Glorious Gold!

Daniel dropped us all off at the restaurant at the end of our day of touring.

Thankfully Mark had made our dinner show reservations months ago after hearing that this was a restaurant not to be missed in Cape Town.

We saw all these drums on our way to the dining room, they were only a small portion of the percussion instruments they had on hand at Gold.

Not surprisingly we were the first patrons to arrive, but soon the entire place would be filled on both the upper and lower levels.

Each place setting included a drum, which we'd soon learn to play.

The menu included dishes from many different parts of Africa and there wasn't anything on it that I didn't enjoy.  There should be pictures of almost all of them below.

Karl was all set and ready to drum.

This guy was not only a performer but a fun teacher as well.  He had us drumming out rhythms in no time.

It was a fun way to pass some time before they started serving dinner.

It truly was an Autumn Feast!  Each of the wait staff and performers had their photo on the menu along with where they were from.  I had to wonder if they changed the set menu each season but forgot to ask.

We were served small portions of some dishes and family style on others.  With each dish we  were welcome to order more of anything we really liked.  First course was a Xhosa Corn Pot Bread , an Egyptian Butterbean Mash with Dukkah, and South African Tomato Soup.

Next we had Kenyan Chicken Peanut Satays with Peanut Sauce, Cape Malay Bobotie Samosas, and Malawian Kandolo Balls.  Oh were these all good!  We ordered more of the Kandolo Balls which were made of sweet potato, soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.

A little more dancing in between courses.  These were dances between men and women in an effort to impress one another.

Up next was a Namibian Venison Pie, which I ate so quickly I didn't get a photo!  After that they brought out these four bowls with Tanzanian Fish and Prawn Masala Curry (probably my favorite dish!), East African Mchicha w'Nazi (spinach cooked in coconut milk and peanut butter, who would have thought of that!), Moroccan Chickpea and Vegetable Tagine, and Congo Mango and Lime Chicken.  We were so full we didn't even need to ask for more, although I would have liked to eat more if I'd had room.

As everyone enjoyed their meal there was a girl who came around to paint an African design on your face, the same type as the performers and wait staff had.

It was good fun!

We finished off the meal with Cape Town Cardmom and Cinnamon Spiced Ice Cream and a Cape Malay Karmonk Biscuit, both as delicious as everything else.

It was a fun group to share the evening with, including our former Serenade Shore Excursion Director, Isabella, and her cousin Valerie, there on the right.  Isabella had been cruising as a passenger since Dubai and we had to laugh when she cancelled her Royal Caribbean shore excursion to go along with us.  She was glad she did and we were happy to have them both along and looked forward to more time with them again the next day.  

Another amazing end to a fantastic day here in Cape Town!