Category Archives: Restaurants Gauteng
Pronto, Craighall Park
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 [...]
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Chez Girard, Morningside, Sandton
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 [...]
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Local Grill, Hurlingham, Sandton
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, [...]
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The Monarch, Rosebank
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 [...]
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Bistro 277, Bryanston
This stalwart’s been going since 1977, a real accomplishment in the restaurant trade. So a useful case study in what makes success in the business? Well, it’s a rather plain spot, bland tiles, white tables, uniform walls with commercial “French” prints, soporific music. The menu is a bit of a compendium of French bistro classics, [...]
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Salvation Café, 44 Stanley Rd, Auckland Park
On a morning when the whole 44 Stanley precinct has no water, breakfast at the trendy, industrial-chic Salvation Café. Most citizen’s of Jozi have discovered this enclave of artsy shops and eateries, and if you haven’t, it’s well worth a look. Saturday mornings have a delightful lazy vibe and the inner courtyard at Salvation is [...]
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Fino, Parktown North
Damn it’s great to have a choice of around 10 Spanish sherries, plus a wine list replete with Spanish wines and a good selection of locals. A low key and slightly scruffy Spanish-inspired restaurant that moves beyond just being “themed” Spanish (or Italian or Greek) and really embodies the spirit of the cuisine and wines [...]
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Orient, Melrose Arch
It’s not easy to find quality dim sum in high street establishments, for some reason it does better on back streets and as close to the culture it comes from as possible. Part of the reason, I think, lies in its instantaneous nature – the kitchen should be making lots of it quickly, refreshing and [...]
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Mangiare, Melrose Arch
Possibly the prettiest restaurant in the Melrose Arch development is the new Italianate Mangiare: a fresh, modern space with fantastic lighting, red velvet-clad walls and white leather seated tables adorned with a red rose. The red-white combo and sweeping lines create a very sexy space, and the staff are neat and decently trained. The spaces [...]
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Polpetta, Morningside