This week I am taking you abroad to South Africa to a place called Cube. Cube is one of a kind restaurant in Johannesburg, where food is transformed into artistic pieces. The venue is located outside the main part of the city, in the neighborhood called Parktown North. The decor is simple, modern with white color being the main theme, very minimalistic.

The restaurant is big enough to sit about 24 people with enough room between tables so get the privacy you want to have during a dinner. The kitchen is open and you can see what the chefs prepare, they also allow you to come to the kitchen and take pictures if you wish to. The dinner starts at 7 pm and everyone is served at the same time, this is not a place first come first served and that is my biggest complaint. We arrived first and on some occasions we were served last, not mentioning we were sitting with no food for 45 min waiting for most of the guests to show up. There were two couples who were late almost an hour and they caught up with us by the middle of the dinner. It made me feel like being late was rewarded.

Cube serves only tasting menu that consists of 10 dishes. There are quite few chefs in the kitchen and it seemed like each of them is responsible for a different dish; however, they all contribute to all of them. They do not serve alcohol but they allow you to bring your own with no corkage fee.

On the night we went there we were served:

- Light salad from our garden - this deconstructive salad looked more of an artistic installation than a meal. It was tasty and each component was spiced and plated separately, so each bite was different. There were many difficult and unusual techniques used to prepare this salad. However, the flavors were not strong enough for me and I thought they were not coming together as one dish. They were separate vegetables nicely plated.

- Antipasto interpretation - artichoke, asparagus, cucumber, apple, beef and elderflower. Again beautifully plated food but this time the dish was tasty, light and cohesive. Artichoke pate presented as a fried ball was the biggest surprise on this plate, very clever way of adding some texture and richness to the dish.

- fish pie - trout, white anchovy, spinach - by this dish we knew that everything that is served comes in a form that is unusual for how food is usually plated. The trout was wrapped into pastry dough, white anchovy looked like ice-cream and spinach was served as light cream. The presentation was beautiful, the flavors were strong but very predictable, the textures were what was surprising in dish dish.

- Dissolving textures - pomegranate, sherbet and caviar - this was a palate cleanser before the main dishes. It was absolutely delicious, creative, unusual and amazing. The best palate cleanser we have ever tried. The sherbet was like powder sugar which we were told to put on a hand, the way you put salt before you take a shot of tequila. The pomegranate was in a small shot glass melting away and that is what you drink after licking the sherbet and you finish off with a spoon full of caviar, except it is not really fish caviar it is citrus juice/fruit that is made into caviar texture. Not only cleansing but also shocking for the taste buds.

- Pork -slow cooked pork belly, dehydrated bacon, leeks and crackling - very rich dish, several textures from crunchy (pork skin) to extremely soft pork belly. It was fatty and more on a heavy side. I thought it was tasty but I was not excited about this one.

- Beef - braised flank, bone, mushroom, fennel and dried onion - this was the last salty dish and great finish, the saltines from bone marrow with the rich and soft beef was match made in heaven. Mushrooms added earthy flavor and of course the presentation was beyond anything you usually get.

- Cheese plate - this misleading description was a great surprise as we were served Portuguese pasteis, but instead of being filled with sweet cream it was filled with salty cheese. Nice twist on this traditional Portuguese pastry.

- Dessert - iced nugatine, chocolate, raspberry, mint, lime - all the flavors of this dessert were taken to the next level. Nugat ice cream was very sweet but it was so delicious that you would not want it any different way. It was sitting on the top of a chocolate cake. Perfect finish to the dinner.

- Sweets - this was addition that was brought to us and that was not described on the menu. 4 pieces of different texture bites, soft coconut marshmallow, jello like fruit juice, rich salted carmel praline and brownie like cake.

Cube delivers 3 hour culinary experience, that is not easy to find. The dishes, techniques, textures and flavors are very creative. This group of chefs knows what they are doing and they work very hard to satisfy and surprise you with each dish. There were couple dishes that in my opinion were too much about the presentation and not enough about flavors but considering there were 10 dishes overall experience was very sophisticated. My only complaint is about the way the dinner is served. I really did not like the fact that we had to wait for everyone to arrive so the dinner can start and that is why I am taking one plate away.

If you are ever in Johannesburg dinner at Cube is a must, no questions asked. I am not sure if we will ever have a chance to visit again, but if it happens we are back in Joburg (as locals call it) we will eat there.

Cuisine: Modern cusine

Avg price per person: $55 tasting menu only

Attire: Casual

Overall Rating: 4 plates