On the road from Durban. Fordoun has spa, bistro and resident sangoma

We would set off early on Tuesday, drive to a Natal Midlands boutique hotel less than two hours from Durban for lunch at Skye, their bistro.

While the food would be our focus, I would be shown the spa, told about the resident traditional healer, the product line — and then, in the evening, there was the wine-pairing party with a selection of Mount Vernon Wine Estate wines. We would do a Midlands Meander back home the next day.

It would be another Thelma and Louise road trip with my food writer friend, Anne. (See On the road from Durban: Nambiti and Qambathi escapes here.) There was a new chef and a new menu and she needed to go and write about Skye Bistro, the eatery at Fordoun, a boutique hotel and spa near Nottingham Road in KwaZulu-Natal.

In brief, the luxury spa and hotel is built on what was formerly a dairy farm. Owner Jon Bates runs it with his son, Richard Bates. His wife, Micheline, has a lot to do with the big-picture planning of the kitchen. I was shown through the spa, shown the product line and told stories about Fordoun’s resident African traditional healer, Elliot Ndlovu, who is an inyanga (medicinal healer) and a sangoma (spiritual healer) who offers guests the wisdom and healing powers of Africa.

As I didn’t get to try any of these, I suggest you go directly to the website and see the spa product range here; see information on Ndlovu here; and get the skinny on medicinal plants grown at Fordoun here.

The Fordoun spa is one of those that you go to for rest, relaxation and indulgence. It’s not the sort of spa you go to be deprived and starved into shape. Given that most people like the results — but not the discipline — the place has an enthusiastic following.

The restaurant, while having a focus on fresh, local and sustainable is — not surprisingly — more into flavor and indulgence than anything that might resemble slim pickings.

We chose from Chef Chris Whittam’s “special” menu and his regular lunch menu, starting with a lightly spiced carrot soup topped with ginger foam; this followed by a dish that combined prawns done in crisp African potato batter, a mound of smoked trout tartare, and a trout cake. (The African Potato, known in Zulu as inkomfe, has been called Africa's miracle plant and reputedly has anti-cancer and immunity building properties.) Given that Anne and I were sharing everything — and on duty to eat — we had a third starter: the smoked springbok (game) carpaccio with Thai chili spiced panna cotta (the chili a little too obtrusive for my taste).

We shared three mains. (Greedy, yes — but hey, somebody’s got to do it). The first was roasted trout served on herbed baby potato salad with aioli and basil pesto. Only after we had ordered (and found the trout a little uninspiring) did Jon Bates tell us that British actor-comedian John Cleese, in the area earlier this year to film Spud the Movie, ordered this dish. When asked by Bates how he had enjoyed it, Cleese’s remarked: “I just remember why, after I ordered trout 20 years ago, I never ordered it again until now.”

The next night he tried the duck confit with orange and cognac — and immediately had seconds. Wish we’d heard the story first and done the duck.

But we did order the lamb loin with Cape Malay spicing served with a coconut masala sauce, new potatoes with coriander and fruit compote — perfectly underdone and wonderfully tender and tasty.

Also good was the blesbok (game) fillet with caramelized onions, roasted pepper sauce with wild dagga and balsamic flavoring. Bates commented that game is getting easier and easier to come by in South Africa these days, what with the proliferation of private game farms.

For dessert we shared the artemisia (another African healing plant grown at Fordoun and used in a line of teas, truffles and in the spa) and gorgonzola rissoles with French toast and stewed berries. The artemisia, grown at Fordoun, is what apparently gave an underlying bitterness that made for a sublime contrast of flavors. Then, yes — this was stamina in action — we shared a Tunisian orange cake with cream cheese spiced with cloves, honey and rose syrup.

Might I add in our defense that neither of us got beyond some indulgence with the very lovely Mount Vernon wines (brought in from the Cape) at the evening dinner pairing. A pairing replete with delicious and unexpected off-menu attractions that magically appeared to delight a great deal more than the palate.

© Wanda Hennig, 2010

• See more on Fordoun here.
• See more about Durban here.
• Visit Durban’s official tourism site here.
• Fly to South Africa with South African Airways. SAA flies to South Africa from Washington and New York and recently formed an alliance with Jet Blue for anyone flying from the West Coast. Read about the SAA-Jet Blue link here.
• Visit Tourism KwaZulu-Natal here.