Buckhead Safari at 10 Degrees South
Thursday, April 12th, 2012

South African cooking is foreign to most of us. A fusion of European, Malaysian, and native African dishes, their unique cuisine is exotic and soulful. Spicy peri-peri sauce, sweet chutneys, and curries compliment grilled meats and fish.
LC and I had the pleasure to dine there recently as guests of the owner. Our evening got off to a fabulous start as our enthusiastic and practiced server, Jamie, explained the unfamiliar dishes on the menu (without making us feel dumb) and checked in throughout our meal (without being intrusive).
We have gotten into a routine of sharing small plates, particularly when I’m tasting for an article and need to try as many dishes as possible. The menu at 10 Degrees South is made for folks like us, with most dishes offered as small or large plates. Rather than ordering, we allowed our host, Justin, to choose a variety of the restaurant’s best. I ordered a glass of Sincerely by Stellenbosch, a deep and spicy South African shiraz, to sip while waiting for dishes to arrive.

He selected five of their most popular small plates to start us off. Bobotie is a sweet ground beef curry, traditionally topped with egg custard and baked until golden brown. Here, they also use the curry as a filling for long, crispy Spring rolls, great dipped in the sweet chutney. Another South African dish called boerewors was served on a Milano roll and cut into bite-sized pieces. In case you don’t regularly eat boerewors, it is sausage made of lean ground beef. I found the sandwich a tad dry, the bread unnecessary. I’d probably prefer the version sans bread with tomato and onion sauce.
Sosaties is another traditional dish….skewered, marinated beef filet glazed with apricot curry sauce. Fantasticly tender, the sauce gave the meat a subtle sweetness without overpowering it.
Two giant prawns, that were nearly the size of lobsters, were butterflied, marinated in spicy peri-peri sauce, then grilled. I was expecting a bit more fire out of the sauce, but I imagine it’s pretty hot for the average Joe. Nonetheless, the prawns were certainly one of our favorite dishes of the evening.
Everything was served with rice. LC pondered out loud to our server that he thought grits might work better with the prawns rather than the rice, to which Jamie returned with a mound of “pap”, a staple much like grits, just fluffier and drier. It was topped with the aforementioned tomato and onion sauce. I don’t like grits….or pap. I’ll stick with the rice.

Another favorite was the calamari, simply grilled with a lemon butter sauce and sprinkled with briny capers. JN, publisher of the new neighborhood magazine BuckHaven Lifestyle, happened to be at 10 Degrees during our visit and suggested we try the lollipop lamb chops, two marinated and grilled chops served over mashed potatoes. Delicious. The generous serving pushed us over the edge, but we still had one more plate to devour….Di’s Delight, a moist fruit cake drizzled with caramel sauce with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Thankfully not overly sweet, the dessert was warm and comforting, with notes of cinnamon and nutmeg.
The only traditional South African dish we didn’t try was the cured beef slices, called biltong. Among the main courses not offered as appetizers, I would certainly order the char-grilled Cornish hen marinated with peri-peri sauce. Both are on my radar for our next visit.
After our meal we stopped by the bar for a nightcap and were happy to discover a guy playing acoustic guitar. A great way to end our safari!
4183 Roswell Road 404-705-8870



























I don’t know how this place is still in business. Not because the food is bad but because it is located in Atlantic Station which seems to be suffering a slow, agonizing death. It’s a shame, really. The place is dark (as in almost no lights), decorated in rich reds with a cool Japanese mural on the far wall. Owned by the 

