Walking past Willoughby’s, with it’s old style signage and casual cafe set-up in the Waterfront passage, you might never guess that it actually specialises in seafood, Japanese dishes and sushi. I certainly didn’t. Despite having heard the name associated with sushi so many times, I never put two and two together and always thought the green and gold lettering indicated fare such as you might find at Mugg and Bean. How wrong could I have been?
I am happy to report that I was thoroughly impressed with Willoughby’s. The atmoshpere had a pleasant bustle and buzz, while the prawn dumplings, tom yum soup and main dishes were absolutely deliciously. We walked out stuffed and satisfied, without breaking the bank.
Although the passage section had the above mentioned cafe feel, the interior reminded me more of an industrial feel as you sit right in the thick of things, surrounded by open kitchens, sushi areas, pipes and metallic equipment. There is even a small deli section. Seating is Japanese style, in long rows, where you and your partner sit right alongside other diners. This may worry some guests, but we found it to be a fun change from the usual.
Definitely worth a visit, for anyone, from young to old!
Willoughby & Co / Shop 6132 / Victoria Wharf / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 418 6115 / www.willoughbyandco.co.za
TH: **
GS: **
RL: **
BH: ***
Average Rating: **
Ginja is reputed to be one of Cape Town’s top culinary experiences, and we were expecting great things when the time came for the G slot in our alphabet. Sadly, we were far from amazed by this supposedly top notch restaurant.
From the very start, things were a little off key. On arrival we ascended the stairs to what appeared to be Ginja. Forgive us for assuming the only doorway visible would lead us to our expected destination. We were advised, once reaching the landing above, that we had misjudged the darkened, un-signposted alleyway to the right of the door, which was actually the restaurant’s “grand” entrance, and had ended up in a completely separate establishment, obviously well used to directing lost patrons to Ginja, downstairs.
After navigating the incredibly narrow, almost claustrophobic alley/entrance, however, we were met with an adequately warm and comfortable interior, if not exactly breathtaking in design. We were then lead to our table, where the earlier EA teammates were already seated on a large, high backed sofa chair, and we settled down to peruse the menu.
The first thing we noticed, was that the paper menus appeared to have been folded backwards - main courses first, then sweets, followed by a polite reminder that gratuities were not included, and starters at the very back. After weighing up the possibility that they had played on the Asian method of reading back to front, and then realising that the menu order still didn’t work, we had no choice but to put it down as a strange and very unprofessional mistake for a restaurant of this calibre to make. This, unfortunately, was not the last issue we had with the menus.
Once we’d figured out where to start, we began the somewhat tricky task of choosing what to sample from the menu. I’d love to tell you that our difficulties stemmed from too many delicious-sounding choices, and to be fair, when described by the waiters the food did indeed sound original and delicious. Unfortunately the waiters descriptions were pretty much all we had to go on, as the menu appeared to have been compiled by someone with a complete disregard for punctuation, capital letters, and all those lovely little words like “the”, “and” and “with” that make the English language…well…language. An example?
“rabbit - ballotine carrot star anise puree celeriac spinach confit leg tarragon beignet mustard cream”
Excuse us?
Thankfully the waiters made some effort in translating, and we made our choices with something a little like luck-of-the-draw.
Now perhaps we expect too much from restaurants, and perhaps we’ve merely had bad luck, but when we eat at a top notch establishment, with prices to match, I expect food that is out of the ordinary. I don’t mean strange ingredients, or unusual combinations, or towering creations so delicate and beautiful I feel guilty eating them (although there’s nothing wrong with a gorgeously presented meal). What I’m looking for at places like Ginja is food so gosh darned tasty my mouth will be watering next month just thinking about what I ate. Food that surprises me, food that excites me, food I want to tell my friends to go and try. If anyone knows where this place is, please let us know, because it sure isn’t Ginja.
But perhaps I am being overly harsh. Three out of the six “around the world in a spoon” spoons were pretty good (if lukewarm), the soft shell crab had a very nice side of Thai green curried soba noodles (which you couldn’t taste after a bite of the anchovy) and the vanilla cured Norwegian salmon had a very interesting wasabi emulsion on the side. The mains were, on a whole, unmemorable, apart from the waiter who decided announcing the lamb as “la-a-a-amb” and the rabbit as “wabbit” was professional and amusing. The best of the bunch was, however, the rabbit, which at least tasted like rabbit, as opposed to merely the accompanying sauce as many rabbit dishes do. Even dessert failed to excite us, which, for someone with a whole mouth full of sweet teeth, is saying a lot.
Time to sum up: This is normally the part of the article where we weigh up the pros and the cons, the highlights and lowlights, and tell you if, in our humble opinion, we think you should visit whichever establishment we’ve been dissecting for your reading pleasure. Unfortunately in this case all I can really say is unless extraordinarily mediocre is your thing, do yourself (and your bank balance) a favour, and give Ginja a miss.
Ambiance: **
Service: ***
Food: **
Wine: ***
Bathrooms: *
Ginja / 121 Castle Street/ Cape Town / 8001 / Tel: 021 426 2368
Posted on: May 2nd, 2009 BHBelthazar
Belthazar is considered part of the V&A’s fine dining establishments and can be found amongst similarly categorised restaurants facing the harbour all vying for the attention of the passers by. Don’t worry, Belthazar is easily recognised because it’s the only one not trying the entice you in.
In fact, after passing 2 or 3 restaurants where the hostesses try seduce you into “joining us for dinner tonight?” and coyly suggest “a table for two?”, we arrived at our intended destination, Belthazar, where the staff showed more interest in casually joking with each other than offering us a table or even acknowledging our existence. After a polite cough (read: me saying “could we get some service, please?” in an agitated tone), we got escorted to the somewhat sour hostess who then showed us to our table.
This was not a good start and condemned them to my “bad service list” and resulted in me being short and dismissive to our “service ambassador” for the rest of the night (Sorry Madri, not intentional).
The menu only further served to aggravate with the majority of the main meals being R160 or SQ. When simple things like a Sirloin or Kingklip are SQ, it’s a little worrying. RL & I decided that while we wanted to review this restaurant, we didn’t feel like being ripped off so opted for the cheaper options on the menu; the Rump, one of the few steaks that aren’t SQ but still R130 (plus R26 for a sauce on the side), and the Calamari (R130).
I must admit that my Rump was a very good piece of meat, cooked well but you’d expect nothing less from a restaurant voted “Best Steakhouse”, but the standard size is 250g which isn’t very large considering the price tag. The Mushroom Sauce was also very good, although the quantity required careful rationing to ensure that there was enough for all my steak, let alone sparing any for my baked potato.
RL said her Calamari was “okay” but the chips were good… I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good thing.
The wine list is very extensive and about as complicated as you could possibly make it but there are sommeliers on hand to assist you spend your money, even if they do only make an appearance half way through your meal delivering a very rehearsed speech about how pleased they are they you’ve joined them for dinner and that they’re happy to suggest a wine to pair with your meal (half of which you’ve already eaten).
So, one shared salad to start, two mains, a couple cokes, a cappuccino and a tip cost us R500.
Maybe my view of Belthazar is jaded, but I feel it’s taking advantage of the locals who eat there and I find the air of arrogance and superiority misplaced considering neither the service or cuisine is anywhere near “Fine Dining”.
If you’re looking to impress prospective clients or future father-in-law, this is probably the place. If you’re looking for a good meal that doesn’t require you to sell your kidney, then maybe try somewhere else… or at least somewhere that pretends to want your patronage.
Belthazar Restaurant and Wine Bar / Shop 153 / Lower Level / Victoria Wharf / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 421 3753 / www.belthazar.co.za
