I can’t wait to tell you (and I also wish I could keep it a secret) about The Eatery in Wynberg. They followed me on Twitter and caught my attention. Since I’ve been working in Tokai, I’ve found myself taking new roads and exploring Cape Town anew once again. Knowing the highways really isn’t knowing Cape Town. Let me tell you about the Eatery:
I used to live next door to a woman named Joy Owen. And she was a joy in her own way. She was confident, with a good sense of humour, but also smart. She spent many hours in her kitchen while her daughter and I would practise our gymnastics, play in the park and sit on pool chairs on top of their pondok hanging out. Often she’d be making cakes for others or food for an occasion. I even tried tongue for the first time in her kitchen. There was always something magical coming out of there (my Mom didn’t like to cook never mind cook something exotic!). Joy and her family moved to England yet I often think of her and wondered if she continued to cook as she did in Africa.
Last week Mr Love and I went to the Eatery in Wynberg. It’s at the bottom of the hill where I thought Plumstead started by apparently not. We entered the charcoal grey walled, brown tabled establishment and were warmly, but casually, welcomed to take a seat. The atmosphere is relaxed with contemporary decor – I’d say modern farm!
At first I thought our waitress may have been one of the cooks as she wore an apron and knew so much about the food. But I soon learnt that was the general uniform. It’s a BYOB restaurant so I had brought along a bottle of my Starhill wine. For starters the chilli poppers were recommended to us as they are popular, but, I’m skeptical of Capetonians. They like to stick with what they know and I was curious to try something else on their all-delicious menu. I say that because usually I cut out 50% of a menu at first glace (I don’t eat seafood) but the Eatery is all about tasty meaty pleasures. So I ordered the bobotie springrolls. They seemed random, fun and unique.
I bit into the warm, soft minced, slightly curried, crispy spring rolls and received a hint of the classic Mr Balls chutney, that had been painted on the plate, and was immediately in love. Mr Love asked what I thought and I replied, “It tastes like the world’s best home cooking and the Mom can actually cook”. Now, that might not seem to make too much sense but EVERYONE loves their Mom’s cooking…it doesn’t actually mean their moms can cook well. But these springrolls are just fun, fun and delicious. It’s served with a pot of Mrs Balls in case you’re a big sauce person and would like more. After a while, I thought of Joy Owen because I could truly and honestly taste the love. You can imagine my utter surprise when owner, Marius, came over later in the evening to tell us that the bobotie was his Mom’s family recipe. I finally know what they mean on Top Chef when they say ‘you can taste the love’, it’s really a thing. Really.
The Eatery kindly gave me a chilli popper to taste as well, which was delicious as the chilli had been cooked all the way through resulting in a soft, easy to eat texture (sometimes you have to crunch and crack your way through chilli skin).
For mains, again, I went with something slightly different – ribs. Mr Love had the sirloin with a roasted garlic sauce on the side. Most of the food at The Eatery is wood fire grilled, which gives it an incredible braai, but not too smokey (just a char) taste. The ribs are not sweet and sticky southern style but rather have a more mature flavour. The meat was so ridiculously tender that when I picked up the ribs, with one hand, the bone fell out the meat, literally! The sirloin was incredible as well. SO succulent with a beautiful char, and the garlic sauce was delicious. Mr Love had his with triple cooked chips and I had it with potato bake (which, ironically, reminded me of OTHER neighbour, Felicity, who was German and made the best potato bake!). This is home cooking leveled up.
I really was too full to have dessert but I also couldn’t help myself from ordering as everything had been so wonderful I just HAD to know how their desserts fared. I usually dislike desserts because they always look better than they taste (all look and no substance), but NOT at the Eatery. Mr Love had a dark Lindt chocolate brownies (Oh my dayz!) and I had churros…HMMMMMMM cinnamony, sugary, crunchy, piped deep fried goodness, YUM!
While I had been invited by the Eatery, Mr Love and I always bring cash with us in case the restaurant goes back on their word and expects us to pay. This wasn’t the case at the Eatery, however, Mr Love and I both agreed that if we had been charged, we wouldn’t actually mind paying because we enjoyed the food that much. I really hope they will keep up the time and attention they’ve put into the food as the Eatery is a wonderful restaurant at this time.
The Eatery is found at 70 Constantia road and is open from Wednesday to Saturdays from 5pm to 10pm as well as for Sunday lunch from 12pm to 3pm. MAKE SURE YOU GO THERE! YOU CAN THANK ME LATER! YES I MEANT THIS IN CAPS! 😀
*The Eatery does offer a selection of soft drinks and divine milkshakes for those not wanting to drink.
