Recap of a fabulous Mandela Day Vine and Dine celebration at Safari Grill, an East African restaurant located in Calgary Alberta.
Want to save this recipe?
Enter your email below and get this post sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you my weekly newsletter featuring the newest and best Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen recipes every week!
Vine and Dine
Vine and Dine is a unique local small business run by Canadian National Wine Examiner, Calgary Wine Examiner, and Editor-in-Chief /Publisher of Culinaire Magazine; Linda Garson.
After traveling the world and gaining knowledge through working with various wineries, distilleries, and other related industries, Linda arrived in Calgary in 2003. Realizing that Calgary connoisseurs have a taste for fine wine and food, she began hosting food and wine pairing evenings in 2005 as a hobby.
What initially started as a passion for great food and wine quickly turned into a successful thriving business with events that sell out on a regular basis. For each event, Linda consults with chefs from local restaurants to create a unique vine and dine menu featuring wines from the restaurant’s wine list or wines that are new to the Calgary market.
Wine and Diners (as Linda is fond of calling them) benefit from Linda’s knowledge which she shares throughout the course of each evening and also have the opportunity to fill their cellars with great wine at the conclusion of each Vine and Dine evening.
In addition to the regular Vine and Dine evenings, Linda also runs private and public tastings, corporate events, Fine and Dine evenings (often with the winemaker/owner in attendance!), tea tastings and pairings, and other special events.
Mandela Day at Safari Grill
Mandela Day began in 2009 as a way to honour the sacrifices one of the world’s most important leaders and proponents of human rights. This United Nations world wide movement calls upon us to commit ourselves to 67 minutes on July 18, in honour of the 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted to democracy, equality and learning. Mandela Day is a day of world wide remembrance, but in Africa it’s an especially important celebration of life.
If you follow Linda on social media (@vineanddine on Twitter and Instagram) you will notice that one of her favourite restaurants in Calgary is Safari Grill. Even though she will tell you she’s not much for red meat, preferring fish and seafood over red meat any day, this Manchester native has a soft spot for curry and the exotic flavours of East Africa.
Safari Grill features halal meat in their dishes and the flavourful food can only be described as a fusion of Indian and African…it’s an entirely exotic entity. I’ve been to Safari Grill several times but when Linda mentioned she was hosting a very special South African Fine and Dine to celebrate Mandela Day, I couldn’t resist her invitation to join in this special celebration.
Dishes and Wine Pairings
Our Vine and Dine featured Safari Grill’s delicious dishes paired exclusively with South African wines. We celebrated our first course, Mishkaki Ya Kamba (Marinated BBQ Prawns) with a glass of bubbling Graham Beck Brut, a special treat as it was enjoyed in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison on February 11, 1990.
Our next course featured a luscious Fleur du Cap Chardonnay paired with delicious Spinach Pakora with Potatoes and Peas. Chardonnay is never my wine of choice, but Linda always manages to feature Chardonnay’s that are approachable and even enjoyable. I trust her judgement completely!
Next was a lovely dish of Safari Grill’s Signature Salmon and Safari Garden Salad paired with Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé. I took the opportunity later to order a couple of bottles of this wonderful rosé to have on hand at home.
It’s a year later and I am still drooling over these Mishkaki Ya Kuku…Marinated and Grilled Chicken skewers. They were so delicious when paired with the Spier 21 Gables Chenin Blanc!
If you find the Safari Grill menu as overwhelming to read as the décor is to look at (it’s a little over the top, but it all adds to the amazing experience) just order the Marinated BBQ Beef Short Ribs and Pili Pili Mogo. I could probably eat a bucket of those ribs and I don’t think you can get cassava fries covered in pili pili sauce anywhere else in Calgary. These bold flavours called for a bold wine from Durbanville Hills…2013 Shiraz.
And Finally Dessert
Dessert was extraordinarily exotic. I’ve only seen Baobab trees in Australia and never eaten any of the fruit but the owners of Safari Grill ordered in some baobob fruit in for this amazing Ubuyu Baobab Kulfi. It tasted like creamy raspberry cotton candy, perfectly paired with Two Oceans Moscato.
Where to Find Safari Grill
Safari Grill is located at 255, 28th St. SE in Short Pants Plaza; 403-235-6655
