Recently I was invited to choose a restaurant for a Sunday lunch by a kind friend, and thought of Suikerbossie Restaurant, a Hout Bay institution, and a restaurant which I have driven past hundreds of times but not visited in decades. We were bowled over by our Sunday Lunch experience.

The operation of Suikerbossie was taken over by Johannesburg brothers David and Miki Smith 30 years ago. They are very hands-on in running it.

Signage to the restaurant is good, turning off at the Ruyterplasts Security village. Parking bays are plentiful, even on a busy Sunday.

One enters a well sign-posted entrance, and joins a queue on a Sunday to be shown by David to one’s reserved table. One is immediately struck by the size of the venue, catering for up to 300 guests for events. When we ate at Suikerbossie yesterday there were at least four birthday family and friends group tables, singing Happy Birthday.

The outside area has a big lawn, and given the hood weather yesterday Bistro tables and chairs were set up in case some guests wanted to sit outside, or more guests arrived. From one side of the garden area one has a lovely view onto Hout Bay and Chapman’s Peak, while another side has a view of Klein Leeukoppie.

Nicole was our waitron for both lunches, and impressed with her dutiful service in checking on us regularly. She brought waters and the coffees, even if the order was taken by one of her colleagues. All staff remove plates when they pass, the policy of the restaurant. As a result they split the tips equally from a collective tip box.

Given the amount of food one eats for the Sunday Lunch, the petite Butternut soup with a toasted ???? would have sufficed as a Starter. We were surprised that part of the Starter was a number of Mezze dishes, which were brought yo to our table with a basket of delicious baguette sliced and mini pitas. Following my suggestion, given that the waiter talked far too fast in describing each Mezze dish, a printed me u is now brought to the table so that one can see what each dish is and of which ingredients it is made. The Mezzes were :

In my opinion the Mezzes did not match the main course and the Dessert course, something that would not be served upfront for a South African Sunday Lunch. The lovely bread and soup is perfect for a Starter, given how much one is likely to eat for the Main course and Dessert.