Every now and then, it is my great pleasure to step away from my inspirational blogger vibe and step into other areas to write about. A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of attending Jimmy’s Ormonde for such an experience where sampling their food was all I had to do or so I thought. December 12th, will probably go down as one of the sweetest evenings that I’ve had in the longest time.

I am a big believer that food should not cause strife or stress. The sharing of a meal together should bring contentment to both one’s tummy and one’s heart. I like beautiful flavours, that are comfortable to both the tongue and the tummy because I find that when food is pleasant, satisfying and also surprising, then it somehow lends itself to helping people to drop their guards or to come out from the one’s they hide behind. A great meal can be a channel for a wonderful meeting of minds, hearts and souls.

So there I was at Jimmy’s Ormonde with my daughter Talisa and I only knew one other person at the table which was Taryn Victor (she is the author of the blog Diary of a Whimsical Girl and now one of the beautiful people in my life).

I did not know the other ten guests at all and I was to share a meal with them. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect. To start our evening our waiter ran us through the extensive drinks menu. Drinks are a great ice breaker. And yes, it works even for those of us who do not drink alcohol. Jimmy’s does not serve alcohol so it makes it “the place to meet” for those who prefer to be in an alcohol free environment.

I have two weaknesses in life: dancing and eating anything containing Oreo cookies. To my palate’s pleasure Oreo milkshake was one of the drinks on offer. At that precise moment, in my head I heard DJ Khaled and Justin Bieber singing: “You stick out of the crowd, baby, it’s a no-brainer. It ain’t that hard to choose”. You get the idea of how happy I was. Talisa chose a Ferrero Roche milkshake and other guests also chose form the more traditional milkshake flavours to other more inspired flavours.

With the drinks served and everyone easing into the evening, we were ready for the feasting to begin. When the Cheesy Garlic Rolls made its way to the table the “oohing” and “aahing” accompanied by grins as we looked around the table at each other instantly made us all friends. I love a good salad that is not too complicated in its flavour profile when accompanying other dishes. The fresh Greek salad that was served was just that. Uncomplicated and deliciously satisfying.

What followed was nothing short of merriment on plates, in glasses and around the table. Jimmy’s Ormonde served up platters of prawns in Jimmy’s signature flavours; Kashmiri and Lemon Butter. The South African spirit of Ubuntu kicked in as everyone made sure that each one of us tasted the different flavours on offer.

If you are someone who loves a good seafood dish, like I do and your better half can’t eat seafood; then Jimmy’s is the place where you can meet each other halfway. In addition to their seafood menu, they also have a selection of chicken and steaks.

I am not a fan of red meat and if I eat it, then I like it to not taste like meat. There are a variety of sauces to choose from when eating chicken or steak at Jimmy’s Ormonde. You can request which sauce you would like your meat to be grilled in. You would be hard pressed to find an eatery as flexible as that.

We had way too much fun and in no time, it was almost eleven o’clock.

Before we left though there was still coffee and dessert to get through. I am not sure how we managed to finish dessert after all the plates of food we had already consumed. It must have been that the staff were so attentive and gracious and the owner was so proud of his establishment and the quality of his food; that we just didn’t want to leave. Dessert was a choice between malva pudding with custard and ice-cream or a decadent chocolate brownie with ice-cream. These desserts were paired with a choice of coffees inspired by middle eastern flavours.

A few months ago, I wrote a post “What’s Food Got To Do With It?” about the pressures I felt as an Indian woman to provide food and entertain in a way that was not personally pleasing to me. I think food is the vehicle that creates wonderful times for families and friends to meet and it should be enjoyable for the cook and host as well as for the guests. On that note, because Jimmy’s Ormonde is also a take-away eatery, they are now on my list of places to order from. As a mother to a daughter with a disability, sometimes what I want to prepare by myself has to be outsourced due to my child needing my attention a little more than usual. Having the option to order a meal that will make everyone happy and delight us a little too (because sometimes we all need a mood lift) , certainly makes Jimmy’s Ormonde one of my favourite eateries in the South of Johannesburg.

You don’t have to only take my word for it. Follow the links about this wonderful evening captured on  Nadia Manjate’s You Tube Channel or read about it on Nothando Mashaba’s Blog, The Diary of a 21st Century Nguni Maiden. The Concious Creative.

Thank you to everyone at Jimmy’s Ormonde, to TNC Marketing and to the one of the nicest group of foodies I’ve had the pleasure of sharing a meal with.