APOLOGIES :)

I seem to have missed more dinners than i thought lol.  My apologies to everyone...I will do my best to stay on top of things :)

Lets see....December was Chai Yo in Canal walk. We had a lovely table outside on the water...did get a bit cold as the evening progressed, but we had great fun.  Their sushi is delicious - as is every on their menu.  If you're a steak and potato person, this is unfortunately not the place to go, but give it a go if you're looking to try something different.  Sushi, Curry, chicken...take your pic.  I just loved the way they presented all their food - almost made you not want to eat it :)
Special thank you to Nicole...our christmas cookies were absolutely delicious!!!!!

January - Bring 'n Braai at our local pub (The Cue Inn, 92C Monte Vista Boulevard, Monte Vista) - even had crayfish tails!! No complaints about the food here as we did everything ourselves lol.  Had a great evening!!

February - Eastwoods, Edward Street:  Loved the place itself eventhough our food arrived cold and the steaks werent the best cut.  This is more of an after work meeting place though i would say.  Go there for a few drinks with friends and enjoy the lovely Tapas on the menu - especially the poppers :)

March was Rick's Cafe in Gardens.  Stunning place with a relaxed yet vibey atmosphere.  Food was delicious and portions huge.  The also have great specials on cocktails...but we missed that by about half an hour :(

April - Slattery's (oude westhof):  Definitely one of the worst dinner outings.  The fact that there were only 2 other tables maybe should have warned us, but being a Tuesday night we didnt take notice of it.  The best thing about the evening was our seating outside.  It was a lovely evening outside under the stars.  The food took forever to get to us.  Half the steaks were over done - no one dared send it back as we had already waited over an hour for the food to arrive.  The chef did send out 2 portions of steak (free of charge) but by that time it was a bit late and all the unappetizing steaks had already been half eaten. They also didn't have some of the "home cooked" meals available.  2 of our dinner guests were sick the next day (not sure if it was the Salmon which had quite probably been standing a few weeks).  Then we had some drama when we left with 2 tyres that was being let down.  Suppose its not the restaurants fault...but we wont be going back there in any case.

Thats it for now...sorry for the extremely short reviews....but not so easy 4 months down the line :)
see everyone at our next dinner

ALBERTO'S - DURBANVILLE

Date:  3 November 2010
Hosts:  Johan & Antonie
Group:  10 people

If I had to pick 1 word to describe last night ... it would be FAIR. 
Venue was nice...we were seated outside - got a bit chilly towards the end, but we wanted smoking seating so cant blame anyone for that :)

From what i saw it looked like a nice, cosy meeting place inside for a few social drinks after a hard day at the office.
The service was good.
For most the food was delicious - Their portions are fairly big (I definitely understand why they have options for 'half' portions on some of the items :)

The steaks, with the exception of one, weren't done as ordered.  Rare & medium orders came out well done.  On the flip side...the eisbeins are huge and definitely value for money!


All in all we had a good time once again :)

THE BARNYARD, WILLOWBRIDGE

Date:  5 October 2010
Hosts:  Lida & Nolene
Group:  14 people

We decided to take the group to The Barnyard for their Awesome 80's show.....and it was absolutely awesome!!  Well done for putting up such a great show!

The atmosphere was stunning and they had us up and dancing between the tables.

We had platters made for the tables (sadly no one took photo's of these) - so this time no one could (or would have dared) complain about the food as we had organised it ourselves :)

I definitely recommend watching a show at the Barnyard!!!

THE MOUNT, DURBANVILLE

Date:  3 August 2010
Hosts:  Don & Rita
Group: 8ppl

"Durbanville's hidden jewel"- definitely!!

Probably the best dinner to date!!!!! Venue absolutely stunning (not too difficult to find)...food fantastic and the service excellent!

For the first time - we were all seated round a big square table where we could all see each other and have a conversation without shouting to get the person on the far ends attention.   This made for a stunning atmosphere!

Starters to try:   Trinchado (no off-cuts here),  Snail sandwhich (tastes better than it sounds lol), Kanonkop firecrackers, Grilled Calamari & Stone bread....all delicious.

Mains were fairly big portions and definitely the best steaks we've had. 
Wasn't easy deciding on what to have though....Curry, Espetada, Seafood.....or one of their famous steaks. 
They also have a variety of specials for the day & some delectable desserts for those with a sweet tooth.

Everything was done to absolute perfection - well done The Mount!

We will definitely be going back for seconds :)

http://www.themount.co.za/

KRUGMANN'S GRILL, V&A WATERFRONT

Date: 1 June 2010
Hosts: Gillian & Chris
Group: 9 people (+Mike :)

Lovely venue. We were seated in one of their 'private' rooms - perfect for bigger groups as it's nice and quiet. They also have a cigar lounge with a variety of cigars available.

Service was great and the food EXCELLENT! They are not cheap, but the quality of the food is well worth it!
Starters were lovely - Chef's tasting platter is worth a try and big enough for 2 people to share. The tomato soup looked and, I was told, tasted equally good! They have their own unique sushi menu - not a very big variety, but very interesting.
For mains, I had the stacked chicken - couldn't finish as the portion was huge. Steak (with the exception of 2 steaks that came out cold) was delicious and done to perfection! AND they have the big fried onion rings - Mmmmmmm yum. Burgers were also quite big and very tasty.

For desserts we settled for our normal coffee's and Irish coffee's.

One thing they need to look at is updating their website - as they still have their old menu on there...with the old prices.

We had a lovely time and I will definitely go back there if I want to spoil myself with a nice meal and a good bottle of red wine :)

JIMMYS KILLER PRAWNS - TABLE VIEW

Date:  4 May 2010
Hosts:  JJ & Elzanne
Group:  14 people

Last night was well worth venturing out into the cold and rain for dinner club. 
Food was fabulous and the company equally great!

Starters were lovely - Bets even had Malva pudding as a starter which I though a GREAT idea as I never have space for dessert :-) Their sushi is stunning and fairly priced (pity we didn't go on their sushi special night...next time :)
They have a build-your-own platter menu or a choice between set platters.  On it was everything from mussels, grilled halloumi, spicy chicken to fish and calamari.  Everything was tasty + the platters included a plate of their famous prawns!
The other favourite was their Surf 'n turf - VERY decent portions.
Even their steak was delicious and done to mouthwatering perfection.

We went to Jimmys Killer Prawns 3 weeks ago for lunch and I was a bit worried after raving about their food, that we'd be disappointed when we went there again.  I had no need to be worried, the SERVICE & FOOD WAS ONCE AGAIN EXCELLENT!

ADEGA - WILLOWBRIDGE

Date:  6 April 2010
Hosts:  Dave & Bets
Group:  10ppl (including some friends from overseas)

What was meant to be a nice dinner at Hussar Grill Willowbridge turned out to be an AWESOME evening @ Adega !!!  Confusing?? Let me explain...
We arrived at Hussar only to find that they have seated us in a non-smoking section after we'd booked a month in advance AND confirmed twice with them telephonically. First their extractors weren't working & then someone else came and told us that it's because they close their smoking section in the evenings??? Would have been nice if they had told us that over the phone, but it was obvious that they were fumbling around for excuses.

Anyway we went in search of another restaurant in Willowbridge and found Adega - who were very accommodating and even opened the one section to get us in.

Food was great and the service excellent (thank you Henriet)!

They have quite a variety on their menu & we got so lucky landing up there on a Tuesday because they had 1/2 price on sushi, oysters for R4,90 and great specials on steaks and prawns!  Everything was delicious except maybe for the lamb shank that was a bit tough.  I haven't seen so many empty plates in a while :)  They were also very leanient when it came to the menu and even made up a special starter for Rita.  No one ordered dessert - there was just no space after all the juicy prawns and steaks.

We haven't been that lucky with recent venues and I'm very glad we went there.  I'm sure we'll keep Adega in mind next time we want to go out for a nice supper. 
(oh corkage R25 and I must add that I LOVE their red wine glasses - I'm sure the whole bottle would have fitted in one if we tried)

STUNNING EVENING, THANKS EVERYONE :)