{"id":9091,"date":"2010-09-18T09:33:16","date_gmt":"2010-09-18T07:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=9091"},"modified":"2010-09-18T10:16:22","modified_gmt":"2010-09-18T08:16:22","slug":"restaurant-review-ah-restaurant-another-paternoster-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/restaurant-news\/restaurant-review-ah-restaurant-another-paternoster-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Ah! Restaurant a Paternoster secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Arnold\u00a0Hoon and his actress wife Annelise Bosch opened their 4-star\u00a0Ah! guest house in Paternoster almost four years ago, and accommodate guests in three bedrooms.\u00a0 They\u00a0prepare gourmet dinners\u00a0for their guests, as well as for any other visitors in Paternoster, for up to\u00a0eight guests in total.\u00a0 It was the best all-round restaurant experience I recently had in Paternoster, and this was the second visit for a meal, after having been impressed by Arnold’s creativity on a visit in January.<\/p>\n

The wooden table looked beautiful, with a selection of 16 different candles in holders lining the centre of the table.\u00a0\u00a0 The serviette was\u00a0laid in the center of the place setting,\u00a0unusually knotted.\u00a0\u00a0 The fun part of Arnold’s table is the luck of the draw, in who one gets to meet at the table, and sits next to.\u00a0\u00a0 On our January visit we\u00a0shared the table with\u00a0very entertaining Cape Town advocates and their friends, while on\u00a0the latest visit I met a lovely couple from Hermanus and their friends from Worcester, and Trevor Richardson and his wife from Durban.\u00a0\u00a0The other luck of the draw is the menu, as one has no choice on the items on the menu, which costs R 225 for the 4-course dinner.\u00a0 However, Arnold is a most accommodating host, and does his homework when one books, to check on any food allergies or dislikes, and will make something especially.<\/p>\n

Arnold ran\u00a0a catering company in Johannesburg before\u00a0falling in love with\u00a0Paternoster.\u00a0\u00a0 He has an amazing ability to remember his dinner and guest house guests when they return unannounced, a reflection of the personal care that he takes.\u00a0 Nothing seems to be too much trouble for him and Annelise, and the care they put into their dinners they also put into their beautifully presented three-course breakfasts.<\/p>\n

One can order a bottle of wine with the meal, and pairing each course with a different wine is not the main focus of the evening.\u00a0 Arnold supplies West Coast wines in the main.<\/p>\n

Arnold’s dedicated yet seemingly relaxed preparation of the meal takes place while one chats around the table.\u00a0 I arrived a little late, and the other guests were already seated and eating their mussel and Guinness soup, one of Arnold’s specialities, and often requested by past dinner guests.\u00a0\u00a0 Mussels were on my food-dislike list, and therefore\u00a0Arnold prepared a special dish just for me, a courgette soup served with a beautiful stack of smoked star-shaped angelfish samoosas.\u00a0 The highlight of the meal was a Three Cheese Salad, with beetroot, fresh pear, gorgonzola, labna, parmesam shavings, and brittle, served with a soy and sesame seed wholegrain mustard dressing.\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone at the table loved the crunchy brittle, and the gorgonzola in particular.\u00a0 Our main course was a red wine and mushroom risotto served with tubes of calamari stuffed with oxtail – an usual combination of elements but very tasty.\u00a0\u00a0 For dessert we were served a vanilla semifreddo with a slice of dried fruit and nut baklava, on top of which was a slice of port-soaked fresh fig, drizzled with mint syrup.\u00a0 An heavenly end to an ah! evening.<\/p>\n

Ah!<\/strong> Restaurant<\/strong>, Ah! Guest House, 1 Mosselbank Street, Paternoster.\u00a0 Tel\u00a0082 464 5898. \u00a0 www.ahguesthouse.com<\/a> (The website is disappointing in not providing a sample menu or winelist,\u00a0with very few food photographs in the Image Gallery.\u00a0\u00a0However, Ah! Restaurant is one that\u00a0one would\u00a0get to\u00a0hear about by word-of-mouth in the main).<\/p>\n

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

Arnold\u00a0Hoon and his actress wife Annelise Bosch opened their 4-star\u00a0Ah! guest house in Paternoster almost four years ago, and accommodate guests in three bedrooms.\u00a0 They\u00a0prepare gourmet dinners\u00a0for their guests, as well as for any other visitors in Paternoster, for up to\u00a0eight guests in total.\u00a0 It was the best all-round restaurant experience I recently had in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[124,20,21],"tags":[7294,4909,7291,7290,7293,7292,6571,32378,7297,7298,7295,7299,7300,4932,252,3625,7296,3440,7301,32373,2786],"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