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Restaurant review: Silverani

Published: 01 May 07

Category: Lovely Local
Many have menus half a mile long taking in the whole gamut of the subcontinent's cooking styles, yet everything is still smothered in tomato and onion. Of the better examples, one exists to fleece tourists, one has lighting so bright you can see the reflections off your partner's forehead, and one has décor so distressed even the dim reflections off the copper pans at night can't hide the holes in the seats! Even that bastion of good taste, the Ulundi Room, once a comfortable New Delhi club, has had a makeover - now it feels like your average office canteen. And the best has gone north, veteran restaurateur Eggie Naidoo moving his Saagries operation to Johannesburg.

Silverani Moodley has won commendations for her spicing, and one office hack rated her fish curry as the best in town. The hope was that it would stand out from the pack.

The spare tastebuds included the Court Reporter (she who has a bottle of Mazavaroo in the fridge) and the Business Editor. I had bribed them with the promise of Beyerskloof Pinotage accompanying the meal as I remembered having had it chilled as an aperitif - and could see it's Ribena flavours working well with curry.

Silverani's is not the flashest joint on the block - simple pine tables outside, plastic tablecloths inside. The dog-eared menus showed pictures of the food seen through a Sudan Red filter.

The menu offers mostly south Indian dishes and from a starter selection of about six, we had a platter. The samoosas were enjoyable, the lamb kebabs forgettable - dense and dry. Business Ed liked the spicy fishcakes, but then he'd given up meat for Lent. The Court Reporter and I had the peri-peri chicken livers which were good - juicy and perfectly cooked but with one hell of a sting in the tail. Unfortunately the extreme spice meant the Beyerskloof fruit flagged and we used beer to douse a few fires.

We'd been warned that Silverani's fish curry was hot - so no-one tried it. Instead the Court Reporter had the lamb curry, because she's a lamb curry type of gal, and found it enjoyable. McDonald wanted a mild prawn curry. Obviously, in Silverani's book, no heat meant no spice and hence a curry so bland a tin of tomato and onion would suffice for seasoning.

Business Ed and I had the crab which was fine - plenty of it - but it was just too hot with little flavour besides chilli blast. I longed for the chilli crab, redolent with ginger and garlic and coriander in a black bean sauce served up by Anita Leong in unfashionable Willowvale Road. The fiery Durban curries from the famed struggle venue, The Britannia Hotel in seedy Umgeni Road, had more flavour.

Desserts were predictable: Bombay crush or soji - a semolina porridge made with butter, almonds and plenty of cardamom. The winelist was extremely rudimentary, and one of two Sauvignon Blancs was out of stock, so Two Oceans dominated the field.

Just a tip - check your bill. We didn't. The SQ crab curries quoted at R79.95 were actually R89.95, the single bowl of rice ordered became two and three rotis became six. Such behaviour verges on the criminal so next time I want to breath fire, I'll hit the Britannia Hotel.

Average price of a three-course meal, without wine: R95