. As the world’s most expensive and highly desired spice, I had visions of emptying my bank account on a single Saffron entrée, but unbelievably, it is one of the most reasonably priced East Mediterranean restaurant’s I’ve dined in and by far the best. I’m currently looking for any excuse to go back this week for a banquet… Does anyone have a birthday I can celebrate?
