Stick with the crumbed prawns
Butlers Restaurant and Bar
Where: 24 Old Main Rd, Hillcrest, Durban, 3650, South Africa
Open: Monday to Saturday noon to 11.30pm, Sunday noon to 5pm.
Call: 031 765 3850
ON A recent trip to the Midlands, Mom and I stopped in at Hillcrest for lunch and, having heard from locals that the steakhouse Butlers was doing some great things, popped in to try it out.
It’s a smart restaurant with dramatic decor and a bar down one wing. On a Tuesday lunch, there were a couple of people enjoying a light bar lunch. Outside is a courtyard which would be lovely on a warm winter’s day. We’re soon shown to our table by friendly staff.
The menu is extensive with a section for starters, salads, vegetarians and vegans. There are also curries, fish and seafood, grills and all the meats plus pizzas and pastas. There’s a bar snack menu and a light lunch menu which includes the likes of fish and chips, and a burger. There’s even a decent “bambino” menu that at least talks to proper food. There’s also a Sunday roast special at a reasonable R149.
A lot to choose from.
Mom and I decided to share some Asian-inspired starters with steamed chicken wontons, stuffed with shallots, garlic and scallions and topped with red onion marmalade and red dragon and ponzu sauce, and a round of simpler pork and prawn wontons (R75 and R85, respectively). We also ordered some prawn toasts (R89).
We should have stuck to the Euro side of the menu, because these were disappointing. The prawn toasts were oily and chewy rather than crisp. They lacked that wonderful sesame seed crunch. They also come with some sort of reduced soya sauce that was so salty it was inedible. The dumplings were heavy, dense and overstuffed without any distinctive flavour, bar the red onion marmalade and the red dragon sauce, which I didn’t like. They came with more of that horrible soya sauce.
Next time I will try something simpler, like the peri-peri chicken livers, snails gorgonzola or beetroot cured gravlax. My eye had originally settled on the lamb ravioli in a smoked tomato sauce. Pity.
For mains, Mom looked no further than a special of nine panko crumbed prawns with chips (R240). These were good, juicy decent-sized prawns in a good crisp crumb served with proper hand-cut chips. They came with two sauces, a garlic aioli which could have had more oomph, and a lemon butter which had something oddly floral in it, but Mom was happy.
I contemplated a steak from the grill. All the cuts are available and reasonably priced. There’s a selection of steak toppings and sauces if you want to go over the top. I was tempted by a signature dish, the duo of duck, a five-spice roasted breast with confit leg section with potato fondant and
Chinese cabbage in an orange and black cherry sauce. I wasn’t sure you needed both orange and black cherry. I was also tempted by a slow-braised beef short rib, on a butter bean-infused mash with red wine jus. I eventually settled on the crispy pork belly (R179).
This was an odd dish. The crackling was crispy, which was a relief, but I’m not sure I would send out a dish where half the plate is mashed potato. The pork was succulent but not terribly substantial and would have benefited from the apple sauce without the teriyaki.
Desserts take in the usual as well
as things like classic brandy snaps and a vegan-inspired chickpea pavlova. I was tempted by the lemongrass-infused panna cotta but put off by the white chocolate and peanut brittle that accompanied it.
There is a tendency to over-gild the lily here. Sometimes, simple classics are better served as such – like Mom’s crumbed prawns.
We enjoyed decent coffees before the trip home.
Food: 2½
Service: 3½
Ambience: 3½
The Bill: R924 including tip.