A la Bouffe, Linden – Fair, not fabulous French

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.

 
 

 

Le Ugly:

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.

 

Until we eat again…

Perron, Illovo Junction - Meh...Mexican

This little restaurant has created such a hype since opening; it’s literally been on everyone’s lips (so to speak).  I set out to investigate with the help of some friends for a Book club evening, I was also doing sober September at that time, so therefore I know my opinion is definitely not influenced by anything else than my 5 senses.

The good:

Great ambience, colourful with a touch of Mexico, without being over the top. We were seated immediately, and a friendly waiter over second later.  Prices are very reasonable.

The barman has a heavy had when it comes to cocktails, and this might fall in the good or bad category depending on personal taste; and if you like drinking clean rum on the rocks. My virgin mojito won the cocktail round…

The menu has a fair variety of salads and nibbles - the jalapeño poppers were yummy, and probably the most generous portion of Gauc I’ve ever seen served with nachos. Followed by mains, consisting of about 12 bundled groups of fresh ingredients to stuff your quesadillas and taco’s with, but in all honesty a burrito is a burrito is a burrito (which, for those of you who don’t know, is in essence actually a soft version of a taco).

The bad:  

Portion size – all the portions are extremely small, and this explains the reasonable prices… I do not mind ordering tapas style and sharing at all, I rather fancy it, as you get to taste a lot more than one or two dishes. And this is exactly what you get, a taste that is all.

I’m trying to think really hard of any place where I have seen smaller mains, but nothing comes to mind. For example I have never been able to eat a quesadilla by myself ( thank heavens for that! ) and I don’t advise you to try this at home – but here, I could have easily put away 3 full ones, and probably still have space for dessert, keeping in mind that this is after having had little nibbles to start. Think of a normal tramezzini – now downscale by about a quarter of the size, and there you have the size of Perron’s quesadillas.

Flavour wise, I expected more, a lot more. Mushroom, spicy re-fried beans, lamb? Who knows.

Service - our friendly waiter was very attentive for the first 15min, and then went MIA.

The ugly: 

Nothing much to say here. Nothing horrifyingly bad, unfortunately also nothing exceptionally good.  Just, well average. A Mexican native might spit some Tequila in Perron's eye... 

Tips: 

Go here for a first date – heavy handed cocktails, small portions and not expensive, everyone wins. Avoid if you are hungry, or looking for authentic spicy Mexican food.  The hype? I don’t get it.  It is possible that the locals are just so happy that the previous old fart of a restaurant closed down.

I’ll go to Perron again, perhaps on a Saturday afternoon for a boozy lunch with and jugs of margaritas. 

Happy hump-day!

Until we eat again...

Casparus, Stellenbosch – Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to…

The chef of the restaurant was one of the first professionally trained chefs, all the way from Belgium, in South Africa and produced amazing food in the heydays.

He then disappeared from the food scene for a couple of years – in which the Cape winelands grew to be THE destination for decadent dining.

Situated in an art gallery in Dorp street in Stellenbosch, it look intriguing and contemporary. The menu and combinations are set-out to match this vibe.

Some odd combinations which one would easily have gagged about a couple of years back, are now as common as bread and butter, and you struggle to think of a time when you would not want salted chocolate, chocolate and chilly, strawberry’s with balsamic and black pepper, or even fillet with a chocolate sauce.

Ethienne Bonthuys is riding on this wave, but taking it to extremes – and unfortunately he’s crashing into a boulder with most of his weird combinations.

 

The signature dish is calamari with oxtail…I saw that face-pulling action going on just now, and rightly so. It tastes exactly as it sound – and even worse if the calamari is underdone, which it was when we dined there. Another 2 of the most bizarre combinations – Kingklip with a dark red wine and balsamic sauce; and then it’s counter – Fillet with a fishy/prawn white wine sauce? In both cases it was commented that the sauces were really nice – but did not fit with the protein at all, these two should have been swapped around and he would have had a winner.  Fortunately I am a vegetarian and had the privilege not to taste these extremely peculiar combinations.

I had a stuffed giant mushroom (and I was a happy camper seeing this on the menu as this is one of my favourite things). In all honesty I was not aware that it was possible to do a bad job at stuffing a mushroom. Some spinach, pine-nuts and goat-cheese should be one of the most elementary things, apparently not.

 

Dessert is probably my favourite part of a meal, but after the meal itself, we were all so put off that we skipped dessert and coffee.
(You’ll notice that I do not even have pictures – which is a very rare occasion for me not to take pictures of the lovely food everyone is eating.)

 

The setting is creative and unusually inspiring, unlike the food.
The service, or rather lack thereof is rather shocking, and super slow. On the evening we dined there, only one waiter was to be seen for the entire restaurant, albeit only 2 tables had patrons. Which confuses me even more – if this restaurant and food is all that and a bag of chips, why only 2 tables booked on a weekend evening? And how is it possible that the waiter struggles so with serving these two tables?

 

My advice ( to the chef and his combo’s, as well as the unsuspecting patrons) – just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to.

There are so many gorgeous restaurants in this area that leave you desiring to go back for more – do not waste your time at Casparus.

 

Happy Monday, I wish you all a lovely week.
Until we eat again…

Hatunpa, Arequipa – The Humble Potato, remains very humble

As a vegetarian I was excited to the max when reading about this little nook, with only four tables – a proper little hole in the wall, which is said to serve amazing food, all based on the humble potato.
Due to the fact that the humble potato originates from Peru, and that there are said to be almost 200 varieties of this nation feeder to be found in Peru, what better way to experience the potato in all its glory at Hatunpa, where the owner speaks English fluently and (as expressed in one of the reviews I remember reading) explains the differences in the varieties of potato.

Upon our arrival, we were a little surprised to find that the only person there, who seated and served us, could not speak a word of English! As this was the only person who worked there, we assumed that this was the owner, and confusion set in due to the review of the English speaking owner who loves to explain about potatoes.
We ordered a beer with a little difficulty, and set about ready the menu, a little disappointed that we would not be getting a lecture on the humble potatoes and the hundreds of varieties…

We were busy ordering our meals, and I was trying to get an understanding of a certain thing on the menu the man of the hour walked in and came to the rescue. The English speaking owner existed after all, and he graciously offered us a taste of the unidentifiable, which I was seeking an understanding for when he walked in. This turned out to be purple or black corn juice. Not bad I have to say, but rather sweet – a good alternative for someone that likes Coke or Inka Cola.

 

Unfortunately there was absolutely no explanation regarding the varieties of potatoes or the origin at all. Even after prodding and asking questions such as “we’ve heard that there are up to 200 varieties of potatoes in Peru?!” we only got a “yes, there are many kinds of potatoes and sweet potatoes”.

Service is average best, and I have to say that my idea of a heart-warming potato dish was not what I imagined at all. A plate of cold sliced potato, one regular, and one sweet potato, topped with cubes of tomato and hard little blocks of cheese and what seemed like an entire raw sliced onion. Not quite the oozing melting dish I was expecting at all. This has to be one of my worst vegetarian meals ever.
The other two had better luck, with a chicken and spinach topping with a creamy cheese sauce, and meat cubes with red pepper and onions – unfortunately almost no sauce on this one either.

A casual little corner, with lots of competition.
As far as vegetarian and vegan dishes go – I would avoid this unless you prefer a plate of dry potato and bland flavours.

Definately does not deserve it's number 2 spot on the list of best restaurants in Arequipa.

 

Happy Wednesday to all,

Until we eat again...

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…