At The Showroom restaurant in Cape Town's stylish De Waterkant, chef and owner Bruce Robertson has masterminded a theatrical dining experience where the food steals the show.
The restaurant (located next to the Bloomsbury luxury car showroom) has caused quite a stir in culinary circles.
Robertson is a former advertising industry art director, who couldn't boil and egg until the age of twenty-eight.
While on a culinary adventure via bicycle from London to Rome, he had an epiphany on a park bench with his (then) partner. They promised each other, there and then, that they were going to quit advertising and venture into the wild world of cooking.
He admits that his parents were a bit sceptical about his sudden decision to change careers and start over from scratch. But Bruce persevered, and the proof is in the pudding.
Since then, he has worked at acclaimed establishments like The Ritz in London and Cape Grace hotel's award-winning onewaterfront restaurant. His latest restaurant, the Showroom, has only been open a couple of months, but has already been ranked as one of the top ten restaurants in South Africa at the 2006 Eat Out Johnnie Walker Restaurant Awards.
Robertson's vision behind The Showroom was to create an intimate dining experience that feels more akin to a dinner party than a night out at a restaurant. The kitchen is open plan, and guests can marvel at the speed and flair with which Bruce and his team dishes up their creations.
The menu is tongue-in cheek and original. Why not order the Lamborghini Gallard ('5 litre V10 and very sexy') for 2.8 million. Or get "Out of it in Africa" - with a divine combination of traditional koeksisters, frozen melktert and wild dagga ice cream.
Whatever you order at The Showroom, your taste buds are bound to be tantalized. Bruce's art director roots also add a unique creative flair to the presentation of the dishes.
Two CapeTownMagazine.com favourites are the Crayfish Curry with lemon and coconut gnocchi, and the Tart Escargot with port caramelized onions, gorgonzola and frozen garlic.
The restaurant prides itself on the wide range of sauces that you can order to compliment your food. Choose your sauce and apply dollops of it to your dish at your own discretion. Your waiter will arrive at your table with a mortar and grind your spicy African Harissa into a paste, before handing it over to you.
The wines at The Showroom "all have a personality of their own" and are innovatively grouped between bubbly, pinkish, occasion whites, silky reds, big reds, wild reds and occasion reds. The wine menu also includes quite a few unusual wines, because (according to the menu) "diversity in wine like life is a wonderful thing".
The d'cor is ultra stylish but minimalist, so as not to detract from the heavenly creations on your plate. Guests dine in style on translucent, Phillipe Starck 'Louis Ghost Armchairs' fit for a postmodern king.
The rest of the space has a stark, 'factory space meets New York loft apartment' feel. Thick white linen tablecloths are draped over the tables; cutlery is wrapped in thick linen serviettes; innovatively tied with cable ties and placed in glass bowls in the middle of each table.
Stylish d'cor aside, it is The Showroom's heavenly food that has Cape Town's hipsters and culinary cool kids all a-flurry. So drop in and taste for yourself.
The Showroom: Open: Mondays to Sundays for lunch and dinner
Booking: +27 (21) 421 4682 (It is advised to try and book at least a month in advance)
Molo says: "The Showroom is surprisingly well priced for an upmarket restaurant (leaving diners with more than enough money to splash out on a good bottle of wine or two).
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