Phantom Forest

Eating

At dinner time, feeling deeply cleansed from your long session in the panoramic bathtub, you can wander along a raised walkway to the thatched, wooden Boma restaurant. After a slightly surreal sundowner among the trees, you step inside for a 6-course meal prepared by a trio of local chefs.

We enjoyed a thick, tangy soup of carrot, coriander and orange; some nutty smoked trout on boiled potatoes with a dollop of pink caviar to delight the oral bubblewrap-fetishists among us; a tender ostrich fillet (tastes like gamey beef) with grilled vegetables and a surprisingly uncloying peanut sauce; and fruit sorbets to finish off. We washed it down with a plummy Good Hope 97 Cabernet Sauvignon, and then sat around the fire chatting to the other guests. It was a lovely evening, and well worth the cost, which included wine (see Rates).

Since we visited, they have added a Moroccan-inspired restaurant, Chutzpah, which opens for special occasions and groups of 12 or more. It offers a delicious-sounding 5-course menu of North African specialities; after an array of mezes (pine nut and sultana dolmades, cinnamon and almonds rolled in filo pastry, merguez sausage and pickled calamari), you move onto a light fish course and then, your palate cleansed by some half-frozen fruit, a lamb or chicken tagine with fragrant spices, pomegranates and apricots.

If you'd prefer to dine out in Knysna, there are some good restaurants on the waterfront. For lunch, try the Knysna Oyster Company, which serves both farmed and wild oysters in a variety of ways, all equally slurpy and decadent. Or you can order a packed lunch from Phantom Forest, particularly handy if you are walking / canoeing / cycling straight from the reserve.