There’s nothing better than watching the light fade from the city bowl and grabbing one last bite to eat before Monday arrives. If you want to eek out your weekend, family run restaurant, Bacini’s, is a perfect spot to spot for good, heartfelt food between beach and home.
Mr John and I popped in at the start of summer for their Sunday cocktail special evening and ended up staying about 4 hours! The food was scrumptious and it was so relaxing watching the light fade over the mountain as the summer light slipped away.
Here’s what we enjoyed:
Starters
I LOVE a decent arancini ball so I ordered these as a starter while Mr John ordered a freshly baked focaccia. Well, I’m sorry to say, but no matter how beautiful these arancini balls look the Focaccia (R45) stole the show. Always SO simple, but SO delicious. It’s the epitome of Italian food and it really stole the starters show.
The arancini balls weren’t, bad but I found the centre a touch bland; a little more seasoning I think would have perked them up. 10/10 for the focaccia though.
While we waited for mains I indulged in a little summer cocktail. It was fresh, but I was a little hung over so I stopped at one. Unfortunately “reg makerjies” don’t work for me so it was back to sparkles! Still, I had no complaints as we watched the light fade around us.
Mains
Of course we had to order pizza after the focaccia because it was too delicious not to have any more oven baked goods. Once again, it was some of the best pizza (R95) we’ve had outside Italy. Home made, delicious (and not too much) sauce and cheese. Caramelised edges of the bacon, perfection.
I ordered lasagne (R110) as it’s one of my favourite dishes, but I’m often quite let down by what’s on offer – but not here. Whenever you eat a dish you have a certain number of touch points whether it’s smell or a particular sweetness to the marinara sauce – whatever it is, there’s nothing better than when the dish hits the spot and that’s what the Bacini lasagne did. YUM!
We also ordered a plate of beef campagnola (R160) with chips and veg. The veg was great, but I wasn’t too convinced overall. The meat was fine, but a touch under seasoned. Underneath the cheese it was a bit of a mess with a sloppy, thin sauce with partially cooked wine.
I also personally prefer not to have both pasta and chips on a plate (one starch is fine), having said that, the chips were darn delicious. Considering how delicious and what great value their other dishes are, I’d give this one a skip.
For Desserts
For desserts we had to try the tiramisu (R50) and ice cream (R45) for Mr John. With his recent peanut allergy, the restaurant was really good at just giving him something plain, simple and delicious.
The tiramisu was the family style type where you’re served a slide from a dessert dish. It was very cream heavy and I prefer the more custardy like tiramisu. It was light and fluffy for summer time though so if you do want something light, this is easy enough to end a meal with.
I love that it was served with fresh strawberries and a little shot, just to add a few more dimensions to the plate.
Summer Cocktails at Bacini’s on Kloof
Join them for their next Sunday cocktail session on March the 3rd. They’ll be offering great specials including:
• Oysters and Sparkling Wine *Subject to availability
• Beautiful antipasti dishes (vegetarian options included)
• Delicious arancini & Freshly baked ciabatta
• R55 Cocktails – specials from 6pm-7pm (**NEW**)
• Pimms Jug R145
• Aperol Jug R190
Kick back, have a toot and enjoy Bacini’s, just like we did, before Monday rolls into town.
Overall we had a really love dinner at Bacini’s. We were there so long that we ended up switching with a table for 6 who had squished in to try grab dinner!
We moved our dinner over and gave them our table as we’d finished taking all our pictures and really wanted them to relax, enjoy the food, night temperature and beautiful views.
Locals seem to love the place with many people passing by and greeting as well as families popping in for a sure thing.
Thank you SO much to Bacini’s for having us. We’ll definitely be back again!
