Review of River Terrace, Lourensford Estate as seen in 48 Hours. (26-Feb-10)
ESPECIALLY for locavores who are concerned about the increased carbon footprint of eating food that is flown or trucked in, The River Garden café and deli at Lourensford Estate not only delivers delicious food, at a good price, but is also committed to sourcing local, estate-grown produce.
This means that the salad greens and herbs were still happily ensconced in their beds moments before they are ordered.
The trout is farmed in dams on the estate. The Healey’s cheesery (the matured cheddar is so good it continues to linger on the palate a while after you’ve swallowed it), and coffee roastery is within sniffing distance. (No, they haven’t burnt the toast!).
The more I think about the River Garden, the more I love it. It has everything I look for in a restaurant. Great location, the symmetrical gardens of Lourensford and the modernist architecture of the tasting room welcome you and, if you’re lucky enough for an outside table on the deck under a Bedouin tent, the surrounding manicured lawns are magnificent.
The food is honest and respectful of its ingredients while at the same time being sophisticated. The White Gazpacho, served with frozen green grapes and fresh bread (R32) is a twist on the classic clear tomato consommé.
The Scotch egg, a picnic favorite from yesteryear (shelled boiled egg encrusted by mince and crumbed before being deep fried, is an absolute winner). You’ll get this as part of the mezze platter (R80) which is plenty for two to share as a starter, or as a main meal of its own. Also expect Healey’s award-winning cheddar, olives, fabulous breads, coppa (Italian-style biltong) salami, and kitchen-made pear chutney.
Portions of the bobotie springroll (R38) were being served to a nearby table.
They’re cut in half at an angle and served with the oblique side northwards to look like a collection of space-age buildings. My choice of the coronation chicken wrap (R55) again confirmed the skill and commitment of the kitchen team.
Every element was right – the tortilla was fresh and soft yet held the ample ingredients in place, the layers of lettuce neatly providing a green ring akin to a sleeping bag for the creamy chicken with just a hint of curry.
Toasted flaked almonds and fresh coriander provide both crunch and herbaceous green notes.
We knew JP’s wild mushroom risotto (R55) was on its way from the kitchen as the heady and musty aroma from the truffle oil arrived before the dish did. They use pecorino cheese here which is spot on. I’d probably have used parmesan myself but concede that the pineapple notes from parmesan might overpower the delicate mushroom.
The dish that prevented this meal from being among the greatest we’ve enjoyed was the tian of smoked trout (R50). I found the Asian flavours in the marinade in conflict with the pleasing avocado and lightly smoked trout.
We shared a fabulously rich baked cheese cake (R45) topped with macerated berries with coffee to end.
You’d be wise to book in advance. We dined there on a Friday afternoon and all the outside tables were already taken. If you decide just to pop in and they can’t seat you, buy some bread, cheese and smoked trout from the deli and head to the lawns behind the restaurant for an impromptu picnic.
Lourensford Estate, Lourensford Road, Somerset West. 021-847-2328. • Permalink • Comments [0]
Subarshi and 1890 House sushi review. First published in 48 Hours. (22-Feb-10)
A CHASM exists between the best sushi and the worst. I remember my first experience of Japanese cuisine at Kotoboki restaurant in the Avalon, Gardens, now long gone. It was also the first time I was served a steamed cloth to wipe my hands with before dining.
Although Japanese cuisine is much wider than just sushi, it is the combination of pickled ginger and searing-hot wasabi with still twitching fresh fish that has enslaved my taste buds. I admit I’m an addict.
As in most things, the more you pay, the better the sushi is. So, in the absence of sushi masters with exacting clients and just-landed seafood, price becomes the main arbiter of what you can expect on your plate.
Subarshi restaurant in the Spearhead building, Foreshore, has sushi available on a conveyer belt for instant gratification.
The colour of the plate determines the price you will pay. Even at their friendly prices, it is easy to quickly spend a lot of money.
Rather than sit at the sushi counter amid the colourful interior, we sat on the wrap-around terrace, perfect for people watching.
The amuse bouche, a little gift from the kitchen to amuse the mouth, is an example of their innovative approach – a California roll (rice and seeds on the outside rather than toasted seaweed as in the Maki roll) with steamed prawn and avocado in the centre, topped with a tempura (deep-fried in a light crunchy batter) prawn and then a combination of sweet chili sauce and mayonnaise as a creamy dressing.
The combination of the soft and silky (rice, avo and steamed prawn) with the crispy tempura and creamy sauce is heavenly.
Our mixed sushi selection that followed highlighted some areas for improvement: the sashimi (raw fish) was too thickly sliced, in my judgment to compensate for the failing freshness.
The result was limp tuna that tore away from the muscle under its own weight. The rolls (California and Maki) while tasty were coming apart at the seams.
There are many Asian options at Subarshi and the wok beef done with mushrooms and served on bok choy (similar to cabbage) is a robust and filling dish served with superb steamed and stir-fried vegetables and fluffy rice. At R90 it is very good value. The steamed prawn and mango salad (R47) is also good value but we were surprised at what seemed like canned mango rather than fresh.
The mojito marinated lamb cutlets (R95) would perhaps have been a better option. After all, lamb with lime and mint cannot be anything but delicious.
The green-tea smoked duck breast or Thai-style tuna seared with Asian five-spice mix might also be better choices.
Subarshi, The Spearhead, Foreshore. 021-421-3366.
The conveyer sushi bar at 1890 House Sushi in Observatory is always rightly busy. Although not inexpensive, the quality and freshness of the sushi is superb.
If there’s nothing on the belt that suits your palate just ask Uncle to prepare something for you. It will likely be on a black plate (the most costly colour) but for me the great appeal of sitting at the sushi counter is watching the chef prepare something just for me.
To demonstrate your sushi smarts, order Miso soup or Green Tea to enjoy with your sushi (rather than before or after), the low-sodium soy (with the green top), and don’t make a paste of your wasabi and soy.
Even though that’s what I do, a recent returnee from a Japanese food tour says the ginger is used as a palate cleanser, that the fish and not the rice is dipped gently into soy and that wasabi is added directly to the rice.
He also says they serve live perch. Once the sashimi is removed, the head, skeleton and tail is propped up on a stand to wriggle its last while you’re eating it.
Now that’s fresh.
1890 House Sushi and Grill, Trill Road, Observatory. 021-477-1450. • Permalink • Comments [0]
Berkie's at The Belmont. First published in 48 Hours. (13-Feb-10)
TO the uninitiated there is little difference between Kosher and Jewish food. However, Kosher is the food that complies with the biblical injunctions about which animals may be eaten and how they must be slaughtered. Jewish food is typically festival cuisine from either Eastern European Ashkenazi or Mediterranean Sephardic communities. Other than taiglach, a crisp ginger-syrup flavoured doughnut, the new buffet at Berkies at the Belmont is, Kosher rather than Jewish.
The mezze selection includes well-made Med dishes such as Hummus, Baba Ganoush, pickled turnip and freshly fried chickpea falafel balls. I suppose smoked salmon could be considered Jewish food as it has all but replaced the herring as the cold fish of choice. At Berkies the “salmon” selection is vast and includes Scottish salmon, local salmon trout, home-made gravadlax and one of proprietor Barry Berkowitz’s own inventions, salmon pastrami.
The only challenge to their unmitigated success is the location on the first floor of The Belmont, a residential hotel akin to Fawlty Towers. Although it is charming in its own lavender talc sort of way, it might stop people who are not only out for great value but also for a chic evening.
Berkies has done its best to create something apart from the sitting room by hanging drapes.
These conceal one of the room’s most endearing elements, a framed portrait of Elizabeth II at her 21’st birthday.
At R135 a head, I’m more than happy just with the selection of mezzes (the pickled jalapenos and spicy tomato and chilli salad are wonderful) and breads that include bagel chips – a link to Barry’s many years at New York Bagel deli. I knew Barry and his wife Bev even before that when they worked at Dock Rd Theatre and Restaurant at the V&A, now Look & Listen.
Jews never under-cater. The vast volume of food on offer is possibly the most Jewish thing about Berkies. After the cold mezzes there are nine hot dishes, all either fish or vegetarian as the food at Berkies is Parev, containing neither meat nor dairy ingredients.
In practice the only downside of this is non-dairy margarine with bread and soya milk with coffee. For people who are lactose intolerant or on a strict vegetarian diet, it is a boon.
The Hasselback potatoes, think crispy hedgehogs sans quills, are divine but the prize must go to the mildly-spiced fish briyani with the lentil cottage pie a close second.
Fish (kingklip, hake, salmon), pan-fried when ordered, is overkill. I never thought I’d object to too much food but the truth is it comes too late in the feast to be truly enjoyed and is, frankly, gilding the lilly.
Perhaps in their exuberance to offer amazing value (and to draw people to the tired Belmont) they’re erring towards excess. Barry and Bev are veteran food people so I don’t presume to suggest they haven’t done their sums right. If they have and are able to sustain such volume and quality at R135 a head, we’re all being ripped off by every other restaurant in town.
Berkies at The Belmont, Holmfirth Road (off High Level), Sea Point. 082 358 0470. • Permalink • Comments [0]
Taj Cape Town opens. First published in 48 Hours. (09-Feb-10)
WHEN it comes to exquisite luxury hotels in India, there are only two names: Oberoi and Taj. Their point of difference was highlighted to me by a crusty Colonial who behaved as if India were still under the British Raj.
“Taj hotels”, he said to me with a wide-armed gesture pointing out the fountains at the Lake Palace Hotel, Udaipur, India as if he owned them, and where we were having tea, “take real palaces and build hotels.” “Oberoi,” he continued, “build new hotels to look like historic palaces.” Without skipping a beat he went on to suggest the two groups were like England and America. Oberoi, he thought, was the latter.
We were guests of the fabulous Oberoi Udaivilas Hotel on the nearby shore, which is how we managed to even set foot on the Lake Palace Hotel which is not open to non-residents. Anyone who has seen Octopussy’s lair will want to visit that property.
I mention this because I met Hemant Oberoi, the likable corporate chef: Luxury Division of Taj Hotels at the newly opened Taj Cape Town. Yes, indeed.
True to that poncy peripatetic’s pronouncements, Taj has beautifully and respectfully restored the historic Reserve Bank and Temple Chambers or what we call the Board of Executors’ buildings in Adderley and St George’s Mall. Taj, owned by the Tata Group, has spent R500 million on this five-star 176-roomed luxury project. Rooms are divided into heritage or tower rooms depending on their situation.
Aside from the conference and meeting rooms on the first floor, there are three restaurants, The Bombay Brasserie which, with its timber-clad columns, blues and silver notes is in the running for the most beautiful room in the city, Mint which is fresh and contemporary and Twankey, so named after the “Bo Peep” BOE statue in the recess above the front door.
This spot is so chic and stylish it will likely attract Cape Town’s most divine partygoers for draft Guinness and oysters. Who knows, maybe it will be known as Twinkies.
The Jiva Spa is Taj’s own brand and we met Ayurvedic (ancient Indian system of health) physicians from India who were training local staff. There is a grand couples’ room and Ayurvedic suite complete with shower and steam cubicle.
Be sure to pop in either from the Wale street Valet car-parked entrance, or the St George’s Mall pedestrian one.
Speaking of Indian hotels, I noticed a wonderful Spyro-Gyro tile pattern in the entrance hall of The Taj. I’d seen a similar one at The Imperial Hotel, Delhi designed by Colonial architect and town planner Sir Edwin Lutyens (who also worked with Sir Herbert Baker in South Africa) and which was very similar to the design at Britannic House, London in BP’s historic headquarters. If the pattern looks familiar to you too, you probably recognize it from BP’s logo.
During a tasting from Bombay Brasserie’s Indian menu, general manager Michael Pownall said to me that superlative service was the one component that his Taj bosses were still striving for. If Taj Cape Town even gets Asian-style service half right, the experience will be streaks ahead of any other luxury property here.
Taj Cape Town, Cnr Wale and St George’s Mall. 021-819-2000. • Permalink • Comments [0]
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