Good value at Tides

Had dinner last night with Morne Botha the executive chef at The Bay Hotel's Tides restaurant. Morne says The Bay is competing with 50 other eateries on Camps Bay's beachfront strip. I was pleased by the prices and most of what I tasted was delicious and well made. From the starter menu I tasted the Black Coast Mussels cooked with chorizo in a tomato and white wine sauce. At R55 it was good value and a large portion as a starter. Morne had the soup of the day, which was carrot and celery (R38) while Patricia O'Dea ordered the Biltong pate (R59) - very delicious but perhaps too large a dish as a starter. Either it needs more sweet potato chips, delicious aniseed rolls or a smaller portion of pate or both. The ostrich egg salad (R62) was my first choice and was delicate. Imagine four piles of shredded omlette topped with seaweed, cucumber strips and rooibos tea-smoked ostrich. Yummy.
 

Difficult choices

As a main I ordered from the starter menu. The tripe en croute (R57) was totally delicious but not appetizing to the eyes. It is cooked in a light Malay curry with white wine and cream and served in puff pastry cases. The pastry case bases were too thick and I struggled to cut into them, which irritated me. Patricia's sole Bonne Femme (R90) looked fabulous and she raved about it saying it was as good as her meal at La Coulomb over the weekend. Morne had the oxtail (R89), which is cooked off the bone and served on a risotto with wild and cultivated mushrooms. I tasted a mouthful of this dish but would have preferred a plateful.
 

Behind-the-scenes

The most disappointing dish was my bread-and-butter pudding as it simply didn't have sufficient egg mixture to bring the whole dish together and I was left eating pieces of dry bread. All the food was well presented on square, rectangle and speech-bubble shaped plates and, on the whole I'm impressed by the experience vs price ratio.

On a more delicate subject: I don't like to make personal remarks when they could cause offence or diminish someone's enthusiasm, but I found that as willing to impress our waiter was, his speech was incoherent and he appeared very nervous which, given he was serving a table with the exec chef and someone from the media, I can understand. Much like the way the magician makes us believe that he really does pull a rabbit from the hat where none was previously, the experience of dining out also demands a suspension of disbelief. As diners we don't want to know that the meat we're eating once grazed happily before being pulled from its heard and slaughtered for dinner. We also don't want to know what goes on behind the scenes. I know kitchens are hot and sweaty places but I don't wish to be reminded of this every time the wine is poured.

Tides at the Bay Hotel, Camps Bay. 021-438-4444.