First things first – the name does not mean “of the beef”, “from
the beef” or “at the beef” – basically nothing to do with beef.
Directly translated it means “In the Food”.
I am a huge fan of le Julia Child, and I am not afraid to admit
it. Frankly, I think anyone who claims to love food, or be in the know of food,
should be a fan of this marvellous woman, the mother of French Cuisine. If you
do not know who Julia Child is – I am shocked and appalled! Stop reading immediately,
and go and repent yourself.
If you know who Julia
Child is, because “..oh isn’t it that lady in the Meryl Streep movie?” – I am
still disgusted, but at least you have a slight idea. (Now finish reading this,
then go Google le woman, ok?)
Getting back to business, Julia is the ultimate non-French French
chef, possibly better than most French folk alive today. The chef at A la
Bouffe is apparently le proper Frenchie, so one’s expectations are high…
Le Good:
Simple open space, with minimal décor. I liked this less is
more vibe.
Le menu is small, basically 5 of everything, starters,
salads, mains and desserts. Keeps it light, and you know the chances of you
getting re-heated pre-prepped frozen dishes, are slim. This is the opposite of
the Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none approach, as it should be.
A good variety of all proteins available throughout all the
courses.
Friendly French-speaking waiters. If you are not speaking le
French, don’t worry, they do speak English as well, this is a nice touch.
Le Food, or le bouffe, is fresh and yummy. Authentic French…hmm,
well this is debatable. There are some dishes, which are traditional in a
sense, and then there are some which have a traditional name, but not prepared
in the traditional way. All in all, the food is fair.
Le Bad:
Even though le waiters are friendly, the service is not
sufficient. We had to stand up and look for our waiter more than once
throughout the evening. The restaurant was not completely full, yet the barman
had to double as the waiter. Perhaps look at employing an extra waiter.
Unfortunately the vegetarian choices are very disappointing,
no veggie main? Tsk tsk tsk … in this day and age, it is simply not acceptable
to not have vegetarian dishes on your menu. Have at least one option per
course. Especially for a French restaurant, there are many lovely options to
offer, go on, show-off your skills a bit. A salad simply does not cut it, I can
make a salad myself which is much more satisfying.
The portion sizes are rather small (possibly in true French style
– but we are in Africa after all). More veggies with the protein would be nice,
and some mash! Where is a portion of golden delightful buttery mash?
Nothing horrible here that I can classify under the ugly
category – instead I will mention a couple of unknown and pleasant surprises.
Le Lovely:
We went here for a birthday dinner, and I made mention of
this toward the end of the evening to our waiter, during chatting to him about
the ordering of le Bubbly. We did not order dessert, but as a surprise, the
birthday girl received an extremely generous portion of chocolate mousse (with
a candle atop!), enough for the table to share. Not only was this a lovely
gesture, but the mousse was delicious and decadent.
Le Tips:
- Make a booking, just to be sure – even though I think the
hype around La Bouffe has passed.
- I would avoid A la Bouffe for Sunday lunch, as they offer a
standard Sunday roast. To me, this is a no-no, I want options and choice. There
are many people who do enjoy a buffet-style Sunday roast, I am not one of them.
All in all, it was enjoyable and pleasant. Not quite the
menu and food I would expect from a proper French chef though. I would go back,
hoping that they have more veggie options, and an extra waiter or two.
Happy Wednesday dears!
Halfway to the weekend, hang in there.
