It’s been a while since I’ve done a restaurant review, so I’d better catch up a bit!
I’ll start with this one: Bukhara in Stellenbosch
What fun this night was! We went to surprise a friend for his 50th birthday. I like this restaurant a lot. They always present you with top class food and the service is generally exceptional. Yes, it is a bit pricey, but it’s well worth the money you pay out to have a decent plate of curry. Their portions are also a wonderful size.
So last time we ate there, the birthday boy had a Vindaloo … needless to say it’s HOT HOT HOT!!! His poor wife had to deal with him blasting the roof off of their house for a few days after that and had to keep freezing the toilet paper. For those carnivores out there, this is a great place to eat because the curry they serve you has copious amounts of succulent meat in it. I, on the other hand, like meat but don’t always want that much of it. So this time around I ordered a vegetable curry. I just added some of my dates meat to it when I felt like some (lucky for me he was eating the lamb which was very yummy indeed). I was very impressed with this vegetable curry … it was delicious … although certain people were not as impressed with it. Some at the table said it made the burn of their curry come out even more. Well, I didn’t feel a thing so it couldn’t have been that bad! ;)
The only crap thing about their menu is their desserts. Personally I am not a fan of them at all. Some had the ice-cream … which is actually horrid in my opinion … some had the bread and butter pudding (an Indian take on an old favourite) – which isn’t half bad actually … could use a bit more “sweet” though. I stuck to my old favourite, Dom Pedro … he has always worked wonders for me … especially when he is loaded with a double tot of my favourite liqueur!
It was a fun night and we didn’t get kicked out for being too raucous either – which was nice for a change ;)
Bukhara gets 5 stars from me – just because I love it!
Ok, next on the list is: Primi Piatti, Somerset West
Yes people, they’re actually still around and haven’t closed down. They’ve moved to the Vodacom Golf Park near Somerset Mall. Sadly. To be honest, it’s a bit of a crap venue to have such a cool restaurant. I think it would be better to have them move to where Cape Town Fish Market is (you know … right there by Ster Kinekor in Somerset Mall) … I’m sure that CTFM wouldn’t mind since they are always empty anyway and should probably just close shop.
Anyway, as always the food at Primi was great. I had really delicious pasta as a main meal, and we started with a garlic pita with caramelized onions. All in all it was a good meal. The only problem with Primi now is the venue … they could have done so much better with the choice. It just seems so out of the way now. Surely they would have made more money staying in the mall. Although, I’m sure that the mall has higher rental prices, hence the move (???) …
Oh and by the way, WHEN did they stop serving that awesome bread basket before the meal … you know the one … you could slop a whole lot of balsamic vinegar and olive oil onto your side plate and dip the bread into it and munch away while enjoying the (hopefully) great company and good conversation. I felt a little robbed by the fact that there was no bread … just olive oil and balsamic vinegar … and to be quite frank, that doesn’t go down well without the bread.
Oh well, I still love the food though and would still recommend it.
Primi Piatti gets 3 stars from me – nice food, crap venue
Ok, let’s see … next on the list is: Panarotti’s, Somerset Mall
We took the kids to go eat there on a Wednesday … why specifically a Wednesday??? Well, it’s “Kids Eat Free” on a Wednesday. This of course only works if you don’t have kids like mine who prefer eating more than the little bits they give and love the adult menu. I felt very sorry for our poor waiter, Effort (I kid you not). He was very polite, well mannered and very helpful. Unfortunately Effort was not having a very good night. His orders where a little messed up on the timing side of things. Poor guy. I will assume the kitchen had something to do with that though. And I will also assume that it might have been Effort’s first night as a waiter. Bad timing on Efforts part, as Wednesday’s happen to be a busy night in this establishment … with lots of grumpy parents and hungry children racing against the bed-time clock.
The kids did get a free meal, but we had them put straight into doggy-bags to bring home while they ate their adult meals instead. It’s a shame that the dessert is also not free though … just the main meal … although, that can save money … if you have kids that eat like birds. My youngest eats like a bird, so she ate free. Everyone really enjoyed their meals. I really enjoyed my very large portion of tequila flamed chicken pasta, even though my mouth did catch fire from all the chilli in it … or it could have been from the pepper in it … although it felt like chilli. I was looking very flushed … as if my inner tomato had decided to show itself. It was delicious :)
I did note (to my horror) that they have a chicken and mayo pizza available now. That is just disgusting! I’m sure one could generally enjoy something like that, but have you ever had anything with chicken and mayo at Panarotti’s??? Unless you like excessive amounts of mayo, you will not enjoy it. I had a meal (the name of it I forget) that consists of garlic pita bread, served with sliced avo and then chicken and mayo on a bed of lettuce. The avo and the pita was awesome … the chicken was floating in mayo, but after picking the pieces of chicken cartilage out from the mix and removing some of the mayo it was quite tasty. Yes, I did tell the waiter to tell them to perhaps shred their chicken better (perhaps ask someone who has feeling in their fingertips and can see to do it) and perhaps hold off of being so heavy handed with the mayo when he asked if I enjoyed the meal. One shouldn’t lie when one is paying for something … right??? (I promise I used way more tact and was very nice about it though). I used to love that dish, but I won’t be ordering that again anytime soon.
The other problem I have with this place is that they’ve renovated it to make more space perhaps for the tons of people they need to cram in there for all their fab specials. I don’t have a problem with renovating – it looks nice and all … the problem I have is that they sacrificed the toilets for the space. That’s a bit of a problem. ESPECIALLY if you are sitting there on your own with your child and your child then needs the toilet. You have to walk out of the restaurant and go to the mall toilets opposite the entrance to the Spur, which are the closest ones available. This is an idiotic thing to do people. As a mother who is always concerned for her child’s well being, you cannot in this day and age let your kid go toddling off to the toilet by themselves while you are sitting there waiting for them to come back. You can’t leave your bag and shopping at the table either because some knob might decide to do some affirmative shopping at your table. So what do you do? Personally I would call the manager over and tell them it’s a stupid arrangement and was not very thoughtful and they will now either sit at my table and keep an eye on my stuff (and God help them if they move) or they will take my child to the toilet themselves and bring them back safely or lose a limb. Luckily for the manager that hasn’t had to happen yet.
Panarotti’s gets 3 stars from me – it’s so much better than going to the Spur, but that chicken mayo thing and toilet issue is a bit much. Otherwise its great food and can be good family time :)
So there it is … three reviews in one post … aren’t I a clever munchkin!!!
