A Friday night date-night visit to another place that’s been on “the list” for more than 10 years, 10 Degrees South.  Advertising itself as Atlanta’s only fine dining South African restaurant, we made an early reservation and arrived to a restaurant which was being filled, literally, from the left.  

According to our extremely helpful server, Taylor, we found that they’ve been open, on the outskirts of Buckhead on Roswell Road, for eighteen years.  The decor is a bit “over the top” as the life-sized faux-gold rhinoceros heads lining the front wall might indicate.  We took Taylor’s recommendation and began with sosaties.   

Sosaties are grilled beef skewers (filet, in this instance), marinated in an apricot sauce and served with yellow and white basmati rice (why both? The I don’t know) and apricot chutney.  The beef was fork tender and the chutney had a vinegar after-bite to it.  An extremely tasty dish.   My date ordered the catch of the day:

sea bass with grilled prawns, basmati rice and mixed vegetables.  The sea bass was excellent, in a light cream sauce – firm, flaky and flavorful.   The prawns were in a peri-peri (pepper-based) sauce.  It would have likely been a better dish with one sauce unifying the plate.   I chose the ostrich, 

mainly, because where else could I get ostrich?  Taylor suggested rare to medium rare and I chose the latter.   It was very flavorful, not very gamy and considered red meat, even though it’s a bird.  At medium rare, it was tough and chewy – like the fatty tip of a ribeye.  I’d imagine that cooked medium or medium well that you couldn’t chew it.  It was served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables.  One thing we both noted was the knife skills on the vegetables – they’d be “rustic” on the Food network.  We enjoyed the meal and I’ve now covered fowl from squab to ostrich.  I guess there’s something to be said for that…