TH: ***
GS: ***
RL: ***
BH: ***½
Average Rating: ***
October sees the birthday of one of our EA Team members, and, being the food loving bunch we are, what better way to celebrate than by venturing out to a highly publicized new restaurant. The name? Maze. Starts with an M does it? Excellent. Two birds, one stone.
For those of you who haven’t heard the hype, Maze is one of the two main restaurants in the new One and Only Hotel, at the V&A Waterfront. Having closely watched the progress of the hotel, from the conceptual magazine articles to the building site itself, we were very keen to set foot inside its reportedly grand and luxurious halls.
Arriving through the artistically lit driveway gates, we were met by the valet service who parked our cars for us. Not so unusual for a hotel guest. Very impressive for a restaurant patron; we were off to a good start. Entering the lobby is again a grand experience, with double, triple, and quadruple-volume spaces creating an air of luxury, if you’ll excuse the pun. Keen to get to the restaurant, however, we declined a drink at the bar, and descended the steps to the restaurant, where we were struck by the famed wine wall - a three story glass and steel wine “cellar” shared by Nobu and Maze. Needless to say this beautiful, sparkling structure is very, very impressive. Unfortunately the best view is from outside the restaurant, and once inside the impact is rather lost. I won’t wax lyrical about the decor for too long, since this is, after all, about food not furniture. Let me just say that Maze’s interior left a little to be desired. Still on a grand scale, with a triple-volume space, the rather vivid carpet and slightly over-used over-sized light fittings made me feel a little like I was eating in a hotel lobby, or, as GS put it, as if one would not be surprised to turn around and see an airport lounge.
On being greeted by the hostess (who had asked when we booked if it was a special occasion, and took the opportunity on our arrival to wish our EA birthday girl a happy birthday - a nice touch we thought) we were were seated and offered a wine list and cocktail menu. Deciding on cocktails, we browsed the admittedly brief menu, and settled on some tasty, but not particularly memorable drinks. We did, however, enjoy the marinated olives brought to nibble on, on the side.
Next up was a selection of freshly baked, hot in the middle sourdough, walnut and olive breads (delicious) after which the menus were brought. An amusing and original touch is the “meat board” brought by the waiter after he politely informed us that it was literally a tray of raw meat, in case that might offend our delicate sensibilities. Steak is a specialty of Maze’s, and they offer several types of both fillet and rib eye. These are elegantly presented, wrapped on the outside with pristine white cloth, and displayed cut-side to you, in order to best show off the differences in colour, shape and marbling. The waiter then explains which cut is which, and what makes it special; very interesting, and not something you normally get to see.
The rest of the menu had us a little stumped, as we couldn’t figure out which items were intended as starters and which as mains. We figured the first page was a good bet for starters. RL chose West Coast mussels, which were fresh and flavourful in a garlic and herb butter, with crusty bread on the side. She reported that she really loved them, she just wishes there had been more… BH enjoyed his somewhat small crab salad, served in a martini glass, vaguely reminiscent of 70’s shrimp cocktail. GS’s smoked pork hock soup was a little disappointing, being more like a chunky vegetable broth with some floating boiled egg bits, and TH’s roast quail with a fruit chutney was tasty, but not particularly exciting, despite being rather larger than a starter usually is. Perhaps the first page is not only starters…who knew?
Main course saw three of us sampling different steaks: the Karan fillet, Karan rib-eye and Namibian rib-eye. With those we tried the peppercorn and mushroom sauces. GS tried the pan-fried hake with seafood risotto. While GS and I found the mains exceptionally salty, RL and BH disagreed, so perhaps it was just a matter of taste. The steaks were all good, but no more so than one would expect from an expensive restaurant working with quality cuts. If anything we may have been expecting something a little more, but were at least content with what we’d received. Sauces were simple, honest and creamy. GS’s hake was acceptable, but not outstanding, and the seafood risotto was overpowering after the first few mouthfuls. Sides are ordered separately, and we sampled the mashed potatoes, sherry mushrooms and garlic fries. Again, tasty, but not exceptionally so.
Dessert time came around, and the only one with room to spare was RL, who tried the Malva pudding, which smelled delicious, and tasted the same. BH and GS had a coffee and port respectively, both of which were enjoyed. The port portions are huge - expect a third of a wineglass. After desserts were cleared, we were surprised to be presented with a selection of complimentary desserts for the table, complete with a birthday candle and “Happy Birthday” icing. Very elegant, very classy, but perhaps better taken to the table before desserts were already ordered? Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, however, we managed to squeeze it all in. My personal favourite would be the caramel peppermint piece of “birthday cake”, but the Baked Alaskan lollipops were a close second. The colourful macaroons, however, were not particularly great, but then they aren’t usually a favourite of ours anyway.
Overall, our experience was, with the exception of the good service and birthday treats, unremarkable. The food was pricey, with a fillet at R160, the wine list even pricier, and yet nothing we ordered really blew our minds. Perhaps being a hotel restaurant means catering for the tastes of your average tourist rather than being experimental or original. At a five star hotel, however, one would hope your average patron have a slightly more discerning palate. Whatever the reason, all we at EA can really say for Maze is that it was good, not great, and unlikely to be repeated.
Ambiance: ***
Service: ****
Food: ***
Wine: ***
Bathrooms: ****
Maze / The One & Only Cape Town / Dock Road / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 431 5222 / Email: maze.reservations@oneandonlycapetown.com / www.oneandonlycapetown.com
Posted on: October 28th, 2009 RLMaze
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For those of you who haven’t realised yet, we are pretty loyal supporters of Beluga and Sevruga restaurants. Both of these fine establishments fall under The Caviar Group of Restaurants, as does Caviar Fine Foods: The Deli in the V&A Waterfront.
The Caviar Group also intends to open a third restaurant, Blonde, early next year. They continually strive to do more, be more and offer more in everything they do, which is why it comes as no surprise to us that they are launching Caviar Dreams: The Cookbook.
In their own words, “It has always been one of our dreams to do a Caviar Cookbook and, at the same time, we have always tried to push the envelope when it comes to our menus and branding. This year we are embarking on our most ambitious project yet, the cookbook menu; a great quality menu and cookbook in one.”
That’s right, Caviar Dreams, which is 176 pages of beauty, will not only be in the restaurant, performing the function of a full menu, wine list and cocktail list, but will also feature stories and recipes from the restaurants. You’ll be able to buy the menu cookbook in either a Beluga or Sevruga Edition at the restaurants, as well as the Deli.
See http://www.caviar.co.za/caviardreams.html for a sneak peek.
Beluga Restaurant / The Foundry / Prestwich Street / Green Point / Tel: 021 418 2948 / Email: info@beluga.co.za / www.beluga.co.za
Sevruga Restaurant / Shop 4 / Quay 5 / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 421 5134 / Email: info@sevruga.co.za / www.sevruga.co.za
Caviar Fine Foods / Shop 6201 / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 418 0909 / Email: deli@caviar.co.za / www.caviar.co.za
Signal at The Cape Grace in the V&A Waterfront is offering something a little different this summer. Their new Sugar Buffet will feature all your favourites from toffee apples and fudge to meringues and marshmellow squares. This is something truly innovative for a restaurant, and is available from 3pm - 6pm every day. Sweets go for R12.00 each.
For more information call 021 410 7097 or email info@capegrace.com
Signal / Cape Grace / West Quay Road / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 410 7080 / www.capegrace.com
RL & I were wondering through the V&A the other day looking for a place to grab a bite and we realised that EA hasn’t reviewed the V&A’s original tenant, the Ferrymans Tavern.
Ferrymans has been around since 1989 and is housed in 2 converted sheds with original stone walls and Oregon beams. While the real restaurant can be found upstairs, on sunny summer days the Beer Garden is a fantastic spot to relax.
On to the more important information; Ferrymans has 11 beers on tap, including their own Ferrymans Ale. I wasn’t going to list them here in case they change but that doesn’t seem right… so, at the time this was written, Ferrymans had the following on offer;
Castle Lager, Hansa Lager, Amstel Lager, Windhoek Lager, Forrester’s Lager, Stella Artois, Ferrymans Ale, Kilkenny, Raven Stout, Guinness & Bosun’s Bitter
Aside from the wide assortment of local & international brews, Ferrymans serves a array of traditional pub fare, from the daily specials, like Beef & Ale Pie on Thursdays and Oven Roast Pork on Sundays, to old favorites, like Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash and Calamari.
Enjoying a light meal in the Beer Garden, RL & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, even though RL’s Fish & Chips came with peas (her least favorite vegetable after Brussel Sprouts and Courgettes).
If you’re looking for a lively spot in the V&A without the tourist orientated price tags, this is the one for you.
Ferrymans Tavern / East Pier Road / V&A Waterfront / Tel: 021 419 7748 / Email: info@ferrymans.co.za / www.ferrymans.co.za
Posted on: October 6th, 2009 BHLa Boheme
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TH: ****
GS: ****
RL: ****
BH: ****
Average Rating: ****
It was time for the next Featured Review and fearing a recurrence of our “A” experience, we decided to avoid the obvious choices and give one of the under-dogs a chance. Little did we know that this would be one of our most memorable reviews to date.
I’ve always found this strip of Seapoint Main Road a bit odd. It’s a little run down, seemingly ignored by the Urban Rejuvenation schemes, yet it manages to produce and sustain an unbelievable number of eateries. La Boheme appears like all the other little restaurants on this strip: it’s small, understated and seems to have a loyal following of trendy, yet casual, Capetonians.
When we first arrived and mentioned our reservation, our first thought was a sceptical “hmmm…” but any scepticism soon evaporated. Being a beautiful Cape Town evening, the outside section was full of content customers. The interior is simple and tasteful, nothing flashy just a comfortable, welcoming space.
RL and I arrived a little early so decided to get a couple cocktails to kick things off. Sadly, La Boheme doesn’t do cocktails but they do stock Brewers & Union’s unfiltered Lager and Dark Ale. If you didn’t know, & Union is the latest idea by the guys from Vida, expanding their artisan beers to this range of German brew. Anyway, the beers were a great start…
In case you’re wondering, La Boheme is run by a former Caveau general manager, so don’t be surprised to see Caveau-esque touches (and a few former Caveau waiters) here. The menus are on black boards, listing the Starters, Mains and Specials. The wine menu is well balanced with a good selection across the range so you’re likely to find something that’ll appeal to both taste and wallet. Something you’ll notice almost immediately are the prices: if you order from the normal menu then you can enjoy 2 courses for R85, or 3 courses for R105. Order a main off the “Some More” menu and expect to pay between R65 and R110. Most notably, all dessert are R20 and the wine options, due to the extensive list, are also good value for money. “What’s the catch?” you may be asking yourself? Well, we were determined to find out…
RL snapped up the Beef Carpaccio before the others could get a chance to even look at the menu, I had the Spinach and Feta Spanakopitas (read: parcels), GS had the Koftas and TH had the Aubergine and Parma Ham Salad. We were all pleasantly surprised that not only were the dishes well presented, but tasty too… very tasty, like “lick your plate clean” tasty. Okay, so they got that one right, could they follow through with the Mains?
There were plenty of good sounding Mains, so we asked out very friendly and helpful waitress, Catey, for her recommendations and she didn’t lead us astray. TH had the Ginger and honey-glazed Pork Belly on egg noodles. Again, presented very well, and as TH put it, “it is like Chinese food if Chinese food was cooked by chefs” which translates into “no you can’t have any” tasty. GS had the Rack of Lamb and from the first bite was spellbound. He kept saying “how can vegetables be so good… what is it?… It’s incredible…” And that was just the side serving of roast veg. RL’s Beef Fillet with Risotto likewise didn’t disappoint. RL is a sucker for risotto and this was one of the best Mushroom Risottos I’ve ever tasted. So many restaurants claim to make a good risotto but it’s either tasteless or like wallpaper paste. This Risotto was phenomenal… no, seriously - it was really good. The Fillet didn’t disappoint either: it was perfectly cooked, tender, juicy and full of flavour. My linefish, a healthy portion of Kingklip, was the least likely to impress, but it was not to be overshadowed by the other dishes. Simply cooked with a few herbs, the dish was very true to the ingredients but unlike most “honest” cooking, was seasoned perfectly and full of flavour.
It is very rare that everyone enjoys both Starter and Main but tonight was one of those nights, in fact “I’m in love” was muttered on multiple occasions and we hadn’t even reached desserts yet!
So, having sampled 8 great dishes we decided to consider our dessert options: Crème Brûlée, Croissant Pudding, Chocolate Cake, Malva Pudding, Poached Pears, Chocolate & Coffee Liquor Crépes and Tiramisu. The conversation went something like this: “Sigh, so hard to choose, if only we could have all of them… Oh wait, they’re only R20 each! We’ll take 1 of each!”. Yes, that’s right; we ordered 7 desserts.
There’s nothing quite like seeing 7 desserts arrive at your table simultaneously and knowing a quarter of each one belongs to you…
Trying to decide on a favourite turned out to be very tricky. I quite liked the Red Wine Poached Pears with Vanilla Ice cream and the Tiramisu. RL enjoyed the Malva Pudding and Chocolate Pudding but loved the Croissant Pudding, while TH and GS both enjoyed the Poached Pears and Croissant Pudding.
Wait, there must have been something that wasn’t fantastic… Ambiance was good, Service was friendly and attentive, food was fantastic, wine was well priced… Hmmm. The only thing I can think of as not brilliant was that there was only 1 toilet, but even that was clean and well equipped and considering the size of the restaurant, you’re very unlikely to find yourself queuing. Even if you do, you can occupy yourself by watching the chefs hard at work.
We learnt an important lesson with this review, never underestimate the little guys.
Ambiance: ***
Service: ****½
Food: *****
Wine: ****
Bathrooms: ***
La Boheme Wine Bar & Bistro / 341 Main Road (Cnr Albany Road) / Sea Point / Tel: 021 434 8797
