On Saturday I was invited to Societi Bistro for a taster of their new spring menu. I had actually visited the restaurant a few weeks ago for our staff function and had enjoyed the food. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the establishment though so I was happy to be back and give it a proper tasting.
*Picture taken on a previous occasion
Myself, A Gorgeous Blog and Mr Cape Town were the blogging contingent on the day and it was lovely to sit around a table, enjoy beautiful wine and some good banter on a cloudy Saturday afternoon.
Chef Stefan Marais told us about each course, but he didn’t tell us how much he would feed us. YOH! Societi Bistro is NOT shy on their portions, which is wonderful as they are in the mid to high price range. Their food is worth every cent, but you decide for yourself:
Starters at Societi Bistro
To kick off the lunch we were sent crudo – artisanally produced, organic, raw or cured mouthful. On this occasion it was a selection of oysters. Not eating seafood, I still have it a go. It was very tasty but a bit too seafoody for me.
Next was the cicchetti, a selection of aubergine, tomato and mozeralla. Simple and delicious. Followed by the Societi chicken waldorf salad, it was tasty, but less exciting. Perfect for the ‘safe’ eater:
My favourite was the organic asparagus, free-range egg, bruschetta, lemon and grana padano dish. Thick, long spears of asparagus which were perfectly washed. Yes WASHED! I’m so tired of biting through grit in asparagus. It was absolutely delicious.
The pasta course followed with a selection of spring inspired hand made pastas. This included an aglio (chilli, parsely and olive oil) home made spaghetti, the new season vegetables pasta (my favourite) and a prosciutto, cream, pea, grana padno spaghetti.
To follow we had the pea, goats cheese, mint and grana padano risotto, which was delicious. Spring vegetables were the theme for all these dishes so fresh peas and asparagus were used to add a touch of seasonal sweetness and freshness.
At this point we’d all only a bit of each dish because there were SO many! They were all delicious and we thought this was the end. Chef then walked out and said, “Should I give you a moment before bringing out the mains?” MAINS?! THERE WERE 5 MAINS ON THE WAY!!! We thought these WERE the mains!!! We all topped up our wines and relaxed for a bit before the following mains made there way to the table:
MAINS AT SOCIETI BISTRO
1/2 a free range chicken, flattened with a brick and cooked to perfection. My goodness. I never order chicken on the bone in a restaurant because on TV they always have beautifully golden, crispy skins, but not in real life. Well Societi absolutely NAILED it. This was the best chicken I’ve ever had in a restaurant, EVER! (Maybe anywhere ever but I’ll have to really think about that hehehehe)
A beautiful free-range pork belly, liquorice bark lacquer with sweet potato mash and wasabi slaw was another hit on the day. Perfectly balanced which a crispy top and soft center, sublime.
The venison dish of the day was a harissa flavoured kudu, cooked medium rare, apricot and almond couscous. Some eaters weren’t familiar with the harissa flavour, but I enjoyed it.
A simple lamb dish with (what I thought was) a bernaise sauce was tasty, but nothing extrodinary for me.
I couldn’t even get to the fifth dish, a vegan thai curry, but my friend had it at the staff function and said she enjoyed it!
At this point we all “just couldn’t even” any more…and then they brought of the desserts.
DESSERTS AT SOCIETY BISTRO
Well. A teaspoon of each dessert is basically all we could fit in. We’d had about 12 courses! The problem was that the desserts were SOOOO DARN GOOD! MY GOODNESS! I literally want to get in my car, go to Societi Bistro and have the perfect meal all over again! Desserts included a baked cheese cake that was cool and smooth with NO baking powder taste. WHY do bakers do this?! So annoying when you can taste baking powder! This was delicious. Then there was a “chocolate nemesis”, again, smooth, deep, rich, divine. A true death by chocolate experience! Eventually I started mixing the cheesecake and the chocolate nemesis together (they were actually better apart but hey, this place inspired greed and creativity!!!)
We also had a lemon tart that had a brulee’d top. A soft, crackly, crunch and a perfectly balanced sour edge to the lemon. I’m usually only in caramel, toffee or chocolate but this lemon tart was exquisite, absolutely beautiful.
I have to give a HUGE thank you to Aimee and Societi Bistro for inviting me and including me in this magnificent feast. It was one of the best lunches I have ever had, thank you so much.
