{"id":1863,"date":"2009-04-09T00:03:01","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T22:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=1863"},"modified":"2011-04-06T02:23:06","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T00:23:06","slug":"maze-not-quite-a-maze-ing-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/maze-not-quite-a-maze-ing-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"maze not quite a-maze-ing yet!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since the opening of the One&Only Cape Town last week, Capetonians are coming to check out the hotel, and are having dinner at its two branded restaurants, Nobu and maze.<\/p>\n

maze is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, the first to merge maze Tapas and maze Grills, which are separated elsewhere in the\u00a0maze world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sol Kerzner, the One&Only owner, encouraged Ramsay to add a South African touch to the menu.\u00a0\u00a0 The touch is most visible in the dessert menu.<\/p>\n

But, to get to the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0 We had dinner five days after the opening day.\u00a0 We were greeted with confusion as to what we should do with the car.\u00a0 Mistakenly we had assumed we could just drive in at the low key entrance (at night), and a lit up One&Only sign was the only branding one saw upon entering the grounds, surprising for one of the world’s leading hotel operations.\u00a0\u00a0 The car problem was quickly solved, when it was valet parked, organised by a most impressive looking and charming doorman, wearing a waistcoat with leopard print over his smart black suit\u00a0– it looked superb.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately this dress theme was not carried through once one steps inside the foyer.\u00a0 One’s first impression is the stunning chandelier in the Vista Bar.\u00a0 The Bar has\u00a0a magnificent view onto Table Mountain in the day, but it is not visible at night.\u00a0\u00a0 Staff were on hand, proactively assisting in providing directions for the two restaurants, to the left and right of the bar.<\/p>\n

As one comes down the staircase to maze, a manager comes to greet his guests with the reservations list, and one is quickly seated.\u00a0\u00a0 The menu is cream-coloured, and its cover understated, with the zen-like maze logo on the outside.\u00a0\u00a0 The menu pages\u00a0number three in total, with a surprising small selection of\u00a0starters, mains and desserts.\u00a0\u00a0 The pleasant surprise was the affordability of the dishes – not inexpensive, but on a\u00a0par with the more expensive restaurants in Cape Town:\u00a0 R 160 for a 250 gram South African or Namibian fillet,\u00a0Karoo lamb at R 130, kingklip at R 90, and dessert prices range from R 60 –\u00a0R 90.\u00a0\u00a0 All side dishes for the main course are charged extra, at R 25 – at that price, the portion sizes are small.\u00a0\u00a0 Interesting is that a side order of bobotie can be ordered with one’s steak or fish.\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to chips, one can have side orders of sherry mushrooms, mash, braised carrots, french beans, etc.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We learnt that the signature dish of maze is the beetroot salad.<\/p>\n

Staff in the hotel wear uniforms designed by local fashion designer Jenni Button.\u00a0\u00a0 A strong turquoise blue is used throughout – in the waistcoats of the bar staff, the ties of the male managers, in the scarves\/sashes of the\u00a0female managers.\u00a0\u00a0 The less blue the staff member wears in the uniform, the more senior he\/she is.<\/p>\n

The restaurant interior is very brown, earthy, chocolatey and darkish, with dark woods,\u00a0and oval-shaped orange lights.\u00a0 With only a little tea light on the table, it was very hard to read the menu.\u00a0\u00a0 Special clip-on reading lights are available, but this was not communicated in advance.\u00a0\u00a0 Turquoise is not reflected in the decor at all.\u00a0\u00a0 The restaurant carpet had massive geometric blocks on it – garish, hotel-like, but fortunately one’s attention is not on the floor.\u00a0\u00a0 Tables for two are on the side, with one person sitting on a fixed bench, not well matched to the height of the table, making this an uncomfortable seat.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The cutlery is beautiful and new, and no table cloths or overlays decorate the tables.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The use of slate as coasters and underplates is unusual but practical.<\/p>\n

The winelist is impressive, with 35 pages of varietals of 150 international and\u00a0 450 local wines, and more than hundred wines-by-the-glass.\u00a0\u00a0 Irritating for a winedrinker preferring wines by variety, is the winelist that is arranged by Wine of Origin region.\u00a0\u00a0 So, for example, one has\u00a0to check every region to find a preferred Shiraz.\u00a0 Complicating this further is the Wine of Origin grouping, so that\u00a0 Boekenhoutskloof will be found under Paarl, and Franschhoek does not appear at all.\u00a0\u00a0 The prices are reasonable – R 590\u00a0for the Boekenhoutskloof Shiraz 2006, Meerlust Rubicon is available per vintage, ranging in price from R\u00a0560 for the 2004 to R 1 850\u00a0for the 1993.<\/p>\n

If one compares the service from the superb One&Only sommelier Steven Towler with the waiters at maze, the former wins hands-down.\u00a0 His personal approach,\u00a0 extensive knowledge, and ability to assist in selecting a suitable wine could not be matched by his maze counterparts.\u00a0\u00a0 The recommendation\u00a0of a Rijk’s 2004 Shiraz, which had been enjoyed by Nelson Mandela and Sol Kerzner at their lunch in the hotel last week, was spot on, and was priced at a reasonable R 320.\u00a0\u00a0 After the main course, a special\u00a0invitation was extended to show the customers the Wine Loft, with 6 000 beautifully\u00a0displayed bottles of wine on silver racks\u00a0in a glass-enclosed space,\u00a0with its own tasting table, and wines cooled at 18 C.\u00a0\u00a0 The cherry on top was the complimentary Joostenberg Chenin Blanc sent to the table with the desserts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the maze side, things were a little slow.\u00a0\u00a0 The crayfish starter, priced at R 65 per 100 gram, was beautifully presented on ice, with the meat displayed on the open tail.\u00a0\u00a0 It took an hour after the starter was cleared (2 hours after arrival)\u00a0to be served the main course of a steak and kingklip.\u00a0\u00a0 The kingklip was very bland and boring, and served with the skin side\u00a0up, not very attractive.\u00a0 It had bones, which was an immediate no-no.\u00a0\u00a0 The steak was juicy and good, but served on a\u00a0Spur-style wooden board that captures the juices.\u00a0\u00a0 The main course certainly was a disappointment, in terms of the reasonably small portions, and the bland display of the food, by comparison to the attractive presentation of the starters and desserts.<\/p>\n

The dessert list is interesting, with\u00a0unusual combinations, and almost overdone-South African touches (“melktert, pink grapefruit granite, lemon curd” and\u00a0“malva pudding with poached apricots, gingerbread ice cream”).\u00a0\u00a0 The most interesting sounding dessert was the “maze peanut butter and cherry jam sandwich with cherry sorbet”.\u00a0\u00a0 A delectable range of sorbets (including lime, cream cheese, basil) and ice creams (including gingerbread, honey and milk, smoked salt and almond) can also be ordered, costing only R 15 for three small scoops.\u00a0\u00a0 The melktert dessert was disappointing, in that the milk part of it was soft and runny, and not set, as one is accustomed to in South Africa.\u00a0 Ramsay’s chefs will have to learn how to make their South African dishes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The maze waiters are\u00a0supported by local waiters, and the gap between the service levels is understandable, and will need more training to reduce.\u00a0\u00a0 It was encouraging to learn that former Grand Roche sommelier, and ex-Steenberg and Singita staffer\u00a0Kent Scheermeyer is the Food & Beverage Director of One&Only Cape Town.<\/p>\n

The food preparation is largely done inside the restaurant, and electric equipment is used, sounding just like a vacuum cleaner, disturbing the ambiance of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

The bill took a long time to come, and had a price error for the crayfish, it being charged\u00a0at R 500 instead of at the R 130 for the 200 gram ordered.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It took two revisions to get the bill fixed to reflect the correct\u00a0amount.<\/p>\n

The cloakrooms are bizarre, with a glass panel on one wall, and blown-up photographs of a woman’s fishnet stockinged legs, plastered on all the toilet doors.\u00a0\u00a0 Bins holding the toweling cloths overflowed and only two of the nine toilets had toilet paper.<\/p>\n

maze will improve, and needs to meet the standard\u00a0of the One&Only Cape Town\u00a0service levels as far as the wine side of the hotel goes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Impressive was Assistant Manager Phillip, who came to the table, to request feedback about the evening.<\/p>\n

The car was returned promptly, and ten out of ten for the driver for moving the seat back to its original position before getting out of the car.<\/p>\n

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

Since the opening of the One&Only Cape Town last week, Capetonians are coming to check out the hotel, and are having dinner at its two branded restaurants, Nobu and maze. maze is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, the first to merge maze Tapas and maze Grills, which are separated elsewhere in the\u00a0maze world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sol Kerzner, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,3,20,19],"tags":[389,32366,32378,32369,997,1100,1149,1150,790,1148,32392,509,503,1094,13,1147,147,508,231,10894,4,1073,482,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t