Both tourists and locals have been lapping up the African cuisine offerings on Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! restaurant menus. Introduced on an experimental basis, the dishes have proved so popular that not only are they likely to stay, but there's every chance the menu will grow in terms of the African food items.

Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! properties have established themselves as a trend-setting lifestyle brand offering events and flavours that challenge convention.  Many of their regulars associate the brand with lip-smacking burger offerings and unique and exciting milkshake flavours.  From the springboard of these distinctive tastes, Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! properties listened to what their regulars would like, and this prompted the new venture into the African cuisine offerings on the dinner menu. Similarly, the desire of international travellers to taste authentic cooking from Africa, endorsed the concept.

Putting the ideas together for the actual dishes was a simple process, as Chef Jason Scott of the Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! in Cape Town explains: “We got a number of our chefs together and discussed the options.  For many of the chefs, these are dishes they grew up with, so we could tap into their favourites from childhood.”

These items are included on the menus of all three Potea Hotel Fire & Ice! properties: Cape Town, Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, and Menlyn in Pretoria.  Popular in all the locations, the menu has been a notable hit at the Menlyn location, and attracts many from the local hot-and-happening trendsetting crowd as well as government employees who live and work close by.

The menu items are distinctly South African, and include different ethnic food flavours from within South Africa's diverse population.  “We've combined some of the flavours from our different South African cuisines,” Chef Jason continues.  “So, for instance, tripe, which is a traditional food from the African community, is partnered with the hot spicing associated with South Africa's Indian population.” 

Favourites are the oxtail and the Chisa Nyama or mixed grill (sirloin steak, lamb chop, liver, sausage and chicken).  The latest addition - cutely named 'Chicks on Fire'- a traditional butter chicken recipe served with sambals and basmati rice, should also turn out to be a meal of choice.

For many, this has turned out to be a home-away-from-home.  “The business executive or senior government official who regularly travels internationally misses the smells and tastes of his childhood, and so he returns as often as possible to savour the flavours that remind him of childhood with a beloved mother who beautifully cooked the food of his youth,” Chef  Nelis van Heerden, Executive Chef of Protea Hotel Fire & Ice! Melrose Arch, concludes.

About Protea Hotels:

Protea Hotels is Africa's leading hotel brand and has a footprint of more than 100 properties throughout South Africa and six other African countries, including Zambia, Nigeria, Namibia, Ghana and Uganda amongst others. Each hotel is uniquely different in character and the collection ranges from urban accommodation to country retreats, all in the 3 and 4-star markets. Protea Hotels is the winner of 2 World Travel Awards for Best Hotel Group in Africa, winner of 3 Sunday Times Markinor Top Hotel Brand Awards, the winner of 6 Coolest Hotel brand awards in the Sunday Times Generation Next surveys and the winner of the Ask Africa South African Customer Service Award 2013. Protea Hotels was bought by Marriott International in April 2014 and forms part of Marriott's global brand portfolio made up of 19 brands that operate more than 4 300 hotels in 81 countries. Follow us on twitter @ProteaHotels