{"id":14904,"date":"2010-12-14T10:43:43","date_gmt":"2010-12-14T08:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=14904"},"modified":"2010-12-25T23:14:06","modified_gmt":"2010-12-25T21:14:06","slug":"the-grand-cafe-in-plett-no-longer-grand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/restaurant-news\/the-grand-cafe-in-plett-no-longer-grand\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grand Caf\u00e9 in Plett is no longer grand!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I have loved the Grand Caf\u00e9 and Rooms from the time it opened in Plettenberg Bay four years ago, and I stayed in it whilst I was having the building renovated that has become my Whale Cottage Plettenberg Bay.\u00a0 It has had its ups and downs over this period, but seems to\u00a0have lost its edge since it was taken over by\u00a0new owner Sue Main, and who subsequently\u00a0added the Camps Bay and Granger Bay branches in Cape Town.\u00a0\u00a0 We were most disappointed with our last visit a week ago.<\/p>\n

But to start at the beginning of The Grand Caf\u00e9 and Rooms.\u00a0\u00a0 Enterprising entrepreneur (Homework clothing) Gail Behr opened this unusual pink-painted 8-bedroom boutique hotel and restaurant in Plett.\u00a0 It was at the time that I travelled to Plett once a month to oversee the renovations to what was to become our newest guest house.\u00a0\u00a0 The Grand became my home from home for a year of travelling, and I was well looked after by the friendly staff, including Steven, Sydney, Robert and Eric.\u00a0\u00a0 The room decor is unusual, extravagant in its use of red velvet, extra-ordinarily high beds with bedside stools, and generous baths.\u00a0\u00a0 But it was the Caf\u00e9 part of The Grand that we loved especially, and the music collection played boldly throughout the day\u00a0via an iPod compiled by Behr’s son Steven\u00a0Whiteman was amazing – Mozart for breakfast, opera for late morning, light jazz during the day, Sinatra for the early evening, more jazz at night.\u00a0 It gave the restaurant the most wonderful atmosphere at any time of the day, and a character which I have never experienced before.\u00a0\u00a0 To add to the charm created by the music is the Caf\u00e9 deck, with a wonderful view over the Plett lagoon, from which one can see amazing moon rises.\u00a0 In early days\u00a0The Grand was a meeting point of all Behr’s friends from Cape Town, Johannesburg and other corners of the world.\u00a0 It took a long time to meet Gail, and I was quite intimated by her initially, given quite a stern sounding set of house rules.\u00a0 But she was much nicer than the rules made her sound when we did finally meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All good things come to an end, and Behr decided to move into the hotel, and only use the top\u00a0four rooms for guests, and she lived downstairs.\u00a0 The Caf\u00e9 was no longer open to the public, falling into Behr’s private space, and guests were served a very restricted breakfast relative to what we were used to, in a non-view courtyard.\u00a0\u00a0The building was painted white, and it lost its charm.\u00a0\u00a0 Then The Grand Caf\u00e9 and Rooms was sold to Main, who built on the success of this brand to open first in Camps Bay (buying the building for about R40 million), and then The Grand on the Beach<\/a>\u00a0a year ago.\u00a0\u00a0 It was odd to see The Grand crockery in other restaurants, such as Nguni, before it was sold to Main.\u00a0\u00a0 One welcome change Main made was to have the building repainted its landmark pinky colour.\u00a0\u00a0Admirably she changed little about the decor, which also reflects Behr’s initial lush red velvet look. \u00a0Main\u00a0even used Adam Whiteman, another Behr son, who is an interior decorator, to decorate the Camps Bay restaurant.<\/p>\n

One comfortable thing about The Grand Caf\u00e9\u00a0is that its menu has not changed much over the four years, and that the prices seem to have largely remained the same too.\u00a0\u00a0 The first problem we encountered with the nice branded maroon menu folder is that the starter and main course\/dessert \u00a0pages were swopped around in it.\u00a0 The menu does not resemble the A3 “newspaper” feel of those in the Cape Town restaurants.\u00a0 Our order was taken, before we were asked if we had been told about the specials by Sybil, who seemed to be in charge and who has been at The Grand from the time it opened. She sent another waiter, but he too struggled to tell us the specials, which will be on the new menu introduced this week, but that had been\u00a0available to order for the past week already.\u00a0 Before we could not even reconsider our order, given the specials,\u00a0our food was served!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The tempura prawn starter (R70)\u00a0is absolutely mouthwatering, and is a signature dish.\u00a0 None of the other The Grand branches can prepare it like the Plett branch\u00a0can, Camps Bay using shrimps which just do not match the wonderful Plett prawns.\u00a0 The slice of Caesar has also been a standard, costing R60 for the\u00a0iceberg served with bacon, croutons and parmesan, and R80 with chicken added.\u00a0 The Waldorf salad costs R 55; tuna (R45) and vegetable (R35) spring rolls; salmon naan (R 75); and\u00a0calamari rings cost R40 as a starter and R65 as a main.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the problems with a menu is that restaurants take them away when one has placed the order.\u00a0\u00a0 Only when leaving did I recheck the menu, and realise that our served calamari (crumbed calamari tubes) were not as described on the menu at all – they were not “tender” nor “rings”!\u00a0\u00a0 Mussels and chips cost R 75, a prego roll R60\/R65 for beef\u00a0chicken\/beef fillet.\u00a0\u00a0 There are only five main courses, including fish and chips (R70); line fish (R95); fillet “Bernaise”\u00a0(R115); and Durban lamb curry (R115), which my colleagues ordered, with super poppadoms, basmati rice and sambals of yoghurt, bananas, tomato and cucumber, and chutney.\u00a0\u00a0 Desserts have not changed in five years, being Afagato (R35), Phina Afagato (R45), and Cake of the day\u00a0(R34).<\/p>\n

The new menu was e-mailed to me, and a new addition is pizzas, ranging in price from R70 for the Grand “Margerita” to the blockbuster Grand Seafood Pizza at R220!\u00a0\u00a0 Sugared Salmon (R100), an old standard, is back.\u00a0\u00a0 Oysters and cold crayfish (both SQ) have been added as starters.<\/p>\n

The winelist has a small selection of wines per variety, but vintages are not specified.\u00a0 The (unspecified) house wines are offered in white, Ros\u00e9, red, sparkling, and sparkling Ros\u00e9, ranging from R35 per glass\/R195 per bottle.\u00a0 Suzette Champagne costs R150 for 375 ml.\u00a0 Sparkling wines cost R 220 for Steenberg 1682, “Pierre Jordaan (sic)\u00a0Belle Rose NV” R275, and Bramon Brut R265, a local Plettenberg Bay bubbly.\u00a0 Billecart-Salmon Rose costs R900, Moet & Chandon R800 and Dom Perignon R 2800.\u00a0\u00a0 Sauvignon Blancs range from R95 for Glenwood, to R180 for Springfield Life from Stone.\u00a0\u00a0 Kevin Arnold Shiraz costs R340.<\/p>\n

The Grand Caf\u00e9 bubble has burst in Plettenberg Bay.\u00a0 While it is commendable to see it still operating, given how depressed Plettenberg Bay is, the service was shocking, a regular complaint about The Grand on the Beach, but for all the wrong reasons – there were only three of four tables eating\u00a0in total, and both waiters were very new and poorly trained, and one of them came with attitude too.\u00a0\u00a0Our calamari served was completely different to what the menu described.\u00a0The trademark magical music is gone.\u00a0 Sadly, The Grand Caf\u00e9 in Plettenberg Bay is no longer grand!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Grand Caf\u00e9 and Rooms<\/strong>,\u00a0\u00a027 Main Road, Plettenberg Bay.\u00a0 Tel (044) 533-3301.\u00a0 www.thegrand.co.za<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 (the website is minimalist, quite contrary to the lush interiors, and is shared across the\u00a0three Grand restaurants.\u00a0 Surprisingly, no menu, winelist, nor any food photographs are in the Gallery of any of the three\u00a0website sections).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Open for lunch and dinner Monday – Sunday for the season.<\/p>\n

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

I have loved the Grand Caf\u00e9 and Rooms from the time it opened in Plettenberg Bay four years ago, and I stayed in it whilst I was having the building renovated that has become my Whale Cottage Plettenberg Bay.\u00a0 It has had its ups and downs over this period, but seems to\u00a0have lost its edge […]<\/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":[124,592,20,21],"tags":[6214,9066,9215,32370,32378,5217,9064,2317,9062,9065,7034,1102,4002,698,8940,6982,1725,9068,9067,9071,32390,3625,9070,4640,3324,9072,9063,9214,9073,6718,68,9061,3142,164,32373],"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