My Kitchen Rules SA Comes Home
Heritage Weekend Heartache for Mark & Mbali
Mark & Mbali’s modern takes on heritage classics fell flat on this week’s episode of My Kitchen Rules SA (Sunday 25 September, 18:00 on M-Net Channel 101), with their score of 58 leaving them bottom of the leader board with just Jessica & Nicole left to cook, next week.
The duo took the judges and the other contestants back to their roots in Mbali’s family home in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal, hoping to share and celebrate their heritage in their Instant Restaurant ‘Matheku – Where The Spirit of Kings Roams’ – set in a beautiful hilltop kraal.
Their simple-sounding menu had judges David Higgs and J’Something concerned and definitely left plenty to the imagination of the other contestants. Mark and Mbali hoped to use the element of surprise in their favour as they sourced all their ingredients locally to ensure authenticity and then injected a dash of glamour and technique to daringly reinterpret heritage classics.
Their menu comprised:
- Starter: Samp & Beans,
- Main Course: Lamb Bunny Chow, and
- Dessert: Lemon Tart & African Beer.
The modern twists that awaited their guests included rolling their samp & bean mix into balls with a cheesy centre, then crumbing and deep-frying them to create a type of ‘African Arancini’, baking idombolo (steamed bread) to use as the ‘packaging’ for their bunny show and turning umqombothi (sorghum beer) into jellies to top their lemon tarts.
Having chosen the risky part, the proof was to be in the eating as the judges kicked the evening off by tasting their Samp & Beans starter. David said he was excited by the unconventional serving, but hoped for a coarser crumb and wanted more of the garlic purée on the plate to add flavour. J’Something praised their creative plating as ‘on the money’ but was also left wanting in the flavour department. Waven was unimpressed when the cheesy centre wasn’t melted and Jessica said the dish needed more spice and flavour, describing it as ‘nowhere’ – though Eddie declared it ‘narrow-minded’ to expect a modern version of the dish to look and taste exactly as the traditional version should.
Taking into account the judges’ feedback, Mark & Mbali returned to the kitchen and attempted to pack more flavour into their main course of Lamb Bunny Chow. J’Something said the result was a great creative execution of a classing South African dish, while David found the interplay between the sweet bread and perfectly-spiced curry, the highlight. The contestants were less enthusiastic, with Azraa decrying the lack of gravy and calling it ‘a nice stew’, with Martin left wondering why there was so much conversation and so little tasting happening around the table.
The duo’s left-field dessert of Lemon Tart & African Beer was less well-received by the judges, with David praising the pastry but said the African Beer element didn’t add anything to plate, neither tasting, looking nor feeling right. J’Something also said the beer element had put him off, with the dish his least favourite of the evening. Larcé described the experience of eating the dessert as ‘like biting into a lemon’ and Azraa criticised the pastry for not being a short crust.
The contestants came down hard on Mark & Mbali for their foibles – with several definitely voting strategically – as Martin & Eddie’s score of 7/10 more than doubled Azraa & Waven’s score of 3. Larcé & Jabu scored them a 5, and Jessica & Nicole a 4, to leave them with a total of 19/40. David scored their starter, main and dessert a 7, 8 and 5 respectively, with J’Something scoring them 6, 8 and 5 for a judges’ total of 39/60 – and a total score of 58/100.
Come 11 December, one of the 10 pairs of this season’s home cooks will walk away with R1 million!
My Kitchen Rules SA is produced by PictureTree and proudly sponsored by Nederburg. The series is available on DStv Premium on M-Net (Channel 101) every Sunday at 6pm from 4 September 2022, as well as live streamed on the DStv App, and is also available on DStv Catch Up after broadcast. Visit the M-Net website for exclusive show content and join the conversation on Twitter (@MNet), Instagram (@mnettv), and Facebook (@MNet) using #MKRSA and #mnet101.
