Le Soleil, Cuzco - The Fast-food of French cuisine

Aha, finally the time has come – and my fist restaurant is a bit of a shame, which after the owner’s petty comments and bad attitude on tripadvisor, has now turned into a big name and shame!

 

Whenever travelling I always have a look at restaurants on tripadvisor to see real-time opinions and reviews from “real-people”.

This French restaurant in the heart of Cuzco is rated as the number 1 in all of Cuzco – with many people raving about the interior of the restaurant, and claiming that you will struggle to find better French food, even in Paris! Now that is a bold statement to make.

To me this sounded like heaven! I love proper French food, and after traveling for between 24-18 hours, what could be more satisfying than a little bit of lush French cuisine?

 

This massive expectations we walked down the cobblestone street to Le Soleil. We were the only customers there, but thought perhaps we were early and this might be a pro, as it is not packed yet our food would be served a little quicker – we were starving.

 

The host and owner was very friendly and was happy to answer any questions about the menu, which looked rather yummy. And lucky me there was a veggie starter and main.

For starters we had the ginger pumpkin crème with truffle – this was really nice, nothing spectacular and no sign of the promised truffle, but a warming ginger flavour. Snails in butter and herb sauce – which was just that, nothing more, nothing less (presentation was lacking though). And the Avo Swilrs, this is avocado strips rolled and filled with cubed veggies such as tomato, cucumber and aubergine – a little bland, and actually a pretty presented four ingredient salad.

 

Mains were duck breast and I had ratatouille. The duck was nicely cooked, but no lush sauce or veggies to compliment this; and my ratatouille was pretty much a warm version of my starter, substituting the cucumber for baby marrow, and the avo for carrot.

 

Now maybe it’s just me, but I am 100% certain that it’s not, no-one goes to a restaurant and orders a main and expects just a chunk of protein, or a scoop of a cooked vegetables (and this comment is not only regarding Le Soleil – but I might as well rant about it now and get it over with).

Where is the harm in putting a portion of side veggies, salad, potato, sauce on a plate?? That’s right – no harm, in fact only goodness. You are ordering a meal after all. I see this “trend” sticking out it’s ugly little head in all the more restaurants, and frankly I think it’s ridiculous! Stop squeezing the money for your well-paying clients greedy restaurateurs! Tisk tisk tisk!

 

Anyway, back to our evening at Le Soleil. For dessert we had the chocolate fondant as someone on mention this to be the best fondant they’ve ever eaten; and the mango, tonka bean and passion fruit mousse – the passion fruit was super sour, you could taste nothing else, and also did not want to take a second bite for fear of burning a hole in your aorta with the sour acid ( a little dramatic, I know), surely the chef should taste what he puts on a plate? Unfortunately the fondant, which was supposed to be the king of the evening turned out to be a peasant in disguise. No rich chocolate lava flowing out when cutting open… An overcooked fondant for any restaurant is a no-no, and especially for a French restaurant, this is the mother of all no-no’s.

 

So all in all it was not the worst meal I’ve ever had, but most certainly not the best. There is not one thing that we ate that was exceptional or even great. I think due to the fact that this place received such amazing reviews it was an ever bigger disappointment, as we arrived with huge expectations.

In all honesty, the people that commented on that you could not find better French food, even in Paris – I’m having a sneaky feeling that they’ve probably never been to Paris, and the rest of the raving reviews might well be the owner himself, or his close friends… as we were the only table there for the evening. Does this sound like the kind of place that is the best in a city? Empty during the festive season? No, it does not.

 

Do not be fooled, give this a miss when in Cuzco.

 

Until we eat again…

India Palace, Weltevreden Park - Warm and inviting

On this cold and drizzly summers day (??) I would like to do 2 things – 1) Be dressed much more appropriately for winter, whilst cuddling under a huge fluffy duvet and watch movies, Masterchef Aus marathon, or an entire season of Grey’s…

2). Indulge in wonderfully warm feel good food, that makes you want more. I’m think along the lines of proper Indian.

 My favourite is Karma in Greenside, but recently I have been introduced to a charming slice of India, in a nook at the Palms Centre in Weltevreden Park. Yes – the centre is slightly suspect, but most things in Weltevreden Park are, but once inside India Palace you’ll not even notice the fake palm tree trying to disguise a signal pole or the KFC drive-through.

A lovely little restaurant with a warm interior and extremely friendly authentic Indian staff who make you feel right at home.

Whenever I dine at a restaurant of a different culture, my key is took look at the owner, chef and people who work there – if they are authentic, chances are the food will be too, which means you’ve got gold!

 A fair selection of wine, at a very reasonable price, and delightful warming dishes for all meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. What makes any Indian dish even better? Naan!! India Palace has a nice variety of naan breads and roti’s to select, to enhance the indulgence of your meal.

Crispy, non-oil dripping vegetable Pakoras and onion Bhaji with a spicy minty sauce is the perfect way to wake those taste buds for the love that is to come. The portions are very generous, definitely to share, and all appetisers for under R20.00!

Most people order Dahl as a side dish – but here, I had the black Dahl as my meal, and cleaned the little brass pot with naan to get every last bit of flavour.

The Korma is packed with flavour and ingredients, loads of different veggies, or juicy bite sized chunks of meat. At a glance and a smell the butter chicken look rich creamy sauce without the luminescent guava pink colour to it ( in my eyes, that is a bonus) which means only one thing – the colour comes from the proper ingredients used, and not from a little Moir’s bottle.

What I don’t like – the mountains of basmati rice that come standard with any order…rather give me Naan, or a choice of rice or naan. The massas of rice just goes to waste.

" I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2000 of something."

                                                                                                                   - Mitch Hedberg

I think I might need a take away to calm my nerves after the storm that is to come. Keep warm, and your cars covered!

 

Happy Friday! Until we eat again…

 

The Red Chamber, Hyde Park - Tantalising authentic Chinese cusine

When you think of Chinese food, do you get an image of deep-fried balls/strips of what is supposed to be chicken, but could in fact be any form of animal protein (know as well as unknown to man), drenched in that sickly sweet pink sweet-and-sour sauce, accompanied by enough rice to feed a family of 6?
You have that picture in your mind, and feeling slightly uncomfortable and nauseated? Aha, yes – we all do, and if you don’t, you are in need of some culinary education.

Today I will tell you where to go to have anything but the above mentioned.
The Red Chamber.

Owned by a Chinese lady who has been running this authentic restaurant for almost 30 odd years, speaking a very good English but still with a heavy Chinese accent – you know you’ve hit the jackpot.

Dark wood with accents of bamboo to break the lighting on the sides of the restaurant, and proper chopsticks (well not the R0.50 wooden ones that splinter in your mouth) no silverware present on the tables – this is the real deal.

Armed with a delicious and curios array of dishes, lamb, duck, chicken, pork, seafood and of course vegetables, you’ll take a couple of moments to decide what to take and what to leave; who you can persuade to take the second dish you would like to try, doing so with the “sharing is caring” motto.

If all else fails and you still want to order food that might feed and army, ask the extremely helpful waiters or owner, who will tell you what the specials are, the most popular dishes as well as how they can change the dish you want to enhance your experience.

Big juicy spring rolls, packed with veggies and flavour, not transforming paper to translucent with oil, and a spring onion think-crust pastry is always the way to start, you  will not regret this, served with a soy, ginger, chilli dipping sauce - what an outright delight!

The portions are very generous, and ideal to share, especially if you are planning to indulge in starters and mains. However, I do not see the problem with a little take-away snack for late night nibbles.

An easy spotted favourite – or easy heard favourite is most definitely the sizzling duck, beef or kingklip with garlic and chilli. The sizzling and smokingly hot plates are delivered to tables all around with great fascination and delightful aroma. A little bit of theatre at the table.

What I love is that you order your own rice or noodles - as much or as little as you like, one portion of noodles is usually enough for 3. Waste not want not.

(I do suggest an ice-cold Chinese beer rather than wine to compliment the flavours).

This is without any doubt my favourite and most authentic Chinese restaurant in all of Africa (and other countries, perhaps maybe even China).

Tantalising tastes and wonderful flavour combinations guaranteed in this humble little place.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti

Untill we eat again…