{"id":14624,"date":"2010-11-30T03:47:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-30T01:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=14624"},"modified":"2010-12-28T11:10:17","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T09:10:17","slug":"restaurant-review-aubergine-new-top-cape-town-restaurant-yet-inconsistent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-review-aubergine-new-top-cape-town-restaurant-yet-inconsistent\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Aubergine new top Cape Town restaurant, yet inconsistent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cape Town’s only Eat Out <\/strong>Top 10 restaurant, Aubergine, went about its business as if nothing had changed for the team of Harald Bresselschmidt\u00a0the day after receiving its\u00a0special honour, it seemed.\u00a0 The Eat Out<\/strong>\u00a0 plaque is on the shelf in the entrance hall, and if one had not read about the Eat Out <\/strong>Top 10 Restaurant Award winners announced on Sunday evening, one would not have\u00a0known that Aubergine\u00a0has been crowned as\u00a0Cape Town’s best restaurant, except that the restaurant was fully booked on a Monday evening.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I took relatives from Germany to try out Aubergine last night, and had not been there for many years.\u00a0 My overall reaction was one of uncertainty of how I felt about the\u00a0evening there.\u00a0\u00a0 I was not sure if I could agree with the Eat Out judges that this is the one and only top restaurant in our city, as judged by them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The building\u00a0is Victorian, located in Gardens, but the interior was\u00a0very unmodern, functional, almost old-fashioned, with some interesting looking lampshades (looked like serviettes\u00a0hanging over the light fittings), with wooden tables and woven chairs seating 60 – 70 guests, woven beige placemats, and some paintings of aubergines downstairs (including one by Father Claerhout), and more modern artwork upstairs.\u00a0\u00a0 One enters past a bar counter, and a wine storage system separates the restaurant from the bar counter.\u00a0 I was fascinated by the changing lighting effect on this wine storage section, and wondered whether it enhanced the wines.\u00a0\u00a0We sat in the upstairs section, with just four tables, a reed ceiling, and a triangular window offering a peek of Table Mountain.\u00a0\u00a0It became very hot upstairs, and the small open window did not cool things down much.\u00a0\u00a0 Lighting was very low upstairs, from interesting wall light fittings creating the shadow effect of branches on the walls.\u00a0\u00a0 Serviettes are of good quality, as is the glassware, but the cutlery seemed too ornate compared to the unfussiness of the decor.<\/p>\n

The lovely hostess Jacqueline heard us\u00a0talk, and immediately switched to German, and served us in German for the rest of the evening, which impressed my relatives.\u00a0 Jacqueline has only been at the restaurant for three weeks,\u00a0 and is a most efficient and helpful hostess, answering our many questions.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The menu is divided into an a la carte section, and a\u00a0degustation menu, but one is allowed to “mix and match”, which caused confusion at the time of the presentation of the bill, as every item ordered was itemised and not charged as per the set degustation price.\u00a0\u00a0 The menu is attached to a leather holder, with Aubergine branding.\u00a0\u00a0 The menu has a welcome from the “Cuisinier”, as Bresselschmidt calls himself on the business card.\u00a0 The introduction to the menu states: “Ingredients come first”.\u00a0 As Chef Patron he emphasises the “honest use of prime South African products, often enhanced by Oriental spices and cooking styles, leads you to appreciate the subtleties of\u00a0what I try to produce”.\u00a0\u00a0 The degustation menu costs R344\/R485 for three courses, R 420\/R600 for four and R 525\/R745 for five courses, the second price reflecting the cost with a wine paired to each dish.<\/p>\n

Howard Booysen was a very knowledgeable sommelier, who studied at Elsenburg, and makes his own Weisser Riesling under the HB Wines label, which is\u00a0on the Aubergine winelist.\u00a0 He shares the sommelier\u00a0honours with Dominic Adelbert, who studied hospitality in Geneva and Adelaide, and learnt about wine at Gleaneagles in Scotland, he said.\u00a0 The winelist is impressive, neatly bound in a leather folder, with 30 pages each in a\u00a0 plastic sleeve.\u00a0 Vintages and regions are mentioned, and each vintage of a wine stocked is priced separately.\u00a0 The winelist contains about 490 wines, and a full page is dedicated to wines by the glass.\u00a0 A good spectrum of local and imported brands, and prices, is included in the extensive winelist.\u00a0 We ordered the Catherine Marshall 2004 Shiraz at R 225.\u00a0 The champagnes include Pol Rogers (ranging in price from R580 – R2200), Le Mesnil (R790 and up), Billecart Salmon Ros\u00c3\u00a9\u00a0(R1300), Drappier (R375 – R500), Tribault Ros\u00c3\u00a9(R696), Laurent Perrier (R1000 – R1450) and Duval Leroy (R795 – R 3300).\u00a0 Local brands of bubbly are Steenberg (R220 – R425), Teddy Hall R(385), Villiera (R220 – R300), Simonsig (R430), Krone Borealis (R270 – R3000), Silverthorn (R280) and Jaques Bru\u00c3\u00a9re (R230).\u00a0\u00a0 Shiraz choices start at R52\/R215 for Migliarino, with 27 brands offered, Signal Hill and Eben Sadie ranging in price between R1000 – R1200, depending on the vintage.\u00a0\u00a0 White wines by the glass cost between R35 and R50 a glass, and red wines R45 – R65 per glass. Bresselschmidt told us that he is a Riesling fan, and calls himself the ‘Riesling ambassador in South Africa’.\u00a0 He is importing 500 bottles from Germany.\u00a0 His cellar at Auslese, the events venue he opened close by in the past year, holds 25 000 bottles in total.<\/p>\n

A number of bread options was offered, and the wholewheat bread I chose was crispy and crunchy, freshly baked.\u00a0 We\u00a0tried to order a variety of dishes amongst the three of us, to be able to taste as widespread a range as possible.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The amuse bouche was an unexciting kingklip terrine, topped with salmon caviar and vinaigrette, served with a mini cucumber salad.\u00a0 The triangular plate it was served on did not hold the knife, and it kept falling off, a frequent complaint one has of restaurant plates\u00a0these days.\u00a0 The support staff, wearing burgundy shirts, did not match Jacqueline’s level\u00a0in any way, even though the lady that served us had been at the restaurant for four years.\u00a0 I found her hard to understand, and she kept stretching in front of my cousin to pass on plates and cutlery to me, an absolute no-no for a top restaurant.\u00a0 We were surprised that\u00a0more senior staff do not bring the food to the table and explain the dishes.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The waitresses tried hard but\u00a0lacked polish. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had the Delice of smoked salmon trout and caper butter,\u00a0served with roccula dressing,\u00a0and poached quail eggs\u00a0in a potato nest (R85).\u00a0 No fish knife was served with this course.\u00a0 My cousin had the Carpaccio of cured beef, served with marinated Burrata mozzarella, and a tomato and herb salad (R89).\u00a0 She expressed surprise\u00a0at how thick\u00a0the beef slices were.\u00a0 Her husband had the fish soup (R65), and felt the fish taste too pronounced, not something he is used to in German restaurants,\u00a0being prepared in the French style.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The highlight of all the dishes was an ‘in-between’ dish, being steamed crayfish served with black noodles and a saffron sauce.\u00a0 Then came a sweet melon and mint sorbet palate cleanser, too sweet to our liking.<\/p>\n

Something odd happened with the serving of the “Cape Sea Harvest” main course (on the degustation menu), which my cousin and her husband had ordered, described as a duo of kingklip and kabeljou when the menu was explained and our order taken.\u00a0\u00a0 When it was served, it only had one piece of fish.\u00a0 We were not told proactively that the kingklip had run out, and whilst Jacqueline expressed her sincerest regret about a communication error between herself and the kitchen, it seemed unacceptable that an order taken was served incorrectly and was only reacted to when questioned.\u00a0\u00a0 I had a most unusual tender tongue dish, with very finely sliced marinated\u00a0tongue, served with asparagus and a delicious vanilla and green tea velout\u00c3\u00a9 (R160).\u00a0 Other main courses are duck (R182), lamb (R178), beef sirloin (R175) and ostrich fillet and tartare (R174).<\/p>\n

For dessert my cousin had a very generous duo of Aubergine Cr\u00e9me Br\u00fbl\u00e9e (R65).\u00a0 I chose a Beignet of\u00a0Tomme Obiqua cheese from Tulbagh, served with Golden Delicious apple (which I could not taste), roccula and walnuts (R105).\u00a0\u00a0Other dessert options included a Charlotte of pear and ginger served with prickly pear sorbet (R75),\u00a0\u00a0assiette of chocolate (R84), Delice of lemon and strawberry meringue (R58), and a chef’s surprise (R94). \u00a0I had ordered a cappuccino with the dessert, but it was only brought to the table after we had finished it, sweetened by a lovely plate of friandises served with the coffees.<\/p>\n

Bresselschmidt came to our table and was very generous with his time in answering all our questions.\u00a0 He opened\u00a0Aubergine 15 years ago, and chose the name\u00a0because of his respect for a vegetable that is flexible and offers versatility.\u00a0\u00a0 He had come to South Africa in 1992 to work at Grande Roche, and thereafter\u00a0at Rhebokskloof.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He has lost track of how many times he has been on the Top 10 Eat Out <\/strong>\u00a0list, and thinks it is six or seven times.\u00a0\u00a0 He told us how hard it is to run a restaurant, when you have to double and triple check everything, something that can affect one’s creativity, he said.\u00a0 He called for a score from the Eat Out<\/strong>\u00a0 judges, so that restaurants making the Top 10 list can get feedback about their performance relative to their colleagues, and not just on a\u00a0ranked basis.\u00a0\u00a0 We discussed the variability in the Eat Out<\/strong>\u00a0 Top 10 list, and Bresselschmidt felt it may be the magazine’s way of keeping interest in the Awards.\u00a0 Rust en Vrede is his favourite restaurant, and Bresselschmidt plans to take his\u00a0team there next month to allow them to experience\u00a0the country’s top restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0 He is also loyal to Bosman’s, celebrating his wedding anniversary there, having met his wife at the Grande Roche.\u00a0 Nobu is another favourite.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u00a0am yet\u00a0to be convinced that Aubergine is the best restaurant that Cape Town has to offer.\u00a0\u00a0 I did not experience it last night, mainly due to the inconsistency of the service and of the food served.<\/p>\n

Aubergine Restaurant,<\/strong> 39 Barnett Street, Gardens, Cape Town.\u00a0 Tel (021) 465-4909.\u00a0\u00a0 www.aubergine.co.za<\/a>\u00a0Mondays – Saturday evenings, Wednesday – Friday lunches.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0 www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cape Town’s only Eat Out Top 10 restaurant, Aubergine, went about its business as if nothing had changed for the team of Harald Bresselschmidt\u00a0the day after receiving its\u00a0special honour, it seemed.\u00a0 The Eat Out\u00a0 plaque is on the shelf in the entrance hall, and if one had not read about the Eat Out Top 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[6308,38,8900,8919,220,143,32366,4000,8903,32378,8902,4886,8908,8911,8913,7198,8917,8905,8901,2314,8909,144,8885,8907,8904,8915,4973,221,8437,8916,509,8910,3625,8920,8918,34,411,2835,230,1072,231,4,8914,8912,2837,8906,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t