My experience at Woodlands Eatery.…….25-04-2012

I have always wanted to go to Woodlands Eatery but every time we tried to go they were fully booked. A friend told me about them and said how amazing they were. I googled them and after reading about this husband and wife team who owned and ran the restaurant and seeing pictures of all the cute décor on the walls I was dead set on going.

So our 9 year anniversary was coming up and I saw this as the perfect opportunity go visit Woodlands. J Before the time we went for drinks at the roof top bar Tjing Tjing. Although we didn’t get to sit outside on the rooftop I really liked this place! The rawness of the “unfinished” look of the rafters contrasted against the bright red bar really did it for me. I loved it, but that is a story for another day.

Only after settling down at Woodlands and having had a look at their menu, did I realize that it was mainly a pizzeria. They don’t have a sample menu uploaded on their website as yet, so I suppose I didn’t really know what I was in for. Anyway, the fiancé wasn’t complaining as he loves pizza. So we ordered a bottle of celebratory bubbly and seeing as he was starving we thought about ordering a starter. They had some nice starters on their specials menu, but when we wanted to order one of them we were told that they were sold out of that starter. Turned out that they were pretty much sold out of everything on that day’s specials menu. Really? So why bother giving it to me in the first place or not telling me about it as you hand it to me. Anyway, there wasn’t really a great selection of starters on their normal menu so we left the starters and only ordered mains. By my friend’s recommendation I ordered the Lamb pizza.

Lamb pizza with Tuscan-style slow roasted lamb, fresh rosemary & a dash of crème fraiche.

After ordering it the waiter told me it was a really good choice so that assured me in my selection! J However I asked the waiter if it was possible to have some fresh coriander on the pizza. He said sure but that they would have to charge me extra. Usually I would have said it is fine, but I was already peeved off because of the lack of available items on their specials menu so I just left it.

When the pizza arrived it was really good. I can see why it comes recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The fresh coriander would have made a delightful difference though.

The fiancé had the Parma ham pizza bread with fresh rocket, fresh tomato, goats cheese & balsamic reduction. Parma ham and goats cheese are two of his favourite things so I figured it would be the perfect pizza for him. He didn’t enjoy it. He felt the base of the pizza was lacking flavour. And the little bit of flavour it had wasn’t very consistent throughout the pizza. I had a taste of his pizza and I’m afraid I would have to agree. I felt really bad that I had such a nice pizza and he really didn’t enjoy his! Usually when we go for pizza he takes the left overs home and ends up eating it as we get home. This time we actually gave the left overs to the car guard. :-/

So yeah, I highly doubt that I will be able to convince him to go there again anytime soon.

Yours in fun & lamb pizza,

Elly D

2 Deerpark Drive West

Vredehoek

Cape Town

021-801 5799

thewoodlandseatery@gmail.com

www.thewoodlandseatery.co.za

My experience at Knife.…….21-04-2012

A friend invited us to Knife for his birthday celebratory dinner. This was the first time I had heard of Knife. I was quite surprised to discover that they’re located at Crystal Towers by Canal Walk. Personally I would think that this is quite a difficult location to be seen at, but I suppose they have the surrounding residence and the hotel guests. We went on a chilly Saturday evening and the restaurant wasn’t very busy. Earlier on in the week another friend asked me where we were going for dinner. I still jokingly said Knife, you know Fork’s sister restaurant! Much to my surprise I was actually spot on! J

I read up on Knife a bit before we went, after which I really looked forward to going. I love meat so I couldn’t wait to see all the awesomeness on their menu. By just looking at the interior of the restaurant, you immediately know what type of restaurant you are in. They have a lovely bar situated in the middle of the restaurant with booths covering the one wall. There are blown up pictures of kid’s faces covered in steak sauce up on the walls, while other walls are decorated with animals showing their different cuts of meat.

The staff was really friendly and very helpful. The manager even helped us choose a good bottle of wine for the evening.

A few people at our table ordered ribs. It was accompanied with a massive plastic apron, not a bib, an apron! Hilarious!! Suppose this encourages you to eat it with your hands, after which it’ll look like you need a bath!

For mains I had one of their specials, namely 200g Kudu medallions served with wilted spinach, green beans, roasted potatoes and a peppercorn sauce.

It was absolutely divine! It was extremely tender and accompanied with a delicious peppercorn sauce.

Unfortunately we didn’t have dessert, although I was dying to try their baked cheesecake!

We will definitely be back there next time and then I will ensure I get to taste their cheesecake! This tasty experience has made me curious to try Fork, because if they are “related” it can only be good!

Yours in fun & wild game,

Elly D

Corner of Century Boulevard and Rialto Road

Century City

Cape Town

021-551 5000

info@knife-restaurants.co.za

www.knife-restaurants.co.za

My experience at Pistachio.……...25-02-2012

Two of our wonderful friends chose Pistachio in Durbanville to celebrate their amazing wedding at. I am not really familiar with the restaurants in the Durbanville area, hence I had not heard of this restaurant before attending their wedding. So I was quite excited to try out somewhere new.

Seeing as we are also in the middle of planning our wedding, it helped going to a wedding as it definitely put things in perspective again as one tends to get carried away amidst all of the planning.

The restaurant was beautifully decorated when we arrived.

As we were told to take a seat at our tables the waiters came to take our starter and main orders. It was great that we were given such a vast variety as we know how difficult some places can be when it comes to your wedding menu. For starters we were given 3 choices namely:

Butternut Soup

Salade Cesar – Caesar salad with crispy bacon, egg, avocado, croutons with tempura anchovies and parmesan shavings.

Escargots – Deep fried phyllo basket, filled with spinach and feta, topped with pan fried garlic and sherry snails.

For mains we were given 2 choices namely:

Jarret d’agneau du Karoo – the finest Karoo lamb shank, slow-roasted with rosemary & garlic served with a red wine jus & a caramelized onion & creamy potato puree & baby vegetables.

Poulet Piramind – Chicken breast fillet grilled in lemon, topped with halloumi cheese and served on a bed of creamy mash potato & creamy spinach.

Now although the fiancé and I usually refuse to order the same thing we just couldn’t resist both having the snails starter. I hate anchovies so the Caesar salad wasn’t even an option for me. When the snails arrived I was pleasantly surprised! I had never had snails presented to me in this manner! They were in their own little basket filled with creamy spinach and feta. It was amazing! At first when I read the description I thought that each snail would be individually wrapped in their own little phyllo parcel, as I had seen that before in a restaurant, but this alternative was great. The deep fried phyllo pastry basket was very nice and crispy! A great combination for the squishy creamy snails.

For mains we had one of each. The fiancé doesn’t particularly like lamb so I went for the Lamb Shank and he had the Chicken Fillet.

I would think that Lamb Shank is quite a difficult meal to make for a wedding as I’m sure it takes quite some time to prepare but Pistachio managed to pull it off blind folded! Both starters and mains arrived at our tables on time and without any hiccups. The Lamb Shank was absolutely amazing! I could not believe what I was tasting! The meat was so soft and succulent it literally fell off the bone! The red wine jus wasn’t to over powering. It was absolutely perfect! Now I can see why my friends chose this as one of the meals for their big night! It was so big I could not finish it although I really badly wanted to! J The fiancé’s Chicken Fillet was also very nice and tender and not too dry but of course I was too besotted with my Lamb Shank to pay too much attention to his chicken! J

For dessert they had Gateau bresilien au chocolat noir – Decadent chocolate cake with chunks of nougat, cherry and Brazilian nut with white chocolate ice cream and a Brazilian nut praline. I didn’t order my own one but tasted someone else’s. It was phenomenal! Such a creamy rich chocolate cake with so many different textures! Amazing!

What an absolute pleasure it was discovering this great restaurant. So if any of you are looking for amazing food and elegant dining in the wine lands you now know where to go! J

Yours in fun & delicious Lamb Shank,

Elly D

25 Church Street

Durbanville

Cape Town

021-979 2586

info@pistachio.co.za

www.pistachio.co.za