101 Hout Street |
+27-21-424 2626 |
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Review: 29 July 2006 [This review written by the Dry Vegeterian]
The Savoy Cabbage restaurant is situated in Hout Street in Cape Town city, which is a quiet side-street between Bree and Buitengracht streets. Five of our party found the venue easily, but 2 took a while to locate it. Opposite the road from the restaurant is secure parking for your vehicle, which is surrounded by barbed wire fencing. Our first human contact was with a friendly and very helpful doorman.
The restaurant has a rustic feel to it, with aged face-brick walls and a steel girder acting as a main support (the indoor windows detracted slightly from this feel). It has two levels, with the upstairs level being home to a bar as well as tables. There are transparent glass divides to prevent you from falling off, which allows one to get a vision of the entire restaurant. The kitchen is downstairs and is open-plan allowing customers to look into it - which always leaves one a bit more satisfied that the chef isn't blowing his nose into your food. In line with the name of the restaurant, the light-fittings take the shape of cabbage leaves.
Our table of 7 was in the upstairs section, which gave a nice feeling of being perched up and able to see almost everything that was going on in the restaurant. The toilets are also upstairs (near the bar, makes sense).
This is a silent restaurant, with no music being played. Confusingly (& tantalizingly), there were a couple of speakers left up from a special function of the previous evening, which left newcomers wondering when they were going to start playing the music.
For starters I had the "Honey and Spice Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Rasberry -poached Pear, Goats' Feta Cheese and Mesclun Salad" (R50). This was a treat to the tastebuds, a mix of different tastes and feels, with a generous portion of oiled green leafy vegetables.
For the main course I tried their "Aubergine and Beetroot Curry with Basmati Rice and Sambals" (R95). The food was warm and the curry was hot (just like I like it, but possibly too spicy for some). The dish could have done with more aubergine and less beetroot.
For desert I had their soft-centred chocolate pudding with ice-cream (R35). The outer part of the pudding was slightly dry and spongy for my liking - I prefer it when the chocolate is almost oozing out. But this is partially due to one of my idiosyncracies - since I eat the ice cream and chocolate seperately.
The usual tired range of non-alcoholic drinks were available - orange juice, guava juice, fruit cocktail, appletizers, grapetizers, sparkling and still water.
Our young waitress was a notch above. She was at the table when she was meant to be and not at the table when she was not needed. She was helpful when we engaged her about the offering. Reflecting this good service, we gave her a 15% tip (the standard in Cape Town is 10%).
The total bill for our group of 7 came to R1417, to which we added a 15% tip.
We welcome input to help us improve our coverage of the Savoy Cabbage restaurant