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
