|
|
|
|
|
Fresh, classic dishes at the Tin Roof
|
November 29, 2009
By Derek Taylor
The Tin Roof restaurant
Ballito
Lunch only at the moment, closed Mondays
032 947 2548
Finding a new gem of a restaurant these days is about as rare as finding the Cullinan diamond's twin.
But thanks to my friend Dave Charles of Ballito's Life&Style magazine, this week I was introduced to Althea da Silva's very attractive restaurant at the end of a farm road near Ballito.
Its big, airy veranda is part of an old farm complex, surrounded by nursery plants and trees and with the murmur of a little cascade as background music - altogether a very attractive, relaxing venue. And you can shop for plants, too.
The a la carte menu is intelligently composed and the cooking is excellent. Six starters range from R32 (goujons of hake beer-batter-fried) to R55 (grilled chicken, haloumi, avocado and pine nut salad with a cream dressing).
Seven mains at R50 (for a big gourmet beef burger with salsa, gherkins and shoestring chips) to R82 (char-grilled chicken wrapped in bacon on a bed of artichoke escalivada with crisp sweet potato slices). A tiger prawns laksa with noodles is R89 and a five-rib rack of lamb with new potatoes, green beans and farm-fashion mint sauce is R80. Grilled line fish is R65.
Desserts are imaginative - four at R20 to R32, including a special daily chef's choice.
Clare and Sue began with a tiger prawn and melon cocktail with fresh melon and a dab of wasabi to wake the whole thing up. The prawns were a little overdone but the complex citrus dressing was superb.
Dave and I went for the goujons of hake, which came with a well-judged tartar sauce. The fillets had been deep-fried to perfection in their beer-batter casings, arriving wrapped in newspaper in a tin bucket. This deceptively simple dish was most satisfying.
We went on to Brie-filled rump wrapped in a crisp phyllo pastry with a beetroot pickle and side-salad for Sue: excellent, she reported.
Clare enjoyed her smoked salmon wrap. The wrap itself was a thin naan-like exterior enclosing a layer of well-flavoured cottage-type cheese, another of avocado and then an ample filling of smoked salmon and rocket with a radicchio salad on the side. Perfect, said Clare.
Dave and I went for the five-rib racks of lamb - at a very attractive price, these days. They were perfectly roasted to medium and rare. The new potatoes were properly cooked and the green beans were crunchy. The mint sauce was like the one granny made: a delicately sour, well-flavoured version.
I go on and off desserts like a neurotic model on a diet, but on this occasion Dave and I both fell on entrancing mixes of marshmallow and nuts set in chocolate-toffee-chewy beds with dollops of cream. Again, apparent simplicity, but a surprisingly enjoyable mix of flavours and textures.
Sue enjoyed her home-made ice-cream with butterscotch sauce and mini-marshmallows. Clare rhapsodised about her parfait of honey and orange in a crisp tuille cup garnished with cherries and berry coulis.
Verdict: Excellent cooking and materials. Fresh and imaginative attention to classic dishes. A good wine list. Outstanding service and warmth of welcome. Relaxing country-comfort surroundings. Good value. Well worth the trip.
To get there, take the Ballito/Compensation turn-off on the North Coast highway. Turn left, away from Ballito, then first left again - carry on 1km of tar and then dirt road to Green Gold Nursery sign.
Our top 10 winner
The Top Ten restaurants annual choice by eatout makes Carly Goncalves's 9th Avenue Bistro a worthy if lonely winner for KZN this year. I retain a reservation about these public relations-governed contests.
Why wasn't Carly on the list last year? He is famous for his years and years of consistency of quality and creativity. Why weren't (for instance) previous winners of the Top Ten Jackie Cameron of Hartford House and Chris Black of Aubergine on this year's list?
Carly is Carly: he hasn't suddenly got better. Jackie and Chris have not suddenly got worse. All three are famous for their consistency of outstanding excellence - the most difficult quality to achieve for any restaurant, the most praiseworthy for excellent restaurants.
If the Top Ten is an accurately measured contest, it should show a stable list with occasional demotions and promotions. This hit and miss rationing of the 10, in my opinion, is not consistent in its method and thoroughness of evaluation. Do equally outstanding and consistent chefs have to just take turns at "winning"?
Two more winning restaurateurs
Maestro Marco Nico is competing with the airlines. Teaming with Under the Influence wine fundi Allister Kreft, his MaroPaulo bistro at Mt Edgecombe is taking diners on a tour of Bresia, Abruzzi and Bologna with their regional dishes and wines.
No air tickets are needed. For R160 you get Marco's five regional courses and R100 gets you the five wines. This tour starts at 6.30pm on Monday.
The last time I attended one of Marco's Italian regional expositions I was blown away by his expertise and the revelations of food he produced. If you fancy a show-off evening of real Italian food and appropriate wines, ring 031 502 2221 to join this one.
Last year's Top Ten eatout winner Chris Black of our consistently top Aubergine is cooking up more of the new offerings that keep his restaurant buzzing. His menu changes every month and offers specialties every day.
Last week, I tried his 17-dish December menu and that Friday's eight specials. The restaurant fed some 75 diners that night and these constantly renewed creations are the reason why. A couple of his new menu stars:
Char-grilled escalopes of veal from up-country White Rock, with an intense morel mushroom sauce, mash and wilted spinach. Roast duck from Kroondal. Twice-baked goats' cheese soufflé. Note the discovery and use of top suppliers: White Rock, Kroondal and others in the Midlands.
Inflation makes us more expensive than London
London, Paris and Tokyo are rated the most expensive cities to eat in worldwide. But inflation is helping South Africa catch up.
London's authoritative Time Out magazine sought out good restaurants "for dining well on a budget". One offered three courses for the equivalent of R115 (BYO, no corkage). Another, a Japanese izakaya (a kind of pub) offered a set lunch for R56.35 and a four-dish dinner at R138. Another offered a three-course dinner, no corkage, at R143.75.
[Email this story...]
[Easy Print...]
|
|
