I'm probably coming across as a terrible blogger at this point. I have a valid excuse! An unexpected and very sudden 2-week work trip came up 3 weeks ago, with my leaving within 24 hours of it coming up. I've been back in CT for a week, and still trying to catch up. I long for the days of being bored...
Last week, a friend was visiting. Whenever this friend is around, we try to go out and try a new restaurant. This time around, we opted for the Peruvian KEENWÄ. I've heard several people talking about this restaurant and the quality of the food, so we were quite looking forward to trying it out. We got there and were sitting for quite a while catching up without any service - they had just opened for dinner shortly before we got there, so we were not put off by this and were kept quite busy by the conversation.
The manager then approached us and introduced himself and informed us we were quite early for the wine-tasting event... This was news to us, as we were just there for dinner. It turns out they were booked up for an event that night, and the kitchen was only preparing the tasting menu to go with the wines. He invited us to stay, but we didn't want to make it too difficult for them. He was very apologetic, and offered to get us some coffee on the house.
We opted instead for the Chicha Morada, a Peruvian juice made of purple corn. They also brought out some toasted french bread with what tasted like a roasted pepper dip. The pepper dip was great, and I had to stop myself from finishing all of the bread covered in it as I wanted to save space for some proper food. The drink was purple as advertised, but that's where the interest stopped. The taste was... disappointing. There was a vaguely discernible grape flavour. Not quite what I'd hoped for or what I was expecting.
The manager was very gracious when we left, and asked us to give them a call when we wanted to go in again and he would treat us to a starter. I do plan to go back for the food - if the pepper dip was any indication, it will be very good indeed.
We then decided to go Ethiopian instead, and headed over to Addis in Cape. They serve a really good (and seemingly never-emptying, as my friend found out) pot of Ethiopian coffee with a small bowl of popcorn and some burning frankincense. The food is also pretty good. We went with the Combo offering, where you choose 2 dishes from the menu for R100.
The dining experience at this restaurant is not the usual. You're seated on low wooden chairs, and the tabletop becomes the dish when the food is served. Diners eat with their hands, and the waiter brings over a jug and bowl and pour water for you to wash your hands before you eat and wet towels to wipe up after the meal. The meal is meant to be shared, so the different bowls are turned out on to the injera which lines the big plate that it inserted in to the tabletop.
We had the Prawns Addis (prawns in a spiced sauce), Shimbera Asa Wot (chickpea cakes in a Berbere sauce), Prawns Alicha (prawns in a mild smooth-ground chickpea sauce) and Mushroom Alicha (mushrooms in chickpea sauce). I found the former 2 to be great, with the chickpea cakes and the sauce that went with it being my favourite. My friend found both those to be a slightly too spicy, but enjoyed them all the same. The Mushroom Alicha was pretty good too. The Prawns Alicha were, we agreed, terribly bland and not something we would order again.
The loudness of another table in the restaurant and the lack of interesting dessert options made the decision for us - we would proceed to another restaurant for dessert. We ended up at Jakes in Steenberg/Tokai. He opted for a hot chocolate (and was served a glass of milk with melted chocolate in a little jug, that he could pour in to make up his own) and I went with a Mochacinno (didn't enjoy it too much, also marred by the fact that the cup was chipped). We decided to share 2 desserts. The Triple Choc Fudge Brownie wasn't bad. The Deep-Fried Ice-Cream with butterscotch sauce was a winner as always. The slightly-gingery crust on the ice cream with the butterscotch sauce and the ice cream works terrifically. The only downside of this dish is the amount of butterscotch sauce - it's a lot, and can get overwhelming very easily. It would be impossible to eat this dessert alone - it has to be shared.
All in all, a very pleasant night out at several restaurants in the city. Now to pick where we will go the next time he is around...
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