Perfect Spring Lunch @ Woodlands Eatery

Roelof Loots

I got invited to The Woodlands Eatery by some friends, just after it opened December 2010. We sat outside and had a lovely evening with great food and wine. I didn’t even see the inside of the place, but when I got selected to choose the next Dinner Club, I immediately thought The Woodlands Eatery is the perfect place to go.

 I made a booking over the phone and was told a group of 13 people wouldn’t be problem…GREAT!!

The first impression you get when you arrive is…WOW!! The detail that’s put into the décor of this little bistro is brilliant. Luckily for us the day was full of sunshine (for the time of year) and as we got there we were greeted with a warm smile J we sat down outside and enjoyed a beer or two, while waiting for everyone to arrive.

Soo…on the inside, our table were decorated with about 20 odd hanging lamps shades, spread all over the joined tables they organized for us. Against the wall, nice, comfy seats…and just above that, mirrors in all kinds of frames. They really put a lot of effort into small detail and it all adds to a great vibe.

The food was also simply put…AMAZING. I had a lamb pizza (wood-fired), but also tasted some from all the other people there. The Parma Ham, Rocket, Nectarine & Goats Cheese Pizza is also highly recommended, but over all I would say their pizza’s are different from your ordinary pizza place and the prices really good – most main menu items under R100. For dessert the Chocolate Fondant is a winner and guaranteed not to disappoint.

The service was also amazing…we only ended up being 10 people instead of 13, and even thought the restaurant were full, we had two waiters serving our table, so no complaints there.

Overall: The Woodlands Eatery has got a great vibe, attention to detail, great food, great prices and a lot of restaurants in Cape Town can learn from this place. I’m extremely glad this was my choice at the time, and I’m sure I’ll go back there pretty soon.

+27218015799

French Toast Wine and Tapas Bar - Bree Street, CBD, Saturday July 30th

Holli Ramsey

Theme: French attire

Oui Oui - the words that poured out of my mouth as I sampled my tapas from French Toast Tapas and Wine Bar at the July Dinner Club on Saturday. I shared a platter of 7 different mixes of charcuterie and cheese and oh my, was it worth it for only R120! The creamy brie and spicy chorizo were amongst my favourties. Others indulged in the calamari tapas, smoked salmon - which melted in my mouth, the green bean, mange tout and herb salad was a hit - such fresh ingredients and reasonably priced at R35! The restaurant started us off with bruchetta for the table for free which I must say, shows a lot for a Cape Town restaurant. For our drinks most of us went with the wine flights, which are 50ml samples of their specialty wines of the month. I chose the unusual reds flight for R55 which included a wine from Sicily! I'm not a wine connoisseur, but this was amazing. A friend of mine said it tasted like dog biscuits, but I disagreed. It was very smooth and different to the reds here. Dark red in colour as the waitress said it was made with dark Sicilian grapes. Others enjoyed the bubbly flight for R80 which included a real French Champagne! I think it smelled of cheese and really didn't get great feedback from it. I also enjoyed a dry rose from Stellenbosch attractively priced at R23 which was a steal compared to most items. But as an acclaimed wine bar you would expect the prices of wine to be as high as they were. Id have to say the food was a more attractive choice for our group.

Not only was the food a success the place itself is warm and inviting yet posh and sophisticated. Decorated in dark colours with floor to ceiling windows that open up to the busy Bree Street I must say the venue is a 10 out of 10. It was a perfect dinner club to say goodbye to one of our original clubbers, and our Frenchy, Patricia - hence the theme of French and the restaurant chosen. Jules won the coveted award of best dressed for the theme! Congrats to her. Next in line for dinner club as he answered our quiz question correctly (What was the gift given to the Americans from the French? Bloggers do you know the answer?) Roelof! Let us see what he has in store for us...

French Toast we will be seeing you again soon au revoir  - for now mon amour xx  - promise to improve my French for next time.

SevenSin in middle on June

Gregg Brill

Seven Sins – Saturday 18 June 2011

Seven Sins is one of the new kids on the block. This trendy restaurant, situated on the bottom of Kloof opened its doors in mid-2011. The walls are adorned with bold graphics, depicting the seven mortal sins – wrath, greed, envy, pride, sloth, lust and gluttony.

For dinner club with a difference, I chose Seven Sins for a number of reasons.

1. The place was new, and I love supporting up-and-comers.
2. I had shared breakfast at Seven Sins a few weeks earlier with 20-something of Cape Towns hottest men, all of whom thought this new place would soon become a haunt of the trendy and social elite.


3. The thought of dressing up as a cardinal sin got my creative juices flowing.

On speaking with one of the owners, Yves-Dominic, we organised a seven-course meal to suit the theme of the restaurant. What they put together for us can be seen below.

                               

                                           SEVEN'S SINS SET MENU

                                                        WARTH

                                              Aperitif- Spicy Sangria

                                                        GREED

       Amuse Bouche- Herb & Cheese Savory Cookie With Balsamic Cookie

                                                       ENVY

                   Third Course- Seafood Salad with Tomato, Avocado and Mango

                                                     PRIDE

   Main Course- Crown of Roast beef with Shallots, Mustard and mint

                                         Golden Saffron Rice

                                       Minted Spring Veggies

                                                    SLOTH

           Fifth course- Aged cheese, Bread and spiced olive oil

                                                    LUST

           Sixth Course- Luscious Chocolate Fondant with sensual fruits and nuts

                                                GLUTTONY

       Seventh Course- Profiteroles with Vanilla Ice cream & Raspberry Coullis

Overall, the experience was incredible. All of the dinner clubbers dressed to the nines, and were treated to one of the best bespoke menus I have had the fortune of being treated to. The food was themed beautifully, cooked perfectly and presented well. The ambiance was great, and the service was good. And all of this for only R125 per person. The overall score card is listed below.

It would sin not to support these guys! Speak to Yves- Dominic on 074 194 5099. The restaurant is at

39 Kloof Street

, Gardens.

                      REPORT CARD

                   RESTAURANT:Seven Sins

Decor & ambiance................................A

Food& Drinks........................................A+

Service................................................ B+

Pricing..................................................A

Overall Score.......................................A

Stircrazy in March

Heidi Rohr

2011 started with a bang and the dinnerclub was in full swing again. My selection this year was something different and wanted to do this for a while. I have done a cooking course in 2010 and thought that it may be something fun for Dinnerclub.

I contacted Brett from Stircrazy in Houtbay whom I have done a Thai cooking course before.
Brett gave me a selection on cuisines to choose from for the night.
We decided on a Mediterranean Cooking course for the evening. We were a group of 10 that were divided into teams of 2. Our head chef for the evening was Karen; she was overseeing everything, helping us and checking that we don't burn the kitchen down.

The 5 team all got a starter, main and dessert to prepare. Each dish would be tasted and Karen was to decide at the end who would be the overall winner.
Prize of awesomeness: Best Chef's outfit.
Team 1: Sabine &Ryan
Team 2: Daryn &Jules
Team 3: Lorna &Holly
Team 4: Doran &Jan
Team 5: Rebecca &Heidi

The night was very eventful, at times hectic due to the pressure of getting your dish done which seemed chaotic at times. After each dish the whole group would sit down and taste or creations, a little bit of everything and we would discuss how certain thing where prepared.

The recipes we prepared where as follows:
1. Tomato's stuffed with Aubergine and Ricotta
2. Stuffed Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce
3. Pork Medallions in More- Conac Sauce
4. Pepper with Chorizo and Calamari
5. Mussels in white wine and garlic sauce
6. Maghreb Egyptian Pasta
7. French peasant salad with blue cheese
8. Almond Tart
9. Stir- fried chicken
10. Cashew meringue Cake
11. Banana& coconut pancakes
12. Prawn and Potato Fritters
13. Tomato and Ricotta Cheese tart

The selection was tuff at times on who to choose but Team 4 seemed and proved to a favorite for the evening and Karen came to a decision and made them overall winner.

Prize of Awesomeness went to Chef Ryan Gerber due to his Chef's hat and culinary skills.

The evening involved interacting and comradery as teams started helping other teams that were running out of time or had particulary difficult recipes. There was a whole lot of laughing, tasting, eating and a whole lot of food.
It would have been nice to have a little intro to Mediterranean food in the beginning, little explanation on the food, tastes and spices used.

It's a great idea for group activity or just a social evening with friends.