Simply Good Food

There is something that has been bothering me lately when it comes to eating out. It seems that restaurants are opting for the one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to their menu. Every menu I’ve seen in venues of the no-chef-in-the-kitchen variety lists the same items: pizza, pasta, tramezzinis, burgers, wraps.  Now there is nothing wrong with a good pizza – Pizzetta in Davenport Road specialises in them, and they are excellent. And if you are looking for a good pasta, look no further than Spiga D’Oro in Florida Road. There is nothing wrong with any of these food items, provided they are put together creatively and feature good quality ingredients. But when a restaurant tries to do everything they tend to end up doing nothing very well, resulting in mediocre food.

I was excited when a friend suggested a group lunch at Freshly Ground Cafe in Hillcrest. I don’t venture up the hill too often to eat out, and had therefore heard nothing about this venue.

Things got off to a good start. We were seated at a proper 10-seater dining room table, with comfortable upholstered chairs – the “main table” as the waitress put it. It is the only one like it in the restaurant and adds a nice touch to the decor. I opened the menu and was disappointed to find it extensive – a full page of all-day breakfasts, a full page of light meals and two pages of main meals categorised into  Salads, Burgers, Wraps, Pastas, Curries (although some menus had these options blocked out)… the usual fare again. With the myriad of choices I found it difficult to select anything but eventually settled on “The Works” – a long ciabatta roll filled with grilled chicken, avo, pecorino cheese, pesto and rainbow peppers.

And then a little problem. My friend asked for a can of coke – alas, none in stock. No worries, she would have one of the fresh juices on the menu. Also not in stock. Finally she decided on a peach iced tea, only to discover oh dear, also not in stock. The extensive menu was diminishing before my eyes.

Our meal arrived timeously and hot. My Works seemed to have all the listed ingredients but somehow still managed to taste bland. The accompanying chips were straight out of a frozen catering bag (think Wimpy) and then fried till they were dead. So crispy the entire chip was one hard rock. My friend had ordered the Cranberry Chicken Burger and was surprised to find her cranberry sauce to be an insipid creamy pink colour. She decided it was likely that canned cranberries had been boiled with maizena to make the sauce. Uninspiring, despite its promise to be a little different. Another friend ordered peri-peri grilled chicken. A whole chicken flattie arrived on the plate, with a little creamy peri-peri drizzled over the top. The same crispy-dead chips accompanied it. Could we please have some condiments? This word had to first be explained to the waitress who finally came back with a solitary bottle of tomato sauce.

So another restaurant falls prey to the new trend as it tries to cater for everything and does nothing well. “Reminiscent of a stylish, European sidewalk café” it most certainly is not. My experience of sidewalk cafe’s in Europe, although admittedly limited, is that they choose a couple of good dishes for the day and complement it with a small list of alternatives. I would urge restaurant venues in Durban to strive for the same.

- Freshly Ground Cafe can be found at Shop 8 The Colony, 50 Old Main Road, Hillcrest. http://www.freshlygroundcafe.co.za