{"id":9251,"date":"2010-06-14T12:41:13","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T10:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=9251"},"modified":"2010-06-14T19:14:48","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T17:14:48","slug":"restaurant-review-brio-1893-is-beautiful-and-brio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/restaurant-review-brio-1893-is-beautiful-and-brio\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Review: Brio 1893 is beautiful and brio!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>One of the most beautiful restaurant interiors in Cape Town is\u00a0the newly opened Brio 1893 jazz restaurant on Adderley Street, one half of the previous Riboville Restaurant that closed down more than a year ago, and close to The Taj Twankey Bar.\u00a0“Brio” is a musical term, meaning lively and spirited, and that is what this restaurant embodies.<\/p>\n

The German owner of the 1893-built ABC Building, in which the restaurant is housed,\u00a0invited Skippy and Lauren Shaked to check out the building, despite both having sworn that they would not open another restaurant.\u00a0 “It was love at first sight”, beams Skippy, despite the original interior having been a mess, only the beautiful wooden floor and original lamps still in the space when they saw it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skippy and I have been\u00a0Camps Bay “colleagues” for twelve years (he is the owner of Codfather, and ex-owner of Summerville).\u00a0 I accepted an invitation to try out the restaurant, shared with Clare and Eamon from Spill blog, after I had popped in for a coffee and a drink about ten days before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lovingly Lauren and Skippy have created a most beautiful restaurant, with a lovely ambiance.\u00a0 Near the bar counter a cosy lounge area has gilded chairs with a lovely purple fabric.\u00a0\u00a0A separate smoking lounge with its own fireplace also is beautifully decorated, and feels homely.\u00a0 Another dining section can be cordoned off for\u00a0a private dinner for 30 guests.\u00a0 Soon the downstairs vault will be turned into a function venue.<\/p>\n

Beautiful chandeliers hang over the bar area, whilst modern small chandelier-style lights light up the passage to the bathrooms, a good blend of old and new.\u00a0 In the bathrooms the lighting is very modern, with a lighting panel above changing colour.\u00a0 The original marble walls of what was once a Standard Bank add an unusual\u00a0decor touch.\u00a0 Lauren\u00a0was in charge of the decor, and has an amazingly simple\u00a0touch, a less is more approach, and it says CLASS.\u00a0\u00a0 It is not surprising to hear that she had a decor shop in Hout Bay.<\/p>\n

The lower restaurant level has retained the beautifully restored wooden floors, whilst the raised section has my favourite black and white tiles.\u00a0\u00a0 One is separated from other diners by classical brown leather benches, with modern black chairs on the other side of the tables.\u00a0\u00a0 From the\u00a0band stand in the middle of the lower floor we were entertained by Skippy’s pianist and guitarist, with soloist\u00a0Robin. \u00a0The highlight was when Skippie took the microphone – he is a singer of note, singing with passion such standards as ‘Georgia’ and ‘Georgie Porgie’.\u00a0 There is no cover charge for the music, and\u00a0a couple danced, making this good value for a romantic evening out, celebrating a special birthday (with Skippy singing for a birthday girl the night we were there), an anniversary and even an engagement.\u00a0 Compared to other restaurants with live music, Brio has the benefit that one can carry on a conversation whilst the live music is performed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arlene, our medical student waitress, was exceptional, one of the best I have experienced.\u00a0\u00a0 She brought us the gold covered menu and winelist.\u00a0 The menu is restricted, making it easy to choose.\u00a0 We received cheese coated bread sticks and a peppadew dip to start with, and\u00a0we felt that the breadsticks would have been better served warm, and without the dip,\u00a0but may have been superfluous anyway, given that the starters arrived almost immediately.\u00a0 I had the deep fried camembert with caramelized nuts and figs, the camembert having a lovely soft centre contrasted with the crispy crumbed exterior (R 62).\u00a0 Clare enjoyed her oysters, at R15 each, beautifully presented.\u00a0 Eamon was happy with his\u00a0grilled calamari (R49).\u00a0 Other starters\u00a0offered are roquefort snails (R59) and springbok carpaccio (R88).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The signature main course is the peppered fillet (R130), which both Clare and Eamon had, prepared perfectly medium-rare, as requested.\u00a0 I found my grilled calamari (R96)\u00a0too sharp in taste, making my eyes water, and Skippy explained that it has a sprinkling of cajun spice, which is not mentioned in the menu.\u00a0 He immediately replaced it with an unspiced plateful, which was served with basmati rice.\u00a0 Other mains range from\u00a0the Brio Burger at R79, to a seafood platter at R420.\u00a0 One can also order carpetbagger steak (have not seen this on a menu for years!), oxtail, steamed mussels (temporarily not available due to the red tide), linefish and crayfish thermidor.\u00a0\u00a0 Starches, vegetables and sauces cost extra, between R18 – R 25. \u00a0\u00a0Side salads cost about R50.<\/p>\n

Two desserts offered (malva pudding at R45 and creme brulee at R39) is too restrictive a dessert choice, in my opinion.\u00a0 Clare’s creme brulee was a generous portion, and was perfectly prepared.\u00a0 I enjoyed my cheese platter (R89).<\/p>\n

The winelist offers about ten choices per variety, but does not contain vintages.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Champagnes range in price from\u00a0\u00a0R1 100 (Moet et Chandon Epernay NV) to R3660 for the Dom Perignon Epernay).\u00a0\u00a0Cap Classiques cost around R250, for\u00a0Simonsig, Steenberg 1682, Pongracz and Graham Beck.\u00a0\u00a0 Fleur\u00a0du Cap Sauvignon Blanc costs R118, and Klein Constantia R238.\u00a0 Chardonnays start at R116 for Brampton, with Hamilton-Russell the most expensive at R649.\u00a0\u00a0Guardian Peak’s shiraz is reasonable at R138, and Ernie Els’ the most expensive at R484.\u00a0 Fleur du Cap’s Pinotage costs R128, while the Guardian Peak Lapa costs R468. \u00a0Eamon was kind to me, knowing my preference for shiraz, and ordered a Neil Ellis for us and I was surprised that the 2008 bottle came with a screw top.\u00a0\u00a0 It costs R222.<\/p>\n

We loved the evening at Brio – the beautiful decor, the ambiance, the friendliness of the staff, the generosity of Skippy and Lauren, the live music (Skippy’s singing in particular), the\u00a0reasonable prices and the good food.\u00a0 We will definitely be back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brio 1893<\/strong>, ABC Building, 130 Adderley Street, Cape Town.\u00a0 tel 021 422 0654.\u00a0 www.brio1893.com<\/a>\u00a0(website under construction).\u00a0 Open Mondays – Saturdays.\u00a0\u00a0 Dinners only.<\/p>\n

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

One of the most beautiful restaurant interiors in Cape Town is\u00a0the newly opened Brio 1893 jazz restaurant on Adderley Street, one half of the previous Riboville Restaurant that closed down more than a year ago, and close to The Taj Twankey Bar.\u00a0“Brio” is a musical term, meaning lively and spirited, and that is what this […]<\/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":[3,124,20,21],"tags":[5050,5048,5218,5047,32370,4623,32366,32378,1024,5217,412,226,2887,1958,1102,413,4735,3254,229,252,3625,5049,230,5053,4822,3324,1237,5052,5051,32373],"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