Relish Reviewed

I found myself at Relish last night; it is situated on New Church Street, previously known as Rustica. I happened to receive an Email a few days earlier informing me of a special that they are running during the winter. Believe it or not, the food is technically free. Get this, Relish want you to pay merely what you think your meal was worth! How’s that for a deal?Firstly, let me begin by accrediting Relish with the most superb location with outstanding views of Table Mountain. On every floor, of which there are 3, you have the most magnificent views of Table Mountain, Lions Head and Signal Hill.

The interior is very simplistic, too simplistic for my liking. I am more of a warm-felt décor type person and what you get at Relish is a lot more ‘cold’. Don’t get met wrong, it has ambiance, but for me, it lacks soul. Modern, simplistic, neat and spacious are some characteristics that can be associated with the interior of Relish. It is not a ‘cold’ restaurant, not in the least. Downstairs, restaurant area, is especially in need of a bit more furniture, maybe a facelift in terms of the seating arrangements. However, it works for the special that is being run. The Bar = the top two floors, are similar, yet different. As can be seen by the picture, the top floor has a wonderful outside section, which is just magnificent during the summer days. A wide variety of cocktails are on offer, and often during the summer days they run specials on certain cocktails. And believe me, they are worth every penny.

Let me get to the point here, before I go on about the smaller details. The food! The food, the food, the food. A rather unusual menu in my opinion. I found myself seated, and browsing the menu, of course, no meal is complete without a good glass of wine. And seeing as I knew what I was going to have, I ordered a glass of white. House sauvignon blanc, I was just having a quick meal seeing as my companion lost his appetite, or possibly his financial liquidity. Who knows? Notwithstanding, I ordered. Pan fried Kingklip with steamed asian greens, fragrant coconut sauce and hand cut chips. It arrived and was presented rather beautifully.

Not only did it look good, it tasted extraordinary! Blasting onto the palette, to put it mildly! HOWEVER! I feel the portion of fish was totally outweighed by the amount of ‘hand-cut chips’ served alongside it. The fragrant coconut sauce mingled just perfectly with the asian greens and panfried kingklip. It was, to say the least, perfect in taste.

Would you like to know how much I ended up paying for this meal? A full R45-00. I felt that because a glass of wine put me back R23-00 that I would compensate. Although I felt that R67-00 was a bit much for the meal, if you look at the portion of kingklip, it would have been money well spent either way. I am not justifying the prices of Relish, I am merely stating that good food is rare, but not non-existent. It can be found here, at Relish.

Last point, I am not a fan of French style cuisine, especially not French styled portions and I sincerely hope that the portion of Kingklip will be larger in the future. People seem to forget that value is still value. Being ripped off is not a novelty. There is a saying, ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.’ it applies in more ways that one would think.

All in all, I would without hesitation attribute an 8 out 10 rating to Relish, considering the special, the location and once again, the view.

Quality.

-S