DINING REDEFINED: Park 27 Restaurant Takes Over

  • The new food plug conceptualises a new era of dining under moonlight
  • Off ers three dining experiences: in-house, outdoor and park bencher
  • The tasting menu suits the needs of patrons of all cultures

GAZETTE REPORTER

A good restaurant is like a vacation; it transports you and becomes a lot more than just the food.
A great restaurant is the one that just makes you feel unsure whether you went out or you came home. If it can do both at the same time, you’re hooked. These are the famous words of American television writer and New York restaurateur Philip Rosenthal and Danny Meyer respectively.

Banish the COVID blues
Perhaps these are the words that Natasha Tlagae lives up to. After the COVID-19 pandemic, she conceptualised something to cheer people up and do away with the blues brought about by the deadly contagious virus.
Quite relatively a new kid on the block, Park 27 Restaurant is a noteworthy lifestyle restaurant that conceptualises a new era of dining. It is the one that is not limited to food and beverages but instead revolves around curating a larger community-oriented experience. The place is a fusion of flavours, colours, people, aesthetics and an all-round experience.
Park 27 offers three dining experiences. In-house features dining under a beautiful structured thatched roof with a modern aesthetic design encompassing a whiskey and wine cellar. There is also a lounge outdoor area with exotic greenery that mimics the depth of a forest with a touch of luxury, and a park bencher for a foodie’s park picnic bench set up with the greatest comfort.
Natasha assures food enthusiasts that together with her team, they have created an unforgettable dining experience, bringing seasonal cuisine to the top and offering precise, aesthetic and elegant dishes that combine art and flavour served with a decidedly innovative wine list.

The park in Extension 27
Not only have restaurants in Gaborone offering the kind of avant-garde dining experience you’d expect to see top the list; many have opted for names that are short with incorporation of numbers in them.
When dishing some juicy details about the name Park 27, Tlagae noted:
“We noticed that every time when someone refers to the space, they always say they are going to the park – ‘Ke ya parkeng.’ So we thought that this is clearly a no brainer or a common denominator. ‘Parka’ being how people refer to it, so we thought to find a creative way to adopt the name so it is easy for people to always remember it. And because it is in Extension 27, we settled for Park 27.”
The venue has diversified its offering and there is a little something for everyone. The menu suits the needs of patrons from each and every culture, tribe and everything in between. Tlagae put foodies’ hopes high, stressing that the tasting menu will definitely take diners on an unusual journey through Gaborone.

Setswana cuisine
“We do have a vast menu and it is not any specific type of food that we serve,” she told Time Out. “There is a fusion of a lot of flavour and our brand description. We want to cater for all ethnic types and for kids too. People from overseas will particularly love Setswana cuisine.
“But if they want to have our locally cooked good steak, which is famous in other countries, there should also be dishes that are known internationally, which is something that we want to offer.”
Watch this space because the launch is scheduled for the end of September.