I think this is a long awaited review, or at least I think so. This place has been on Kloof street for quite some time now, long enough for me to forget what it was before. It is situated right next to Topolino Café, a very old shop run by a grumpy ol’ Portuguese man. If you run in there for a pack of smokes or a coke, be sure to avoid eye contact, he might make you evaporate or turn your liver into stone maybe even make you spontaneously combust. You never know.
Anyway, I decided to wear my slippers (they aren’t uncool) they are rather nice. In fact, they look like shoes. Light brown leather slippers, they have wool inside and keep my feet amazingly warm! I only paid R125.00 for them! Cape Union Mart had a sale last week, they might still have it but stock is running dry so hurry up. If you feel like hearing more about my slippers, be sure to drop me an e-mail and I will tell you all about them.
I cannot remember what the rest of my outfit consisted of, but I am sure it included jeans (or a jeanpant for our Afrikaans readers), a shirt and something very warm.
So it was truly a cold night out and the restaurant decided that it would be a magnificent idea to not close the doors. They, instead, decided to install those canvas tents so as to extend the real estate of the restaurant. We all know that they DO NOT entirely block out the cold, not even with the two industrial sized outdoor heaters they have mounted up against the walls. And the fact that they did not want to feed the fire sufficiently enough to heat up the restaurant effectively also did not really help with the cold.
Anyway, given the atmospherics it was a toss up decision between the seared tuna and the lamb shank. Eventually the lamb shank, mash, roast vegetables and onion sauce won the toss. My lady friend decided to have the Gorgonzola, crispy bacon and walnut pasta.
Here comes the tricky part, we ordered take away so that we could eat at home. The restaurant was a weeee bit cold. The food arrived swiftly though, that is indeed a plus. I think I waited about 15minutes and voila!
So, at home I plated the food and I was a bit let down by the portion of pasta. It was a half-portion in my opinion. On the flipside the portion of lamb shank was overly generous! Priced at R78.00 for the lamb shank and R58.00 for the Pasta, the pasta was over-priced and the lamb was well priced. HOWEVER, they both tasted wonderful! I wouldn’t say the pasta was perfect, but then I am extremely cynical when it comes to eating pasta anywhere but at home. It was overcooked, maybe even precooked which I strongly disagree with. Pasta needs to be fresh, as fresh as possible. TIP: make your own pasta!
Luckily I had the lamb. Everything blended so well, it was truly an amazing dish to have on an icy cold day. I immediately pat myself on the back for not ordering the tuna.
All I can say is that next time you are in the area and you are feeling a bit hungry, Give Gainsbourg a go, you won’t regret it.
Now, my slippers were a bit wet when I got home but 15minutes in front of the fire with a lovely plate of warm food sorted that out. Once again, I urge you to drop me an e-mail with regards to my garments.
Goodbye
-S
August 8, 2006 at 9:44 am
Ek het self lanklaas daar ‘n draai gaan maak. Hulle is bietjie overpriced met hulle kos. Aan die flipside mens kry nogals groot porsies, maar dit tel nie vir baie as dit net extra blare is in ‘n slaai. Hulle het ‘n moerse nice atmosfeer daar.
August 8, 2006 at 10:01 am
Well, the lambshank did not have any salad, it was all food! and it barely fit on my plate at home! it was a more than fair amount of food. The pasta on the other hand was a rather small portion, so i suppose it depends on your order. I dont think that R78 was a bad price for the lamb although it could probably be pushed down to about R70.
August 8, 2006 at 10:28 am
“The lambshank did not have any salad, it was all food!”
Ha ha ha ha!
August 8, 2006 at 12:11 pm
I had the pasta with gorgonzola, walnuts & crispy bacon. The “sauce” was good – however, the pasta sucked. I think it was homemade, but certainly pre-cooked. You can’t do that with homemade pasta. It took a good 7 minutes of eating time to prise the various strands from one another in order to mix the pasta correctly. Some strands wouldn’t divide, though & I had to slice them – not the thing to do with pasta. 5 out of 10 because of the gorgonzola sauce, which was delish
August 8, 2006 at 12:30 pm
I had ordered a salad there previously, so I didn’t get any extra croutons, only a few more rocket leaves.
I can’t understand how restaurants who put out to have a high quality standard can pre-cook anything that doesn’t take that much time to prepare. Same with Java, how dare they serve me a pre-fab patty!
August 24, 2006 at 12:35 pm
My partner and I recently visited CT from Hong Kong and twice ate at Gainsbourg. Having no idea about the place, we were rather pleased at the pretty high quality of the food. The cog au vin special was excellent, as were the salmon fish cakes. The atmosphere was almost non-existent as the place was almost empty on both occasions (admittedly as both times were weekdays) although the fire did help. This place would be buzzing in a lot of other major cities, given the quality of the food. We hope it’s still around the next time we’re in CT!
August 24, 2006 at 4:18 pm
Prij, strange that it was empty on a weekday (not night?) as they are pretty pumping during the day, lunch hour and so.
August 25, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Hi Uno, yes, a correction is in order! Both occasions were during the working week in the evening. In addition to the dishes mentioned in my previous post, my friend had the lamb chops one evening, which he thought were excellent. We also had a starter of stir-fried beef strips with salad which was exceptional. The beef was incredibly tender (really melt-in-your mouth stuff), certainly better than anything we’ve had in Asia (and we’ve lived in Bangkok which is foodie heaven).
March 22, 2007 at 9:06 am
There’s a factual error in your review (which leads me to question the validity of the rest of your article). The “grumpy Portuguese” man to which you reffer is in fact – Greek! His name is Peter and if you took the time to look him in the eye, smile and chat to him you’d find that he has the most wonderfull boyish smile:)
March 22, 2007 at 9:17 am
Fren, you have a great sense of humour! I am absolutely stunned at how well you interpret text. Amazing, simply amazing.
Greek then. Why don’t you head on over to Gainsbourg and let us know what YOU thought. This is in fact the point of this medium. Also, if you have not noticed, these reviews are of a subjective nature. That’s how we like them
March 25, 2007 at 1:25 am
Sessa, Thanks for that. I wish I could head on over, but I live in London. Instead I’m stuck with grim english food served by… well, South Africans really. I used to live in King Street where Gainsbourg is although I don’t recall ever eating there. Had a coffee once but it didn’t have much of an impact. None the less, I’m sure your story checks out
April 15, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Naw – the Cape Colony was good stuff. I thought one has to be a fool to let someone make you tomato water with the addition of a clump of risotto, but that was surprisingly good. I don’t think I would want to go there every night though, it’s just the price and the describing of the dishes that makes you wonder – WHY? The service was excellent.
July 3, 2008 at 11:52 am
Hey up Yours Mr Topolino is the greatest man who ever lived
He is the Godfather of Kloof Street and you’re just a dipshit Yuppie
Poes , We’ll burn down your House
July 3, 2008 at 11:54 am
Steve Punk – I am amazed you know how to use a computer.