My experience at Hudsons on Somerset……….19-01-2012

I first tried Hudsons throughout the Soccer World Cup. I work at the start of the fan walk so we used to leave our cars at my office and then take a walk down the fan walk to the stadium. The first stop was always Cubana’s to get a cold one and then down Somerset Road to grab something to eat. That is how we discovered Hudsons! What a perfect end to a day, a cold beer, a burger and some footy. Wow that sounded part dyke! I promise my fiancé is actually a MAN! J Ever since then we have been going back to Hudsons for their awesome burgers. I must say before Hudsons I never used to think twice before deciding where to go for gourmet burgers as there was really only one place and that was Royale Eatery! Now after Hudsons have opened their doors it has become a tougher choice. At the moment I am trying to find the best burger in town! So shortly after having been to Royale, I went to Hudsons. During the December holidays we also went to Beefcakes but I wasn’t too impressed. I feel it is quite overpriced for what you get, but then again I suppose I do not form part of their target market. I think perhaps Beefcakes is more of a place to be seen at then a place to go and grab a good burger at!

Not only does Hudsons have amazing burgers but they also have a wide variety of drinks. Everything from amazing cocktails, to some microbrewery beers. Whenever I order a cocktail I ask the waitress about it seeing as I have had many disappointing cocktails and I can’t justify paying R40 bucks plus for something that resembles icy sugar water with some alcohol in it. The waitress ensured me that their Daiquiri’s were huge and really good so that was the only convincing I needed! Oh my word was I impressed when that bowl of frozen strawberry goodness came straight my way!! J This is by far the best Daiquiri I have had and although it is so much bigger than normal cocktails it still is at the normal price which is fantastic!

Just like I have my favourite burger at Royale, I also have my favourite here. It is called The Game – Ostrich patty topped with cranberry jelly, herbed goats cheese and rocket. Can you see the resemblance to my favourite at Royale?? Ha ha!

For those of you that haven’t been to Hudsons before, the burgers are served with no side orders. If you would like anything extra you can order it additionally. So I ordered the side salad with my burger which comes with the nicest dressing. From the picture you can see how wholesome and GOOD the burger looks and they are not shy with their goats cheese or the cranberry jelly. Their patties are just so good and juicy as well!

I’m sorry to whoever I might disappoint here but my favourite burger joint between Royale and Hudsons is………….…Hudsons!

Having said that we will definitely be going back to Royale but unfortunately not as often as we used to! A friend told me about The Dog’s Bollocks and that is definitely next on my list of burger joints to try out! I can’t wait!

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

Somerset Road (Cnr of Portswood)

Cape Town

021-433 1496

info@theburgerjoint.co.za

www.theburgerjoint.co.za

My experience at Royale Eatery……….06-01-2012

I often find myself craving Royale’s burgers; therefore I wonder why I haven’t written about them before!? When I think back to my first visit to Royale I remember discovering sweet potato fries! Oh what was I missing out on before I knew about sweet potato fries! I have never really been a fan of French fries. The only type I like are the crispy one’s from McDonald’s, but of course I don’t get to eat them often as I never order McDonald’s when I am of sound sober mind. It is usually instigated by my pickled fiancé at 2 ‘o clock in the morning! :-) Needless to say when I discovered sweet potato fries I went crazy as I love sweet potatoes.

 The restaurant has got such a funky vibe to it! Just love the quirky décor. Although the roof décor outside on the patio looks a bit like a mixture between giant lollipops and hanging heads, which freaks me out just a tad!!? More so now after my friend saw them and said, “Imagine how many spiders there must be in those things!!” Major arachnophobia here!! Thanks Rodney!

My absolute favourite burger here (well I suppose I can’t say absolute because that would imply that I have actually had all of the burgers on the menu, which isn’t true) is the Provincial! I used to be the type of girl that would try and never have the same meal twice at a restaurant and always wanted to try something new. My fiancé was the opposite and would go to a restaurant just to have that specific meal. I always used to tease him about that, and now look at me, I have become the same!! When I hear “Royale” I immediately think Provincial!!! However I do put my twist on it by having it with a beef patty instead as oppose to the chicken breast offered on the menu. Oh living on the edge! :-)

This time when we went I told myself before the time that I am going to try and have something different but after reading thru the menu I found myself still craving my good old faithful. I now understand what my fiancé realised so long ago already! We as humans are too scared to be disappointed so instead of trying something new we just fall back into the comfort of the familiar. You don’t want to order something else and after having it think to yourself, “Man I should have had the good old faithful instead!” Or god-forbid someone else at the table orders your favourite while you are trying something new and end up having food envy!! Nothing worse than food envy!

Anyway so the Provincial is as follow – 150g pure beef patty with melted brie and cranberry sauce. It is absolutely amazeballs!!! With this visit I learned that they have 4 different side dishes namely, potato fries, sweet potato fries, salad or veg. The best part is you don’t have to choose between them, you can have a bit of each if you like!! I was very impressed after she told us that because most places will only let you have two sides at most. So I opted for the salad and sweet potato fries. I must say they are quite unexpectedly flexible with their food menu given how strict they are with what time upstairs opens for bookings. It is probably the only restaurant I know where they do not want you arriving early if your booking is only for 7pm. J

To get back to the food, I absolutely love this burger combination. A juicy warm meaty beef patty, with soft strong slightly bitter cheese that has started melting over the patty, covering it like a cheesy blanket followed with the explosion of the sweet cranberry sauce dripping down the sides of it!! Man I think my salivary glands are starting to tingle!! I must say though, that their side salad doesn’t touch that of Hudsons! But more about my second burger experience later. It seems like even the vegetarians like this joint. A veggie friend of mine loves Royale! Which is strange seeing as it is a burger restuarant, but if you peek at the vegetarian options on the menu you will know why. So once again I was totally satisfied and we will definitely be back there again soon!

I still haven't tried one of Royale’s famous double thick milkshakes but will be certain to try one soon!

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

273 Long Street

Cape Town

021-422 4536

info@royaleeatery.com

www.royaleeatery.com

My experience at In the Vineyard……….16-01-2012

We had some family down from Belgium and took them to Stellenbosch to experience one of our many and wonderful wine regions. Seeing as there is just so much to do in Stellenbosch we decided to rather stay the night so that we could explore it further the following day. We started our day off at Le Bonheur Crocodile farm with a tour, which was truly great! After which we visited a few wine farms and made our way to our accommodation namely, In the Vineyards. Usually when I look for accommodation I make use of www.safarinow.co.za. Occasionally I use www.wheretostay.co.za. Well this time I am grateful I had a look at where to stay’s website because that is how I came across this little gem of a spot!!

After dealing with an extremely helpful Marlene (owner) via email, I booked the accommodation for us. We wanted self-catering and unfortunately majority of the accommodation in Stellenbosch is B&B or Guesthouses. We were a group of 9 and it was also difficult to get a big enough house to sleep so many people. In the Vineyard consists of two semi-detached cottages namely The Vineyard Cottage and The Olive Cottage. It is situated on an olive producing farm namely Uitkyk which is situated at the foot of the Simonsberg mountains.

Each cottage consists of two bedrooms, one with a king size bed and the other with two single beds. Then in the lounge there is also a sleeper couch should you need to accommodate an extra person. Each cottage also has an open plan kitchen and large bathroom with a massive shower and a bath in it. Outside there is a braai on the patio and for those colder nights a fireplace inside each cottage. The views from here are stunning!

If it gets too hot, there is also a concrete reservoir style dam for you to go and cool off in! This is exactly what we did as it was cooking in Stellenbosch that day. Although it is a reservoir the water is clear and the bottom of the reservoir is clean. Right next to the reservoir are a few vineyards in which you can go and take a walk should you wish to.

These little cottages truly have everything you need! They even went a bit further and left water and milk in the fridge along with rusks for you morning cup of joe. They made sure there was blitz and braai wood for us and provided us with a jar of tasty olives from their farm to taste.  If you liked it you could purchase some more. There was also Neil Joubert wines for sale should your supply run out! J It might sound like I am making a fuss over something so small but to me it has always been the small things that count. I have been to accommodation before that offered much less then this and cost more. So to me these small gestures really show that the hosts, Joubert and Marlene, will go out of their way to make you as comfortable as possible!

The location of these cottages is perfect. It is not too far out of Stellenbosch for in case you need to shoot to the shops and also not too close so that you can take in the peace and quiet of your surroundings.

You can check out their website as well for a list of the many activities in the area as well.

At R900 per night per cottage it is an absolute steal for what you get!! If I ever need self-catering accommodation again in the Stellenbosch wine lands this place would be at the top of my list!!

Yours in fun & wine lands,

Elly D

R44 between Klapmuts & Stellenbosch

Paarl

021-875 5433

stay@inthevineyard.co.za

www.inthevineyard.co.za

My experience at Avontuur Estate……….29-12-2011

With New Year’s Eve being only two days away we found ourselves on a sunny December day not sure on what to do. So I suggested Monkey Town in Somerset West as I have always wanted to go there. It was awesome but after a while in the blistering heat I really craved a cold drink! We took a drive down the R44 and came across Avontuur Wine Estate. I hadn’t really heard of them before but they had a nice little patio so we gave it a try. My fiancé ordered us an amazing bottle of Avontuur Sauvignon Blanc 2011 – Tropical explosions with green fig and fresh acidity on the palate. It was quite late in the afternoon already so we just wanted something light.

He ordered the Cheese Platter – Selection of local cheeses and preserves served with biscuits. With this cheese platter they also had a wine pairing suggestion – Above Royalty Noble Late Harvest 2009. Something sweet to go with the cheesy flavours. The platter was really good! Exactly what he wanted. Five different types of cheese with preserved fig, strawberries and grapes. On the picture it might not look sufficient but it totally hit that spot.

After all the festive season’s bad eating I opted for the Greek salad topped with strips of Grilled Chicken Breast with extra avo. It was also really good! Extremely fresh and wholesome! Made me feel a little bit better about all the wine I was gulping down! J

We didn’t stay very long as it was close to the end of their day, but we weren’t rushed by them and had enough time to relaxingly finish our bottle of wine and stare out over the farm and the grazing horses.

I didn’t know this until afterwards but Avontuur Estate is also a very well-known Stud farm. Earlier in December one of their fillies, Val de Ra, won the Gr 2 Tony Taberer Southern Cross Stakes and another lady (Princess Victoria) won the Gr 1 Fillies Guineas. They will also be part of the 2012 Yearling sale later on in this month.

Definitely a little restaurant that I will be sure to visit again should I be in that area and from now on I will definitely keep my eye out for their wines!

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

R44

Somerset-West

021-855 4296

Restaurant: openhand@polka.co.za

Wine Estate: info@avontuurestate.co.za

www.avontuurestate.co.za

My experience at Karoo……….22-12-2011

A few of us friends were looking to go for a chilled dinner somewhere local. Seeing as we always go to Col Cacchio’s in Big Bay we thought we’d try a place at Eden on the Bay. Seeing as you are not really spoiled for choice anymore at Eden we eventually decided on Karoo.

When we arrived there four of our friends were already there but only two of them had been served. It took our waiter a few minutes to realize more people had joined the table as he hadn’t even paid attention our two friends that got there about 5 minutes before us. When we eventually ordered our drinks it also took him a good amount of time to actually bring them. So much so, that we actually asked the manager to find out where our drinks were. And it was not like any of the drinks were complicated drinks that took long to make or like the restaurant was busy at all. When brought to the attention of our waiter that the drinks took long he just stared back at you with a blank look on his face. When the last person arrived she ordered a mojito which took an eternity to arrive and once it had arrived there was so much sugar in it that you could still see some undissolved sugar at the bottom of the mojito. Needless to say it was extremely sweet for a mojito.

I had been to Karoo before and then I ordered the Bobotie. Now if you read my blog regularly you will know that I love a good Bobotie. I was really tempted to order it again, but luckily common sense took over as it was really bland and not tasty enough the previous time. I would feel so stupid if I had ordered it again and it was still the same old bland stew. So unfortunately I will never know if their Bobotie recipe has actually improved.

For starters I had the Snails Roquefort – A Karoo favourite with a twist. Our signature starter. The starter was good. The sauce was nice and creamy while the blue cheese was not too overwhelming. They lack to mention in the description that they are individually wrapped in phyllo pastry, which I suppose is the twist they are talking about. The different textures of the thin crispy parcel with the soft snail inside really works! I thoroughly enjoyed this starter.

For mains I had the Durban Curry – Served with poppadams, yellow rice and sambals. The curry wasn’t bad for a place that specializes in steak. It had just enough of a bite to let you know you were eating curry. The portion was quite large as well.

For dessert I had a Chocolate Brownie – Served with cream or vanilla ice cream. I rarely have dessert at a restaurant but it sounded really good so I ordered it. The picture I had in my mind’s eye of this brownie wasn’t quite the same as the one I was given. It wasn’t gooey enough like a chocolate brownie should be but more cakey and dry, if you understand what I mean. When I received it, it was also only luke warm. As if it had been heated and then stood on the service wall for too long. So I scooped out my ice cream and took the plate to the first waiter I saw and asked him to please heat it up. He asked me where I was sitting so that he could return it, but I didn’t want to take chances therefore I waited instead.

It makes me so sad that the service at Eden on the Bay has totally gone out of the window. Almost a year ago already I have stopped going to Café Sofia because the service there was absolutely shocking on several different occasions. So it is not like I only gave them one try. The service at Moyo is very up and down. The one day it is ok and the other day it is totally shocking. To be fair I haven’t been to Capello and Ciao Baby recently enough to comment on their service.

However I do still enjoy Yo Eastern Fushion and Eden Café is great! Both of them always have friendly staff and great food!

It seems like the older restaurants there think that because they have such a stunning view people will keep on coming back irrespective of the bad service.  Well I am sorry but that is definitely not going to be the case. What is going to happen is people are going to come there for a sundowner and then leave to go and get some decent food at a different restaurant. With such a high monthly rental fee I really don’t get how any of these places can afford to be so slack!

Yours in fun & food,

Elly D

Eden on the Bay

Blouberg

021-554 4286

eden@karoocattleandland.com

www.karoocattleandland.com

My experience at Bang……….28-12-2011

My fiancé recently bought into the new Grand Dining Club as he figured it might be worth it seeing as we dine out so often. I previously tried a similar deal called Double Deal, but seeing as we didn’t use it once I was a bit skeptical about this new dining scheme. Difference being though that with the previous deal there were a lot of restaurants on there that we didn’t really like and didn’t go to anymore, whereas with this new card one of our local favourite restaurants was on it. So we decided to test drive it with Bang Restaurant in Milnerton. This restaurant has opened where St. Elmo’s used to be.

They hadn’t changed too much from when it was St Elmo’s but it does look much better. One of the first things I noticed was their nice wine list. We had a lovely bottle of De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc, which was delicious. Unfortunately I wasn’t as impressed with the food menu as I was with the wine list. They have a breakfast menu which they serve until 2pm. Then there is also a light meals menu which is served the whole day, a rather large selection of burgers and pizzas and then a few mains like steaks, seafood and chicken dishes. I mean the cuisine is described as Asian-fusion-international-italian. I feel dizzy just reading that! Although this menu was so extensive I struggled finding something to order. I didn’t want a light meal (wraps etc.), burger or a pizza which immediately cuts out majority of the menu.  I find that by having such a large menu they are trying to have a bit of everything instead of specializing in a few dishes and perfecting them. The phrase “jack of all trades, master of none” jumps to mind. Seeing as we were going for a seafood dinner on the Friday I didn’t really want to have seafood but I also definitely didn’t want to have a burger or a pizza. It’s clear that the reason behind them having so many pizzas on their menu is due to the “inherited” pizza oven from St. Elmo’s. As soon as you see pizzas on a menu you immediately associate it with a more chilled casual vibe, whereas when you see seafood on a menu it creates a different vibe.

I was in between the Duck, Thai Green Chicken Curry and the Tuna Steak. I asked the waitress (who must have not been working there very long as she was not familiar with the menu at all) about the Tuna Steak and how the chef prepared it. It is so easy to prepare a Tuna Steak incorrectly that I am always a bit weary when ordering it. Her reply was “He will do it whichever way you want it. If you want it medium-rare he’ll do it medium-rare if you want it well-done he’ll do it well-done”. Now I know she thought she was being clever by giving me that answer but in fact that was the worst thing she could have said! Any chef worth his salt should refuse to make a tuna steak well-done as then you might as well just have a tin of tuna. I decided against the Thai Green Chicken Curry as that is such a basic meal and one can easily prepare it at home. So I opted for the Tuna Steak and told her I wanted it seared as I would rather have it under done than overdone. Two minutes later she came back to me and said they were out of tuna, which is something she should have known from the start of the shift.

I asked her about the duck (Wood fired Duck, ginger infused served on egg noodles with spring onions and topped with an orange sauce) and she said the manager had told her that it was nice and deboned, so I opted for the duck. When I received the duck, it was NOT deboned.  Eating something off the bone with a knife and fork is very tedious so had I known that it was indeed still on the bone I would definitely have reconsidered. The noodles it was served with really didn’t compliment the dish and immediately decreased the overall presentation of the meal! Therefore I ordered a side salad instead, which luckily arrived before I had finished my meal. The duck alone was tasty, but the entire meal was DEFINITELY not worth R125 (Extra R15 for the side salad).

My fiancé had the Stuffed Chicken Breast – tender chicken breast stuffed with chicken mince, pepperdews and pistachio’s, wrapped in bacon and served on chunky mushroom risotto. When he asked the waitress what the meal was like she said “I’m not a fan of chicken”. Clearly proving my earlier point that missy still needs a few lessons in waitressing. The different flavours of the stuffed breast worked well together so I will give them that, BUT what they called risotto was an absolute joke! That was as far from risotto as Oprah Winfrey is from a size 8. It really just looked more like normal rice. If they had served it with proper risotto like the menu said it would have made a massive difference. Anyway, at the end of the day we weren’t too disappointed as we went there with an open mind and didn’t really expect too much. I mean we didn’t go home hungry and thanks to Grand Dining at least we didn’t have to pay for my fiancé’s Stuffed Chicken Breast. I don’t think we will be rushing back there, but at least now we have tried a new place and we have tried out our Grand Dining Card which worked well. Initially I thought they must have only been open for a short while but the waitress said they have been open for a year and 8 months already. I really do think that they need to cut down on their selection of pizzas and burgers and work on their selection of other main meal. That or they should scrap all the other main meals and specialize in gourmet pizzas and burgers, which I think will work better for this restaurant! And it seems like they may already know this as they have half price burger and pizza specials on Monday's and Tuesday's respectively. On Sunday's they also have half price cocktail specials.

Yours in fun & food,
Elly D

Woodbridge Island
Milnerton
021-551 9772
bangjustlikethat@telkomsa.net
http://www.grand-dining.co.za/Restaurants-dining-out/Bang-Restaurant.aspx
https://www.facebook.com/bangjustlikethat#!/bangjustlikethat