We stopped here for lunch in Jan while on a day out. This place looks beautiful. Chairs are exceptionally comfortable, tables clean. They had water atomisers to help keep the temperature down.
However the food was distinctly average. I had the New York Burger which wasn't awful, but my wife had the pasta which she said was terrible - lukewarm, flavourless, overcooked and poorly presented.
But the biggest problem was the service. It felt like geological timescales passed between the fleeting moments that a waiter was on the floor. Never were we offered anything like 'more drinks' or 'dessert' and we had to chase everything. I noticed other diners also becoming frustrated at the service too, and the table next to us rebuked the (only?) waiter for only bringing their cakes after they had finished their drinks.
We eventually gave our orders to the person who cleared and re-made the tables.
Gave them a tip of R2.50. Not even sure they'll get the point...
Wouldn't go back.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Meerendal Bistro
(review from 8/2/10)
ok, fine dining options in Durbanville are somewhate limited. There's the restaurant at Nitida (previously reviewed) and that's about it. I know that Bloemendal has a proper restaurant at the top of the hill, and the view is spectacular, but I'm not sure I want to try the menu after our (also reviewed) experience at their lunch place.
Meedendal used to have a restaurant called Wheatfields (or something like that), and that's what we thought we'd booked, but apparently that closed some time ago. So when we turned up we were directed to the Bistro.
There was only one other table booked for the evening, which didn't bode well, but we decided since we were there to have a go.
Service was excellent. Attentive and courteous. The starters - mushroom soup for Norma drizzeled with cabernet and croutons, and beef carpaccio with caramalised onions and rocket for me were top quality. Beautifully presented and perfectly prepared. Perfectly seasoned and loaded with flavour (although I think that they were a little generous with the onions, but that's really being very fussy).
The accompanying Meerendal cabernet sauvignon merlot 2006 for me was well balanced, smoky, spicy and with a big long finish and went perfectly with the starter.
For mains we both ordered the beef fillet with potato fondant, with seasonal vegetables. The first surprise was the size of the fillet - it was quite simply enormous. Easily enough for two, perhaps three. I wondered how they'd managed 'medium' on something that large, and when I pressed my knife against it I realised instantly that it was essentially raw.
We both returned them to the kitchen for a little more cooking.
On return, they were better, although the center was still pretty much raw meat. The flavour was not very strong, although of course the cut is not usually known for strong flavour.
The second surprise was the 'potato fondant'. Or at least the fondant part. What we got were four chunks of boiled potatoes that had that 'boiled yesterday and reheated' flavour to them (you know the one?). It looked like the veg had all been stir fried together, so the carrots were perfect and the courgettes pretty much already turned to water...
The dessert menu was a choice of creme brulee, chocolate mousse, chocolate tart, malva putting or cheese board. When we enquired as to the delivious-looking range of tarts and cakes in the display cabinet, we were told they were 'just for lunches I'm afraid'.
So Norma skipped dessert and I had the malva pudding, not being willing to risk the creme brulee after the mains. The actual malva pudding might best be described as 'bouncy', and the sauce looked and tasted store-bought. So a bit disappointing really.
So overall, not a great meal out. Excellent beginning, but that was the highlight, and it tailed off from there. I'm afraid a repeat visit would not be on the cards.
Meedendal used to have a restaurant called Wheatfields (or something like that), and that's what we thought we'd booked, but apparently that closed some time ago. So when we turned up we were directed to the Bistro.
There was only one other table booked for the evening, which didn't bode well, but we decided since we were there to have a go.
Service was excellent. Attentive and courteous. The starters - mushroom soup for Norma drizzeled with cabernet and croutons, and beef carpaccio with caramalised onions and rocket for me were top quality. Beautifully presented and perfectly prepared. Perfectly seasoned and loaded with flavour (although I think that they were a little generous with the onions, but that's really being very fussy).
The accompanying Meerendal cabernet sauvignon merlot 2006 for me was well balanced, smoky, spicy and with a big long finish and went perfectly with the starter.
For mains we both ordered the beef fillet with potato fondant, with seasonal vegetables. The first surprise was the size of the fillet - it was quite simply enormous. Easily enough for two, perhaps three. I wondered how they'd managed 'medium' on something that large, and when I pressed my knife against it I realised instantly that it was essentially raw.
We both returned them to the kitchen for a little more cooking.
On return, they were better, although the center was still pretty much raw meat. The flavour was not very strong, although of course the cut is not usually known for strong flavour.
The second surprise was the 'potato fondant'. Or at least the fondant part. What we got were four chunks of boiled potatoes that had that 'boiled yesterday and reheated' flavour to them (you know the one?). It looked like the veg had all been stir fried together, so the carrots were perfect and the courgettes pretty much already turned to water...
The dessert menu was a choice of creme brulee, chocolate mousse, chocolate tart, malva putting or cheese board. When we enquired as to the delivious-looking range of tarts and cakes in the display cabinet, we were told they were 'just for lunches I'm afraid'.
So Norma skipped dessert and I had the malva pudding, not being willing to risk the creme brulee after the mains. The actual malva pudding might best be described as 'bouncy', and the sauce looked and tasted store-bought. So a bit disappointing really.
So overall, not a great meal out. Excellent beginning, but that was the highlight, and it tailed off from there. I'm afraid a repeat visit would not be on the cards.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Bloemendon't
I had given up writing restaurant reviews a while ago due to not really going to restaurants - blame the recession! But I have decided that food is far too important to let a little thing like a global economic downturn affect our enjoyment of it!
About six months ago we visited the lower of the Bloemendal Restaurants - you know, the one where you go for the wine tasting.
We spent about 20 minutes trying to get the attention of the waiters before giving up and leaving.
Today, thinking we really should give the place a second chance, we again went there for lunch.
We arrived at about 2.10pm, to a restaurant that was about half full. The first 10 minutes we just waited to be seated before going over and interrupting one of the three waiters and asking them for a table. Then the next 10 minutes was waiting for menus. Then another 10 waiting to order. At about 2.35 our order was taken.
In the meantime, we were slightly disconcerted by the table next to us saying very firmly to their waiter while they sent their food back to the kitchen that the quality of the food and the waiting was (and they used another word which I will spare you) rubbish.
They promised the food within 15 minutes, so it arrived in 25, just on the dot of 3pm - 50 minutes after we arrived. This is lunch remember, and we had ordered two chicken wraps.
The wraps arrived supported by a cast of green salad that would have cheered Cecil B DeMille in quantity if not quality, as it was dry and undressed.
The wraps themselves were described as 'Thai Chicken' although I'm not sure what was Thai about them. The chicken had grey patches on it which we investigated forensically and unsuccessfully, and was completely without taste of any kind. They had attempted to create some level of flavour by drizzling the outside of the wrap with some sort of cheap sweet balsamic-flavoured liquid. This made it impossible to use your hands and attracted flies. It also added nothing to the taste.
The glass of Sauvignon Blanc that accompanied it was actually quite good, but do yourself a favour - buy it at Pick n Pay and spare yourself the pain of a visit to Bloemendal. A wrap from KFC, Nandos, McDonalds at two thirds the price would have been much preferable and much tastier. That fact is quite depressing and when the best you can say about the restaurant that you are eating at is that it aspires to match the quality of a major fast food chain you should probably go elsewhere.
The best part of the meal was definitely the butterscotch sweet we were given on leaving.
Not worth the pricetag.
About six months ago we visited the lower of the Bloemendal Restaurants - you know, the one where you go for the wine tasting.
We spent about 20 minutes trying to get the attention of the waiters before giving up and leaving.
Today, thinking we really should give the place a second chance, we again went there for lunch.
We arrived at about 2.10pm, to a restaurant that was about half full. The first 10 minutes we just waited to be seated before going over and interrupting one of the three waiters and asking them for a table. Then the next 10 minutes was waiting for menus. Then another 10 waiting to order. At about 2.35 our order was taken.
In the meantime, we were slightly disconcerted by the table next to us saying very firmly to their waiter while they sent their food back to the kitchen that the quality of the food and the waiting was (and they used another word which I will spare you) rubbish.
They promised the food within 15 minutes, so it arrived in 25, just on the dot of 3pm - 50 minutes after we arrived. This is lunch remember, and we had ordered two chicken wraps.
The wraps arrived supported by a cast of green salad that would have cheered Cecil B DeMille in quantity if not quality, as it was dry and undressed.
The wraps themselves were described as 'Thai Chicken' although I'm not sure what was Thai about them. The chicken had grey patches on it which we investigated forensically and unsuccessfully, and was completely without taste of any kind. They had attempted to create some level of flavour by drizzling the outside of the wrap with some sort of cheap sweet balsamic-flavoured liquid. This made it impossible to use your hands and attracted flies. It also added nothing to the taste.
The glass of Sauvignon Blanc that accompanied it was actually quite good, but do yourself a favour - buy it at Pick n Pay and spare yourself the pain of a visit to Bloemendal. A wrap from KFC, Nandos, McDonalds at two thirds the price would have been much preferable and much tastier. That fact is quite depressing and when the best you can say about the restaurant that you are eating at is that it aspires to match the quality of a major fast food chain you should probably go elsewhere.
The best part of the meal was definitely the butterscotch sweet we were given on leaving.
Not worth the pricetag.
Friday, September 11, 2009
NILC is a Waste of Time
In this piece in the Mail and Guardian Pastor Ray McCauley (leader of Rhema church) and the organisation he founded (National Interfaith Leadership Council) says that they are going to raise again the issues of abortion and gay marriage in South Africa.
I'll tell you why this is a waste of everyone's time and effort.
You can't combat relativism with relativism.
The obvious example (in that same piece) is in NILCs condemnation of former constitutional court judge Kriegler's Foundation Under Law's attempt to get the Judicial Services Commission to look again at the decision not to investigate the behaviour of Cape Judge President Judge Hlophe.
Why would they weigh in on that? They say that they regarded the decision of the JSC not to proceed as 'drawing a line' under the case, and condemned the criticism from Kriegler. That seems to me entirely consistant with an organisation constituted around fudging truth. And as an aside, it does make one wonder (along with McCauley's cosying up to politicians in the run-up to this year's elections) about the political agenda of NILC, given the ANC's support for Hlophe.
An interfaith leadership council is almost by definition relativistic and not interested in truth. It is only concerned with everyone getting along - at almost any cost.
Don't get me wrong, I want to get along. I want Muslims to be free to practice Islam, just as I want to be free to tell them that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Here's the thing. In any relativistic past-time like NILC, sooner or later you come up against a big problem. It's called Absolute Truth. Either it's there - and gay marriage, abortion and, yes, interfaith councils are wrong by those standards; or it's not - and they're all perfectly ok.
But you can't have it both ways Ray.
I'll tell you why this is a waste of everyone's time and effort.
You can't combat relativism with relativism.
The obvious example (in that same piece) is in NILCs condemnation of former constitutional court judge Kriegler's Foundation Under Law's attempt to get the Judicial Services Commission to look again at the decision not to investigate the behaviour of Cape Judge President Judge Hlophe.
Why would they weigh in on that? They say that they regarded the decision of the JSC not to proceed as 'drawing a line' under the case, and condemned the criticism from Kriegler. That seems to me entirely consistant with an organisation constituted around fudging truth. And as an aside, it does make one wonder (along with McCauley's cosying up to politicians in the run-up to this year's elections) about the political agenda of NILC, given the ANC's support for Hlophe.
An interfaith leadership council is almost by definition relativistic and not interested in truth. It is only concerned with everyone getting along - at almost any cost.
Don't get me wrong, I want to get along. I want Muslims to be free to practice Islam, just as I want to be free to tell them that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Here's the thing. In any relativistic past-time like NILC, sooner or later you come up against a big problem. It's called Absolute Truth. Either it's there - and gay marriage, abortion and, yes, interfaith councils are wrong by those standards; or it's not - and they're all perfectly ok.
But you can't have it both ways Ray.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Churches in Edinburgh and Scotland
Great site listing churches in Edinburgh, and also going out to cover Glasgow, St Andrews, Perth, Stirling, Aberdeen, Dundee, Paisley.
Origin Scotland provide this as a service to the community and it's completely free! They hope one day to cover all of Scotland with it.
Origin Scotland provide this as a service to the community and it's completely free! They hope one day to cover all of Scotland with it.
Churches in Cape Town
Really useful website of churches in Cape Town, South Africa. A directory listing, each entry is checked by a real human on the telephone before it goes into the directory.
Not claiming it's a complete list, but definitely the best one out there, and growing all the time.
Not claiming it's a complete list, but definitely the best one out there, and growing all the time.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Bach, Christmas Oratorio, Groote Kerk
On the 19th December we went down to Cape Town to the Groote Kerk (literally, 'big' (better 'great') Church) on Adderly Street for a performace of Bach's Christmas Oratorio by the Philharmonia Choir of Cape Town, directed by Kare Hanken with the Camerata Tinta Barocca Ensemble.
We arrived a little early thinking the traffic would be bad, but it was flowing nicely, and once we'd found our way around the diversions (most of Adderly Street was closed for a Christmas market) we decided to explore the market for a bit before going into the church.
We arrived a little early thinking the traffic would be bad, but it was flowing nicely, and once we'd found our way around the diversions (most of Adderly Street was closed for a Christmas market) we decided to explore the market for a bit before going into the church.
I'm not sure what I was expecting from a Christmas market, but having attended a few French and German Christmas markets (and the new Highland one in Edinburgh this year), I was probably not really prepared for Cape Town's one - which comprised 50% food stalls and the rest the sort of market junk you find everywhere (R5 fake brand sunglasses, cheap electronic goods, hand bags and perfume by the litre...!) There was also a fair amound of thumping pop music of a fairly third-rate variety. Actually, that's being generous. Bottom-rate.
There were plenty of people around though, and little cars for kiddies to play in, and loads of stalls to look at. Although once you'd seen three, you'd pretty much seen them all.
We returned to the top of the street and made our way round the back and into the huge church, which was already well-filled.
There were plenty of people around though, and little cars for kiddies to play in, and loads of stalls to look at. Although once you'd seen three, you'd pretty much seen them all.
We returned to the top of the street and made our way round the back and into the huge church, which was already well-filled.
The first thing that struck me was the completely hopeless sight-lines in the church - the worst of any building I have ever encountered. Everyone could see the pulpit, sure - so as a centre for preaching it was fine. But for concerts it is a disaster. Only the front row of the ground floor stood any chance of seeing anything. Even the front row of the balcony was useless, since the wooden ballistrade was so high that if you sat down you could only just see the elevated pulpit. We estimated a hall capacity of about 1500. The auditorium is bland and presbyterian in its austerity - with the exception of three ghastly ceiling roses which look rather like the icing on a large and grotesque pastel cake, on which someone at a cookery class has been practicing. The lights are recessed into the icing, and the whole thing is crying out for some large chandeliers. The ancient boxed-in pews are uncomfortable and only downstairs had any padding at all.
The concert started slightly late as one member of the orchestra was 'stuck in traffic' - something we quite refused to believe having just driven there...
Bach's Christmas Oratorio was never intended as a single concert piece. It comprises a week of cantatas, one for each day of holy week, so tonight's programme was made up of cantatas 1-3 and 6.
The concert started slightly late as one member of the orchestra was 'stuck in traffic' - something we quite refused to believe having just driven there...
Bach's Christmas Oratorio was never intended as a single concert piece. It comprises a week of cantatas, one for each day of holy week, so tonight's programme was made up of cantatas 1-3 and 6.
From the very start it was clear that there was to be one star of the show. Lead trumpet (playing a D trumpet) was Michael Blake. He was quite simply superb. Brilliant tone, he performed the tricky, exposed rapid Bach trumpet obbligato with crisp skill and impossible precision. I took a private bet with myself as to whether he would manage the entire night without putting a foot wrong. While the part does occasionally stray into pitches audible only to bats, the parts we could hear where quite stunningly performed.
The rest of the orchestra also performed excellently, if not quite as flawlessly as the lead trumpet. The tiny string section (more a double quartet really) was a little lost in the large hall. The occasionally fluffed string entry betrayed a slight under-rehearsing of the orchestra, but it is hard to rehearse a work as large as this... so I think some leniency (or at least understanding) is required there.
The soloists were generally good. The counter-tenor (Mark Donnelly) in particular was excellent, and it was good to see that the art is not lost. Although it does appear odd to hear a bloke sing "mein liebster Brautigam"...
The tenor (Arthur Swan) was the weak link of the soloists, and it was quite clear that Bach's melismas were a bridge too far for him. His intonation was not always good and he appeared to struggle in a number of the passages. An unconvincing performance.
The choir performed well. They suffered from choir inertia (an unwillingness to commit to the start of phrases) which is a common complaint of choirs all over (not least our own). But once going sang confidently and well. The usual upper soprano problems were not too bad as to be distracting. It was a generally good performance.
One thing which did spoil it was not under their control. The appalling pop music I meantioned earlier did stream in the windows from time to time throughout the evening, threatening in the quiet passages to overwhelm the Bach. A true case of the voice of good being drowned out by a more forceful and yet talentless opponent.
Another, and far more serious thing I noticed was this: among the estimated 1,100 people present, there was not one black or coloured face. There were a couple in the orchestra and choir, and one of the soloists was black. But while Bach will always win out in the end against Beyonce, he cannot win if the culture rejects him. And while we must preserve cultures in our society, and ensure that African music is shared with the west, this goes both ways, and we should ensure that education of the greats of western culture is also shared with the people of Africa.
I would love to say that our lead trumpet went through the entire evening without a single error, but alas, on the very last phrase of the evening (a simple one at that), he fluffed one note. Just one, and about the second last one he played all night. So he was in fact human after all, and not (as I had begun to wonder) one of the leads from heaven's orchestra sent down on some sort of temporary loan for the performance of Bach. Perhaps he was the angel's understudy.
The rest of the orchestra also performed excellently, if not quite as flawlessly as the lead trumpet. The tiny string section (more a double quartet really) was a little lost in the large hall. The occasionally fluffed string entry betrayed a slight under-rehearsing of the orchestra, but it is hard to rehearse a work as large as this... so I think some leniency (or at least understanding) is required there.
The soloists were generally good. The counter-tenor (Mark Donnelly) in particular was excellent, and it was good to see that the art is not lost. Although it does appear odd to hear a bloke sing "mein liebster Brautigam"...
The tenor (Arthur Swan) was the weak link of the soloists, and it was quite clear that Bach's melismas were a bridge too far for him. His intonation was not always good and he appeared to struggle in a number of the passages. An unconvincing performance.
The choir performed well. They suffered from choir inertia (an unwillingness to commit to the start of phrases) which is a common complaint of choirs all over (not least our own). But once going sang confidently and well. The usual upper soprano problems were not too bad as to be distracting. It was a generally good performance.
One thing which did spoil it was not under their control. The appalling pop music I meantioned earlier did stream in the windows from time to time throughout the evening, threatening in the quiet passages to overwhelm the Bach. A true case of the voice of good being drowned out by a more forceful and yet talentless opponent.
Another, and far more serious thing I noticed was this: among the estimated 1,100 people present, there was not one black or coloured face. There were a couple in the orchestra and choir, and one of the soloists was black. But while Bach will always win out in the end against Beyonce, he cannot win if the culture rejects him. And while we must preserve cultures in our society, and ensure that African music is shared with the west, this goes both ways, and we should ensure that education of the greats of western culture is also shared with the people of Africa.
I would love to say that our lead trumpet went through the entire evening without a single error, but alas, on the very last phrase of the evening (a simple one at that), he fluffed one note. Just one, and about the second last one he played all night. So he was in fact human after all, and not (as I had begun to wonder) one of the leads from heaven's orchestra sent down on some sort of temporary loan for the performance of Bach. Perhaps he was the angel's understudy.
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