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
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