When pubs were first frequented, very little emphasis was placed on the food – if any at all, you were lucky to get a pack or pork scratching’s with your pint.
Things have changed and the term ‘gastropub’ we have come to know was devised in the early 90’s, uniting pub culture with fine dining.
Pub grub got a make-over, fine tuning the essentials – tweaking the faithful bangers and mash, fish and chips or Sunday roast to appeal to its new customers. In the 00’s gastropub’s hit America, big time and only last year was the term added to the dictionary. This year, Cape Town’s very first gastropub opened it’s doors for the first time and is a few days shy of it’s 1 month anniversary.
History class over, we can move on to current affairs and social science. Going out is something Capetonians love to do, with many of us living for the weekends.
My new ‘local’ is 199 Bree street in the City Bowl, enter the Oddyssey to find a roaring fire and warm smiles behind the bar which lies opposite several long tables overflowing with chatting, sipping and snacking whilst avidly following the last few minutes of the bokke game.
The menu is exactly what you want from a gastropub, the first section of the menu entitled ‘nibbles’ is exactly that, a few plates of delicious morsels to share with friends. Once you have read your options on the menu – a meeting may have to be called to debate whether or not to simply order the entire nibbles section and devour that. Having that option is really nice for those informal afternoons that suddenly become evenings, lubricated with hops or grape juice.
We chose the Carpaccio and Chilli Poppers, my parter in dine – claims to be able to judge an establishment on their little stuffed jalapenos and so I take her up on it. Let’s just say they didn’t live to tell the tale. The carpaccio was out of this world, so flavorful and unexpected. The owner/managers are of Italian descent and the chef is their other cousin, the menu started large and they battled it out to finish with just 6 mains on the menu. The chicken liver bruschetta was highly recommended but with 3 courses yet to go, I somehow resisted. I had to try the zucchini salad – paper thin slices adorn a plate with a golden crispy parmesan topping, exquisite.
Friends joined our table, glasses in hand and desire in their eyes - they snatch our menus and immediately squabble over who orders what, as we all need to get one of each, no duplicates - so we can all have a bite of everything. Makes sense, but no, the pork belly from a happy hog prevails, 2 pork belly’s and one calamari are on their way and a starter of ribs has been super-sized to have as a main and the same done with the beetroot goats cheese tart for my waif-like friend. She assures me she is purely saving room for the brownies that she eagle-eyed on another diner’s plate on the way in.
The evening flew by in a haze of good food, wine and conversation, the benchmark for a good Saturday night out. We surrendered to the nutty brownies and sticky toffee pudding with slimming ice-cream, of course - which I must add is the best one we have all ever tasted, hands down.
Next time I am taking an army of friends, as we still have the other half of the menu to get through and I may need some help with the bangers and mash and braised lamb shanks. Who’s in?
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