Chandani, Woodstock

An old wood-floored Woodstock house is home to this low-key Indian with its vegetarian leanings. Evenings are when it comes into its own, the dark “moonlight” decor in its purples and silvers (and the somewhat worn interior) respond best to the night. But there is a great authenticity to the interior’s cosy fittings, and it’s one of those places where the owners are implicitly involved, so there’s a feeling of being hosted. The service is typically genial, with a gravity and assurance that comes from “those in charge”.

The well-used menus prominently feature the favourite vegetarian and vegan options of the Hindu owner (paneer in glorious diversity), but meat and seafood dishes are not neglected. North Indian-based, the tandoor and curries are deftly handled, and the flavours are rich from slow-cooked preparation, served in traditional metal bowls and platters. It’s good and reliable, though portion sizes have eroded the over-delivery on value of a few years ago, putting Chandani into more “formal” price ranges: expect to spend R150-175 per head. At the same time it’s a very homely option, as alternative to the barn-like and/or chintzy interiors of other Indian restaurants.

85 Roodebloem Rd, Woodstock. 021 447 7887. Daily lunch and dinner.

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Mano’s, Greenpoint

This evergreen still has a freshness based on simplicity of white- clothed tables with brown paper overlays, friendly young waitresses and it’s central position in the ever-busier Greenpoint area where the World Cup is soon to have an epicentre. Bonanza time for the restaurants that have maintained over the “unfashionable” years in this precinct’s history.

But Mano’s has long had a caché of cool, with it’s breezy and cosmopolitan café feel. In fact it now feels like one of the most “Joburg” of Cape eateries in it’s customer focus and casual efficiencies (though I have heard from other diners that they can take casual to the extreme, which brings them safely back to the Cape).

Café on the menu too: most items in the R50 to R70 range and food that is very familiar: fish and chips, burger, prego, lamb chops, salads, salmon pasta. What you get is pretty much what your mind’s eye of, say, chicken schnitzel suggests: crisp batter, thin escalope, good fries or steamed spinach. The Caesar salad to start was not as good though, the dressing sweet and completely lacking in the savoury and citric bite that makes this dressing a classic.

Classic old school then (even to the Caturra branded espresso) and as popular as the dead-ahead places tend always to be.

39 Main Rd. 021 434 1090. Mon-Sat lunch and dinner

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Buitenverwachting, Constantia

This winelands stalwart has seen a make-over; the interior is now lighter and fresher and certainly fresher, while retaining a sedate personality (it’s popular with an elderly international clientele). Changes also in the staff, with a new and experienced floor manager team, while chef Edgar Osojnik has for many years been a steady hand at the rudder.

Service has always been gracious, but there’s more attention and knowledge to it now, based on this visit. I was later informed that they feel they are at their best for dinners (this was lunch), so that’s next. Buitenverwachting’s the kind of place where the napkin is folded to look like a chef’s tunic, while cutlery and crockery is dated. The unironed tablecloth also hinted at the improvements still available – though this has morphed into a sophisticated-country option rather than out-and-out fine dining.

The vine views from conservatory balcony with its reed roof are delightful, as are the charming courtyard seats, where they now also offer a daytime tapas menu; there’s also a R140 high tea. Dinner may be the pinnacle, but lunch is certainly no bistro menu, there’s even a degustation option, curiously called “fine bites” at five or seven courses, so it can be as expansive as you desire.

Prices here are high. Most starters are knocking on R100; while mains also start here (for “favourites” like beef stroganoff) and go up from there. But you are treated to those extras like an amuse bouche and friandise post your meal. And, as it turns out, the portions here are very big indeed. My amuse was a mini caesar salad (also on the menu as a starter) here with Norwegian salmon, white anchovies and parmesan foam. It was fantastic. All elements very pure and elegant, including the toast finger and hyper-crisp bacon. I saw a full starter (R105) go out and it is seriously generous in salmon – could be a light eaters’ main.

Starter of a vegetable tian (R73) was surprisingly rustic, not the roll of vegetables and jellies that made the sophisticated tian, but the ciabatta it was served on, with a tomato coulis and pesto – Provencal style, and soaked in olive oil with a sweet balsamic sorbet element. A generous portion, tasty in the “bagna cauda” portion, but with variable temperatures (some fridge cold). My least favourite flavour element was the tian which would have loved some caramelisation.

Where my starter had a surfeit of starch, the main of argan oil-panned chicken breast with a drumstick roasted in chermoula spice came with only a suggestion of “cauliflower couscous”, where the grains of starch were cleverly mixed with the tiny florets of cauliflower (R132). The dish was also served with a tomato and sweetcorn salsa (not indicated on menu). The chicken was perfectly cooked, and it was another gargantuan portion, reassuringly wholesome.

Dessert was “Orange Chocolate Schnitte with Deep fried Mango Raviolis and Passionfruit” (R54). The raviolis were bland and tasted only like fried shortcrust, while the passionfruit was dry pips, the dessert only saved by the good choc-orange cake. Other options (should have gone with one of these) were yoghurt creme Catalan with poached rhubarb and saffron ice; vanilla pannacota with strawberry balsamico sorbet and cannolis.

Double espresso was very good, the petit fours – like shortbread and biscotti, choc truffle – ok. All in all, its food of that mixes “comfort” with technical adventure but never quite pyrotechnics. This, and the generous portions, makes it a very approachable option.

Tues-Sat lunch and dinner, also high tea and tapas. 021 794 3522

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Capelands, Somerset West

Rather unusual place this. Not even sure about its name, could be “Mangiare & Dormire” (per website: www.capelands.com) but I’m not sure if there are rooms, or whether you sleep at the table post meal. Anyhow, the dining is in an unadorned, chintzy house with Cape Dutch gabling; the floors and fittings in light stained wood and sash windows. Fireplaces hold some promise for winter. Patio seats under a sapling weave cover with view of green pond, vines and bay beyond. The whole has an unfinished feel, like rough, low budget conversion from a farmhouse. No music on the day I had lunch, but music events advertised. So – the food would need to be the draw, ambience it ain’t.

This day had a decidedly disorganized feel, people running this way and that, which was then explained (without prompting) as being due to a seasonal change of opening hours – they weren’t in fact open today… “You’re lucky to catch us open” were his words – is this really something to tell your customer? Then again the waiter looked much more like a farmer. So they apologised for the skeleton staff (though the French chef was in the kitchen) and set to serving the four tables that had “got lucky”.

Wines well-priced, picks local to area as well as a good few internationals, Riesling and French, also good stemware. My choice of Waterkloof Rosé ran out halfway into the pour of my second glass, so they comped the extra inch of wine. Waterkloof and its fine restaurant are very close neighbours, so I guess this lack of wine stock was also part of the skeleton regime.

Some menu items: Starters – vitello tonnato R70; avo with prawn in lime dressing R85; champagne risotto with foie gras R125; lamb ravioli with goats’ cheese and mushroom 85. Mains – fillet with pepper sauce R185; springbok loin with red wine sauce and celeriac purée cabbage R185; tagliata R130; lamb with potato and green bean R155. Dessert: creme brûlée; tepid chocolate tart and ice cream; cheeses.

Two immediate observations – it’s nearly all red meat with simple sides; and it’s pretty dear. There is a note on the menu that they cater for vegetarians and kids – I guess this is by advance request.

The bread arrived with good home-made tapenade, then a single, tender prawn with single leaf of maché lettuce as the amuse, very tasty. Vitello tonnato was only ok, the meat good but the sauce lacking in piquancy, so the whole dull in flavour. The main of sirloin tagliata was a better result, generous rocket and parmesan on the side. It also featured the unusual additions of sun dried tomato and green olives, but this worked fine. Coffee was ok.

So: average to decent food, but the prices are too high for what is rather simple cuisine. Be curious to hear of any other experiences here, but can’t recommend it on this visit. Interestingly, my bill for one already had a 10% gratuity added, plus an open space for a tip, with handy pen.

Sir Lowry’s Pass Rd outside Somerset West. 021 858 1477. Lunch Thurs to Mon; dinner Wed to Mon; closed Tuesday and Wed lunch.

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The Grand, Granger Bay

Sister to the Camps Bay operation and I think related to Plettenberg Bay’s, this Grand is quite superb in its vision: take a huge tin boatshed, truck in mountains of beachsand and turn it into a chi-chi bo-ho eaterie on the “beach”. The big industrial doors slide open onto views of the sea, deck areas add tables, as do benches under umbrellas on the sand itself which are good for sampling the cocktail list (populated by classics). It all has a real St Tropez vibe.

Inside, one very big table occupies the middle, rest are small white tables with pink accents – pink also for the staff’s shirts, who are generally challenged in coping with the free flow arrivals while maintaining a cool mein. Meet and greet good but not consistent, I hovered a good five minutes before asking for a table. I’ve heard stories of much worse service. There’s a shop element, with designer stuff, and house rules on the wall in poster form, including gems like “be kind to staff”.

The menus are printed on newspaper and are often grubby. Small wine list has no vintages, selection ok though. Food is a small choice of bistro classics like avo Ritz, caviar (SQ), fried calamari, Waldorf or Caesar salads, steak bearnaise, mussels & chips, sugar salmon, prawns, crayfish pasta platter, or crayfish and mayo sandwich, prego rolls and four or so pizzas (no menu for these). Starters around R70; mains R140-200, so pricy – a certain percentage for the privilege of being here most certainly, because you ain’t here for the gourmet experience…

Pizza comes on a long plank in rectangle shape, it’s enough to feed three or four as a very light starter. Ultra thin base and with mixed cheddar and mozzarella cheese, mine had suggestions of anchovy and artichoke. It was a very average offering, so depended on the price for its final impression – as there was no menu I had no idea it would be R120.

Also tried a R80 portion of mussels and chips – these in a buttery sauce with heaps of raw garlic, thick fries of very average quality. It’s billed as a light meal, and the number of mussels agreed. Coffee poor.

This was definitely the “see-and-be-seen” place for summer, but summer is soon fading, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens – also since the space has a temporary look and I imagine the lease is short (heard the land is being developed to residential). The army of trucks and earthmovers right outside the gates suggest same. So go for drinks, but only eat if you must.

Granger Bay (alongside V&A parking on Green Point side). 021 425 0164

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Kuzina, Cape Quarter Extension, Green Point

Johannesburg’s Design Quarter has its Mythos, Cape Town now has Kuzina. Both are nominally Greek restaurants in the piazza settings of modern open-air retail; and if this were a toe-to-toe shoot-out, Jozi wins hands-down. Both Mythos and Kuzina update the Greek restaurant with modern fittings and a breezy Med look, both have extensive menus. But where Mythos also has sharp service and food that is bright in flavour, Kuzina has indifferent service and food that is generally bland but not offensive.

The hostess tossed the menus on the table with a casual “enjoy!” and went off to chat to a friend while we carried a fifth chair over to our four seater. From here service was fine when around, with formulaic being the house style. They ask you to feel if the white wine is cold enough, but don’t know why one should re-taste the second bottle. The menu is vast, with mezes in feta, meat, vegetable, seafood sections. Dips, salads, pastas and mains take up the rest. We mixed and matched, and the results were ditto.

Dips, a selection of four for R70, were mingy in portion but poor enough not to make us feel like we’d wasted too much food. Pork fillet cooked in honey and herb was dry and dull. In general, the food needs a serious shot of basic raw flavour, the kind of flavour that traditional Greek cuisine is usually packed with. There were some happier choices: the dolmades, the octopus and whitebait hit the spot, in that they were fresh but still needed lots of lemon and salt and pepper.

Prices range from R25-R45 for the meze and mains are R80 t0 early R100s (before the SQ starts). Wine list is average but very limited by the glass. All in all, more of a “see-and-be-seen” option than a culinary one. Interestingly, the other spots here on the square, Vanilla, Cru Café and Violà, were not half as full as Kuzina – could be because Kuzina is newer, could be because it’s the best of this bunch?

Daily lunch and dinner. Cape Quarter Extension, off Somerset Rd, Green Point. 021 418 8000

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Genki Sushi, Stellenbosch

A restaurant that really deserves to be my recent sushi roundup is Genki Sushi in Stellenbosch, but I didn’t get there before the deadline for the story (in February’s Wine magazine). The other day I popped in for lunch and am now happy to report that Stellenbosch has one of the Cape’s better sushi spots.

It’s a small place, hole-in-the-wall interior and seats that range out onto the lovely inner town square it’s on. Inside the sushi counter dominates, where owner Arata is very hands-on, working alongside his other chefs. His sushi sidekick also has his name emblazoned on his tunic – “Handsome” it says. The floor is a ruddy wood, the tables are black, and the ceiling is covered in white paper lights for a distinctly Oriental ambience (Handsome notwithstanding!). It’s less a restaurant than a sushi bar for quick meals.

The menu is supplemented by a blackboard, and kicks off with “Japanese tapas”, items like: tako sunomono (boiled octopus salad with wakame and cucumber – delicious); yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno (as at Nobu); yakitori; crispy bang-bang prawn; and “kudu-shi”, which I also tried – thin cooked kudu meat on sushi rice, very good indeed. The rest of the menu is dead-ahead hand-rolls, sashimi and sushi in a la carte or platters, and the quality is high. Rice is tender yet firm, the fish very well prepared. It’s also refreshing to see some “alternative” ideas to the tuna and salmon maki standards.

Wine list is small and short, but workable, and the service is willing and friendly. So if you’re in the area, do take a look.

Mon-Sat lunch and dinner. De Wet Centre, cnr of Bird and Church Streets, Stellenbosch. 021 887 5699

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The Real Beef

One of the great marketing coups of late is to sell the consumer the notion that the term “corn-fed” when it applies to beef means better beef. “Corn/grain fed” is used as a stamp of quality on many menus. But if you stop to consider, you’ll recall that cattle are naturally grass-eaters. So what makes a steak better that comes from an animal that’s eaten a diet it’s not supposed to eat?

The answer lies in commerce. … continue reading

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River Café, Constantia refreshed

Constantia Uitsig’s River Café has had a shake-up of late – and it’s a promising one. As a south peninsula favourite, it has a strong pedigree, but in the last while it has slid into a groove of ordinariness that exposed the menu prices. Yet, it’s lovely bucolic setting and garden spaces continued to draw the punters, many of a mature mien as the place has always had something of a tea house character to it. Now Luke Dale-Roberts of sister restaurant La Colombe has taken charge and UK-experienced chef Scot is leading the renaissance with his signature fish pie and pecan tart.

It’s a small one page menu printed on A4 paper to change as often as required. Interesting ideas sit alongside tried and tested dishes – so a fresh apricot, feta and rocket salad with walnut dressing as a starter joins niçoise and Caesar salads; while for mains a fillet with Bearnaise, rosemary fries and a cauliflower and Gorgonzola gratin shares space with a dish consisting of grilled asparagus and porcini mushrooms, poached duck egg, artichoke cream, bacon and parsley dressing.

The Caesar salad was as close to textbook as SA gets, all the correct ingredients. My only quibble were the rather dark bacon bits, but the poached egg was a thing of beauty and the portion large. I’d heard that Scot insisted on keeping his fish pie (named “classic fish pie”) on the menu so I ordered it, though I was sorely tempted by the 100% rib eye burger. The pie came with its own generous side salad and it was a cloud of light but crusted potato covering the creamy, fresh fish and prawns. The flavours were mild, but pure.

Service was outstanding, courteous and on the button – with one glitch. On arrival I visited the gents to find the soap pretty spent. Informed my waiter, then at the end of the meal thought I’d check, not replenished.

Wine list is mainly estate own, also by the carafe, but this is supplemented by a small list of other wines. Overall, the prices strike one as being on the high side, but portions are generous, so value is fair. Starters (often enough for a light meal) sit at R50-R88; mains R85-R125. I finished (or rather was finished) by the pecan nut tart, with home-made vanilla ice cream – it was excellent and again big.

So certainly worth a turn, or to put back on your visit list. Coffee also been much improved, so that’s also an option.

Daily breakfast and lunch. Constantia Uitsig Farm,Spaanschemat River Road. 021 794 3010

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Great sushi in Cape Town and Durban

Cape Town

Nobu, One&Only, V&A Waterfront. 021 431 5111. Dinner nightly. Price: Expensive.

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa now has 22 restaurants around the world, making his famous “Nobu” line one of the most upmarket chains on the planet. Relative ubiquity notwithstanding, the arrival of the first African Nobu irrevocably changed the South African sushi landscape – this is the place to experience it at its best. Whether you order à la carte or choose a set menu like the omakase (“from the heart”) chef’s selection, the fish is of the highest grade and the presentation true to the precise aesthetic of Japanese culture – every plate beautiful (no coloured plastic here). A South African omakase menu features only local seafoods, while the other menus showcase local and global delicacies. But most importantly, Hideki Maeda, head chef, is a master of the sushi-meshi, the rice – the discernibly individual, firm-to-the-bite grains held together by a delicate magnetism, never bluntly compressed, a mark of the finest. Wines: Sake is the preferred drink, and the choice is intriguing, from the dry Hokusetsu “devil killer” to the “aged music book” – or choose wine from a carefully selected list gleaned from the hotel’s immense cellar. You can of course ask for the maze sommelier to bring his biblical list over.

… continue reading

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