Back to Shaka Zuku

Shaka Zulu is a South African themed restaurant that never fails to make me feel like royalty. I've been a few times now and wrote about my experiences eating crocodile and zebra here. This time we tried the set menu and went for their two course meal. To start we had springbok carpaccio with a parmesan crust. I know that slices of raw meat isn't to everyone's taste, but it was soft and delicate and the cheese complimented it well.

We drank peach bellinis to see the weekend in.

We weren't overly impressed with the choice of main meals on their set menu. I mean spit roast could have been interesting, but the meat that day didn't really appeal to us. It was one of those meats you just have to be in the mood for, you know? So we went for steak. A classic. I'm used to lots of places doing very over-priced steak and not getting much for your buck, but at Shaka Zulu I was really impressed with the amount of meat on the plate. In fact I struggled to finish it all...but when meat is that good you have to go for it! ;) I opted for medium rare because of the carnivore that I am.

None of the desserts on the set menu screamed out to us, so instead we sat in the bar a while longer before going back to my place. Novelty meats, cocktails and beautiful surroundings... what better way to see in the weekend?!

#10 Life as we know it

Apologies for being a bit MIA since my birthday! I have put together a photo diary though so get yourself a cup of tea, put your feet up and feel free to have a browse! :) Over the Bank Holiday Weekend I went to Brighton with the Dream Team. We ate fish and chips on the beach with a cheeky bit of Captain Morgan to liven up some very watered down Coke

We walked the length of the pier, chased one another on the dodgems, parted with our coins on the arcades, had the tastiest milkshakes we'd ever tasted, chilled out on the beach some more, then played crazy golf as the sun set. We lost track of the time and missed our train back to London so we got a later one back. So worth it.

The day after I had brunch with two of my best friends who I've know since I was three. We went to my favourite place in London and ordered chorizo hash browns and buttermilk pancakes:

Earlier that week I went back to Shaka Zulu for a joint party / celebration with one of my friends whose birthday is a few days after mine. We devoured ate crocodile steak, ostrich fillet, springbok, billtong, ratatouille, cerleriac mash and cinnamon dusted butternut squash. All washed down with a very boozy Cape Town sharing cocktail served in a massive elephant:

The Shaka Zulu staff were lovely and let us have the table all night long (normally you're on a bit of a time limit there). They also brought out cake for birthday girl and I with a fountain sparkler which we were really touched by:

It's little touches like this that really make a dining experience special and encourage you to return.

More recently I went for belated birthday drinks with work. I really recommend Nordic Bar if you're ever near Oxford Street. It's cosy, it's usually pretty quiet, there's a free round of drinks for your group if you have a birthday, a great choice of food platters, and 2-for-1 on cocktails on certain days of the week. Gutted they no longer serve my favourite cocktail Sex in the Snow (essentially an alcoholic strawberry milkshake in a Martini glass!) but hopefully they'll bring it back! ;)

Earlier in the week, I met an ex work colleague of mine who is equally as excited about fish finger sandwiches as I am. I managed to track down a place that did fish finger BURGERS and oh my, it was delicious

And on my actual birthday, I tried The Breakfast Club for the first time

Mmmm chorizo....

... but because we were queuing for such a long time, there wasn't enough time to visit Kew Gardens like originally planned. I just couldn't justify spending that much for admission for the sake of a few hours. Instead we made our way to Hampstead Heath. Lovely weather, beautiful scenery and I got to walk around with my DSLR so I was happy! Pictures from that day will make their way into their own post - so watch this space! Last weekend I had a free house and it turned into a bit of a Eurovision fest - Eurovision is my guilty pleasure! We ate Marks & Spencer pizzas, macaroons and played Eurovision drinking games inspired by a Buzzfeed one.

This week I'm going to see Cats the Musical as a belated birthday present. It's only showing in London temporarily for a couple of weeks in May so I'm really excited! Then later this week I'll be watching some comedy at the O2!

What have you been up to lately?

Trying South African cuisine at Shaka Zulu

Shaka Zulu is a South African themed restaurant / bar / club / extraordinaire based in Camden, London. Notably somewhere I have wanted to go for the longest time and last Friday my wish came true. After a very stressful busy week at work, Nafisah, Martin, Arash and I decided to give it a try and it couldn't have come at a better time. The USP of Shaka Zulu is its choice of alternative meats - zebra anyone? - extensive and unique range of cocktails, and stunning decor.

THE FOOD

To start we braved crocodile cigars:

Very tasty but to be honest, I would have thought I was eating chicken if I didn't know any better. It was well worth a try and at least now I can add crocodile to the list of unusual things I've eaten! To give you a perspective of price, it cost £14 for x2 "cigars". I would advise you purchase these just for yourself or for two of you absolute maximum as there isn't a lot on the plate.

For our main course, our table ordered a mixture of zebra, springbok, buffalo and boerewors (sausage containing beef and lamb):

I tried everything apart from the sausage (I can't eat lamb) and it was all very tasty. Buffalo, as you can imagine, was very close to eating beef. Out of all our meats, this was the fattiest - so if you usually go for a healthier option, then this probably wouldn't be for you. I went all out and ordered the zebra. Again, very close to beef, but this time you could tell there was a slight difference between this and a standard steak. I ordered mine medium hoping it would be pink in the middle, but it was cooked through which was a shame. The springbok was the tastiest - and leanest - meat on our table. Cooked medium rare, it had the perfect amount of pink in the middle, which I'll bear in mind for my next visit. All of these came with red wine jus, straw potatoes and confit cherry cherry tomatoes. As a word of advice, do order extra sides. We had about two cherry tomatoes each and the straw potatoes were more like a sprinkling of small croutons rather than actual chips. We ordered the fat chips as an extra, and even though you don't get many in a bowl - we counted seven! - these were seasoned to perfection.

For dessert, we had the selection of mini ice cream cones and the passion fruit crème brulee which came with mini lemon and honey madeleines:

The passion fruit crème brulee was absolutely beautiful and the madeleines were ideal for dipping into the custard. It was a lovely, light dessert which left me feeling comfortable and satisfied, rather than overly full! I didn't try any of the ice cream cones, but they came in some fascinating flavours. Chocolate and chilli, honeycomb, banana, cardamom....

THE DRINKS

To drink, we had a mixture of wine, beer and cocktails. I'm not a beer drinker, but everyone else seemed to love the beer. Their red wine "Fortress Hill Pinotage" was rich, warming, and had a subtle spice which married well with grilled meat. I also tried their "Apple Crumble" cocktail which contained vodka, apple purée, cinnamon, apple juice and lemon juice. I wasn't initially a fan as the purée on top reminded me of baby food - plus the cinnamon packed a punch. But once this mixed in a little, it was very nice - very fresh and light.

THE ATMOSPHERE

The interior is nothing short of magnificent. Wooden carvings in the walls, warrior statues and tribal prints. You have to see it to believe it. Quite dim lighting so a lot of my photos didn't come out very well... You have to take two escalators down to the restaurant and there is zero phone reception so if you're meeting people and need to contact them, probably best to meet them outside!

SERVICE

Right from the start, everyone we had was very friendly and welcoming. We did however feel like we were on a bit of a time limit and felt like we were being thrown out as soon as we put our dessert spoons down!

PRICE

I cannot stress this enough: this is not somewhere you go every day. I classify this as the sort of place you go for a special occasion. Our meal came to hundreds of pounds with a large service change added onto our bill on top of this. To give you a perspective of price, cocktails were about £11-13 each. Sharing cocktails were a lot more expensive and could cost anywhere up to £150... I already touched upon how much our starter cost. Starters were in the range of £10-20 whereas main courses were more like £20-30 each. Unless you ordered the Game Board - a meat feast coming in at a whopping £85. Yikes.

SUMMARY

I loved my first visit and definitely will be returning in the future - although price wise, this means it will probably have to be a special occasion! For a lot of the menu, you are paying for the novelty factor - crocodile and zebra anyone? - but you won't be disappointed on taste. Portion sizes are generally quite small so if you like your food and lots of it, this probably isn't the place for you. If you like your meat cooked well done, then this also probably isn't the place for you. They do give you the choice of how you'd like it cooked, but generally only cook their meat medium or rare and frown upon anything else This wasn't a problem for me, but it's worth bearing in mind if you don't like blood on your plate. My recommended dish? The springbok served medium rare. Still very gutted I didn't order this myself... but hey, there's always next time! ;)

Shaka Zulu

Stables Market

Chalk Farm Rd

London 

NW1 8AB

Nearest station: Camden (Northern Line)