Stenden South Africa third year hospitality students organised a Hawaiian themed dinner at MyPond Hotel last Friday night.
They pulled out all the stops with a glass of punch to welcome patrons and placing garlands around their necks, while a ukulele player strummed in the foyer and brought visions of the islands.
The restaurant was artfully decorated in Hawaiian theme and a DJ outside provided beats of a more African style.
Pineapples were a recurring theme in the meal, appropriate for our own area of the Eastern Cape being pineapple country.
The starter was a lime infused shrimp skewer with fresh pineapple salsa, which went down a treat. There was also a vegetarian option of huli huli cauliflower bites.
The mains was a buffet, and there was plenty to eat. My favourite was the BBQ chicken, bacon and pineapple kebab. The chunky chicken pieces were so tender they almost fell apart.
Then there was a tasty pulled pork slider and a mini vegetable slider with a patty that melted in your mouth.
The baked dorado in banana leaf was very well prepared and not too dry, and there was Hawaiian flat bread which was like mini pizza slices.
After such a filling main course we needed the food to go down before dessert so we enjoyed sipping on cocktails – a pina colada and strawberry daiquiri.
Dessert was a pina colada cheesecake, which tasted like more.
