By JPR on Apr 9, 2008 in Posts | 5 Comments
Welcome to Rossouw’s Restaurants, the independent, “tell it like it is” commentary on the South African restaurant scene. This website complements the printed Rossouw’s Restaurants guide, now in its sixth year. Please note that not all restaurants that are reviewed in the printed guide appear on this site – nor are all on this site in the annual printed guide, which is a selection.
For the printed guide and all reviewing, the principle is: all reviews are conducted anonymously; and all meals are paid for. All comment is independent and the opinion of the review team – so that you get incisive, useful information on restaurants, not marketing from the establishment or their PR. Naturally, you may not agree with all the views expressed here. You are welcome to comment on any blog. You are also welcome to send me reviews of any restaurant you visit by filling in this feedback form – your reviews and comments are much appreciated and are useful in keeping tabs on changes (which happen quickly in the restaurant scene). Alternatively, if you have information to share or would like to be in touch, please contact us.
By JPR on Jul 2, 2009 in Restaurants Cape | 0 Comments
Peter Tempelhoff is now the group exec chef for this hotel as well as for The Marine in Hermanus and Sand at the Plettenberg – and if my dinner here a few nights ago is representative, it’s the dawn of great things for the hotel group. The welcome on arrival was friendly and professional, while the ambience has always been wonderful. A while back they transformed their wine bar into a martini bar, so that’s a dangerous place to tarry too long. Proceeding, the interior of Greenhouse is all about the garden, daytime views are enveloping, while night-time arboreal touches are very deft. For the rest, the fittings are high quality.
The restaurant is also home to one of South Africa’s finest wine lists, and Miguel Chan is a most accomplished sommelier – but is now regrettably leaving to pursue opportunities in Gauteng. I was presented with a collection of unsolicited Asian tidbits and enquired whether these were the amuse – only to be firmly informed that they were the canapes before the amuse… which was lobster gnocchi (tender and light) in a light tomato. continue reading
By JPR on Jul 1, 2009 in Restaurants Cape | 1 Comment
Franschhoek has it’s Bread & Wine; it also has Cotage Fromage down the road, which could be called Bread & Cheese, since the menu is largely based on gourmet sandwiches and cheese-infused dishes. There’s also a great deli with loads of fine cheese, so “Wallaces” — get out there. The rustic deli area is in stark contrast to the modern, white, clean-lined and large-windowed café with its lovely patio seats. Service is warm and the menu is colourful and fulsome – interesting salads, big sandwiches, creative mains (and popular quiches) and cheese platter that include “mature” and “pungent” boards. I tried a gnocchi with wild mushrooms that came in a wet style with a cheesy, winey sauce, it was delicious; also some salmon rillettes with brie crostini, very tasty. A orange semolina cake with some home-made ice cream rounded it all out successfully. Breakfasts until midday, and lunch right until 16h30 is a very welcome benefit. 021 874 3991.
By JPR on Jun 30, 2009 in Restaurants Cape | 2 Comments
A touch of Fawlty Towers here. Arrive without a reservation, and the host asks for a surname, which, once given, he starts to write in his reservations book until quickly realising it’s pointless, since the restaurant is mostly empty. Then service from a very friendly man named Mr X, who, armed with two flasks, offers us some consommé with the warning that it’s very hot. It was luke warm, over which Mr X had a good laugh when we let him know. He admitted he was a barman and was just saying what he’s been told to. On the whole, service with charm but somewhat misdirected.
Chef Rudi Liebenberg has left the Saxon in Joburg to come here, and things are looking up. The consommé was a good sign, pure essence of lamb, pure crayfish. The menu is usefully concise and starters, a reconstructed Niçoise salad with seared tuna and a classic penne Genovese, were both delicious. Mains, a fillet with mushroom and lamb with risotto were both well-prepared, and although there’s not too much to too rave about here, it was good food. A side order of vegetables was described as roasted but were very plain steamed. I do think there’s a place for simple, clean food in hotels, considering world travellers are often longing for nourishing victuals. It also shows maturity in a chef and kitchen – no need to be too flashy. We asked, and were told that Liebenberg was not there on the night as it “had been a long week” – so this was an able performance without him. Also notable is the reasonably well-priced wine list. Two courses for R225, so no bargain, but the Nellie is no longer a no-go-zone and seems on the up – and there is also the quirky service to amuse you.
By JPR on Jun 29, 2009 in Restaurants Cape | 0 Comments
A quick lunch here, at this fine hotel’s “little” restaurant, since the main one, Pavilion, is not open daytimes. A lovely elegant setting (with an upmarket feeling, and often older international clientele), I sat with a sea view at the lounge tables, while the dining section has a view of the kitchen. The wine list is small but happily locally-focussed, while the menu is naturally all about seafood in Mediterranean, Asian and Cape guises and dishes, as well as rich man’s fish and chips or platters for a more deluxe meal. My Caesar salad to start was ok, leaves “correct” and containing all the right bits, but croutons were ordinary and the dressing too, it lacked bite. My seafood kebab on risotto was, however, fantastic: just charred, the fish and prawn perfectly cooked, with a risotto of mussel and shrimp that had a delicious lemon tang and ideal texture. Coffee not great. Two courses here costs R180. 028 313 1000.
By JPR on Jun 26, 2009 in Restaurants Gauteng | 0 Comments
After one of our dinner party got stuck in the loo’s outside this restaurant, I began to think any restaurant has to be truly worth its salt if it is to be featured in the guide, having no facilities. There’s a real slip in the quality of a meal when you have to leave a good conversation to walk across parking lots, or over quads past biltong and sock shops to find the loo’s. In the case of Polpetta, the facilities are behind a big gate, the key to which is on a block of wood not unlike the experience at a filling station. The toilets here are not much better.
So the fullness of this restaurant on a Saturday evening must be due to its quality – or perhaps because it’s an Italian restaurant that specialises in pizza? Because the meal was ordinary, at times poor. Pizza is decent, again of the thin-base but commercial type; while the pastas I tasted were pretty flavourless in saucing, the pasta over-cooked. The meat dishes featured well-prepared meats (steak, veal, calf’s liver), but again the saucing and sides were pedestrian. So it’s a lot cheaper than better spots like Pronto (where you also hike for a pee) or Pomodoro (the new premises have facilities, evne though they’re in a mall)? Perhaps a touch, but not really: pastas R45-60, veal dishes R80, 300g fillet R95. I can only think this is a restaurant of absolute convenience, like if you live in the mall or parking lot.
Corner Rivonia and Kelvin, Morningside. 011 804 8866
By JPR on Jun 25, 2009 in Restaurants Gauteng | 0 Comments
A brisk, modern Italian shorn of the traditional symbols of “trattoria” and more like a casual café. The service staff also move about briskly and the place hums with the coffee set, plus those looking for a square meal from the long and pretty diverse menu. Pizzas are thin-base and well-judged, pastas are cooked just the right side of al dente (for the SA palate) and the polenta dishes are good, as was the tiramisu. An amuse of brushetta with garlicky mash was a good start, grilled polenta with three sauces (ragu, tomato and mushroom) was dandy, as was a zucchini “carpaccio” salad. For my main, I tried a spaghetti with anchovy, chilli and capers (R58) and there was a good balance created by the hint of lemon juice. A simple pasta executed with panache – always a good sign.
The Colony Centre, Jan Smuts Drive, Craighall Park. 011 447 4346
By JPR on Jun 24, 2009 in Restaurants Gauteng | 0 Comments
What a lovely warm and welcoming space – a wood-fire greets you as you arrive on a winter’s night, the staff welcoming too, and Mr Girard on the floor looking after regulars and checking up on newcomers. Unusually located, this is a “house” inside the grounds of a commercial hotel, this restaurant has a linked function but is also a stand-alone. A very old-school European feeling, wood and linen, flowers on the table, tall-back chairs. Upstairs for private groups.
The menu is small, as is the wine list (but with a reasonable selection and good prices). This is the place for snails, French onion soup, fillet bearnaise, duck with orange and cherry, veal “cordon bleu”, etc. I sampled salmon quenelles with prawn (R40) and the flavours were bold and rich (a cream sauce); a decent entrecote Café de Paris (R95), which came with rather alarmingly plain and very chunky butternut and/or spinach (is this a steak house?); and a good crème brulée (R30). This is old-fashioned comfort eating, hearty flavours, not overly finessed in plating or combination of ingredient. Easy to see why it remains very popular, the personable warmth is key, and the prices are very reasonable.
By JPR on Jun 23, 2009 in Restaurants Gauteng | 0 Comments
The mothership of this steakhouse that’s notable in offering either grain-fed Chalmar or grass-fed Greenfields to diners. Inside it’s consistent with the Parktown branch, wood floors, dark wood tones, blackboard like an old-fashioned butcher’s wall, basic tables with cloth – but what a noisy space! As our table grew to 10, and the restaurant filled, conversation was a skirmish with just those next to you. The service on the night was superb, the waiter handling a big wine spill with aplomb and serving the big table efficiently. Local Grill really is about meat, but now they also have sushi (and sushi specials, eat all you can for R120 with a glass of wine!) along with a few other items: having tried their (good) steak on a few occasions I sampled the shoulder of pork with cranberry. It was a thin cut, and pretty dry as a result. Side of steamed veg was uninspired, as were the other sides on the night. But all the steaks were good… and worth supporting any place that gives choice of provenance.
011 886 8866
By JPR on Jun 22, 2009 in Restaurants Gauteng | 0 Comments
The doormen are all dressed in army cammo, but have a sense of humour about it when I asked if this was really necessary. Then again, perhaps Joburg was different when I lived here in the late 90s. Right on Oxford Road (and currently behind the Gautrain scaffolding), this very boutique hotel is the refurbished old Rosebank post office building – and this is some refurb. Unusual for this bold ‘n brash city, the livery here is very expensive while retaining a great measure of taste. Wood panelling, rich silk curtains, leather-upholstered seats, discreet artworks – you could be in a “branch” of the Rand Club were it not for the very fresh sounds of tastefully clubby house music. Here they have managed to re-create and update while retaining a sense of worn-in comfort.
Your hostess is the east European accented Isidora Pavicevic who welcomed me with true warmth and panache even though I had no reservation, and even though my lunch companion was wearing his journalist’s fatigues including a fleece. continue reading
