El Burro, Sea Point

I’ve been trying to get to El Burro for dinner since last year.  A friend went there for dinner and everything I read about it made me want to go even more.  The few times we’ve tried to go it was either fully booked, or people were away.  My core group consists of friends that I’ve known for years and this is the group that wanted to go for dinner, so we weren’t going to go until everyone was able.

It worked out well that we went on this Saturday night as we were all available and one of my oldest friends was in town the same weekend.  So after getting an early booking for 8 people at 6pm (the early hour to cater for a friend that was babysitting that night), changing the booking to 6 people as people cancelled, running around like a mad thing from Constantia Glen to get back in time for our Uber, trying to figure out how the seat folds down and rushing through to Green Point, we made it just in time.  

It was still fairly quiet so I managed to get some good shots of the deco.  

We started off the evening with the house brand margaritas, I don’t know if it’s because my glass was from halfway down the jug but flip the drinks were strong.  Most of us had complaints from that first jug, either too strong or too weak.  

So for the second round we decided on the basil margaritas, the waitress came back to say something about they weren’t making them because they were too expensive.  We had no clue what that meant, so the citrus one was our next choice.  This isn’t a frozen margarita, it’s filled with ice, but it was amazing.  We all enjoyed this jug so much more than the previous one.

Our food was amazing, we all really enjoyed what we ordered.  I had the pork carnitas, which was three mini tortillas filled with pulled pork and three different salsas – nectarine salsa, avo salsa and salsa verde.  The nectarine and avo salsas were amazing but the salsa verde was quite hot as it had chillies in it.

What’s really great about this venue is that it’s so chilled but authentic.  So it’s not like a lot of Mexican restaurants where they’ve westernised everything, from the costumes to the food it was all authentic.  A table showed up about an hour after us and they were all dressed up for “day of the dead”, it turned out it was someone’s birthday and that was the theme.  Some people really went all out.  It makes you think why don’t we do that more often? Dress up for special occasions or do something different than the norm? 

El Burro was amazing, the food, deco, service everything was top notch.  It’s definitely somewhere I would go again and again.

Constantia Glen Wine Tasting

Who knew going wine tasting at Constantia Glen over the “Cape Town Cycle Tour” weekend would result in such a full house.  Guess everyone had the same idea, to try some amzaing Cape Town wines and enjoy the great weather.  We ordered the 5 wine tasting and a cheese board to share between the 3 of us.  We were going out for dinner, so thought something light would be good to soak up the alcohol.

We received our first 3 glasses of wine promptly but waited a while for our 4^th.  By the time the waitress eventually arrived she was ready to give us the bill, we were so confused.  She miscounted, was confused or just overworked, she had given us the wine in the wrong order and had thought we were done with our wine tasting.  So we had 2 whites and a red, instead of 2 whites, a rose and 2 reds.  We had the rose at the end which wasn’t great because we were still tasting the full bodied reds and therefore couldn’t do it justice.

I’m sure it’s because they were understaffed and it was a busy weekend, but for an upmarket wine farm like Constantia Glen you’d think they would have made arrangements for this hectic weekend.  I would like to go for wine tasting or a meal there again, this time to actually sit in a better place and get some better service.  

Don't get me wrong, the wine farm has some amazing views and it helped that I had the company of two of my oldest and best friends with me.  But hopefully while the weather is still semi warm we'll make a plan to go back out to Constantia Glen and have an enjoyable day :)

Image by Tarryn Liddell

Royale Burgers, Long Street

Everyone raves about Royale Burgers, but to be honest I don’t go out in Long Street and I enjoy Hudson’s Burgers so that’s where I normally go.  But one Friday night when our plans to go up Table Mountain fell apart we decided to stay in town and find somewhere vibey to eat. 

If you’re like me who hates parallel parking it’s an absolute mission to find a decent parking bay anywhere on Loop or Long Street.  We eventually parked behind a church in a parking that was easy for me to get in and out of. 

We tried “Dim Sum” on Long Street but unfortunately they were fully booked (I definitely want to head to “Dim Sum” in the future) so our next option was Royale.  

We received our glasses of water fast enough, but it took a while for the waitress to get to us so we could place our orders.  It didn’t really matter as we had a lot to catch up on, but it makes a difference when you’re ready to leave and there’s no one around.  Since it was the weekend of the “Cape Town Cycle Tour” there were more people in Cape Town than normal and everywhere seemed to be strained when it came to waiters and waitresses. 

Our cocktails were delicious and our food was good, so that makes up for it.  My fries covered more than half my plate, and my burger was pretty good.  But I prefer the atmosphere at Hudsons and their sweet potato fries are delicious.

The Eatery, Belvedere Centre

I’ve driven past the Belvedere Centre often since the beginning of the year, and out of the corner of my eye I’ve seen the construction and then the new restaurant going in but it hasn’t crossed my mind to go and check it out.  This changed a few weeks ago when a friend and I were trying to decide where to go for dinner.

Since it was a Wednesday night we thought it would be a safe bet just to show up for dinner, especially considering we would be arriving before 6pm.  Unfortunately, for us they were fully booked but they made a plan and we landed up with a 2 person table close to the kitchen.

We ordered a bottle of wine to share, no idea what the wine was but it was really good.  We had the bacon wrapped chilli poppers, mine were hot but my friend says they were just ok.  Guess it depends on how hot the chilli is and you can’t always see which one is going to be the best.  For mains I had the beef salad and my friend ordered a burger with a side salad.  We were there more for the catch up than anything, but if you’re looking for a chilled place with really good food then I would recommend “The Eatery” in Belvedere Road.

I apologise for the quality of some of the photos, the light made things a little awkward.