MENU ITEMS BRING ON NOSTALGIA
This restaurant has been around for decades, first on the Durban beachfront and later in uMhlanga. When we stumbled across the restaurant, my wife became quite nostalgic. We were placed at a comfortable four-seater table.
The ambience of the place reminds one of the ’70s. White linen tablecloths and serviettes. Lots of wood. A thatched makebelieve roof over the raised area where we were sitting.
We ordered sparkling waters (R20) and spent some time going through the menu offering starters, shellfish, salads, combos, fish, pasta and vegetarian, meat and poultry. There was also a board offering specials.
My wife chose the clam chowder starter (R50) and I went for the mussels in a pot (R65). We shared a garlic roll (R20).
The chowder, described as a “thick and creamy clam, potato and herb soup”, was passable, but not what my wife expected. The mussels in a creamy, garlic sauce was full of flavour, with a good number of mussels.
For our mains, we also went nostalgic, going for items that have been on menus over the years, grilled sole (R145) and Natal prawn curry (R155).
We also ordered two glasses of Leopard’s Leap Lookout Red (R28).
The sole came with chips, mashed butternut and creamed spinach. It was a substantial plate of food. The prawn curry with rice, chutney and sambals, described as “a medium-spiced, tomato-based” curry, was exactly how I remember that type of curry from years ago. The blended tomato and onion gravy was great. During the evening, the number of diners grew from a handful to quite a crowd. Twice, a kiddies version of the Happy Birthday
song was cranked out on the speaker system and everyone sang along and applauded.