Soulsa
She joined the restaurant towards the end of last year after a stint as executive chef at the über-trendy Melrose Arch Hotel. In her time she’s cooked for celebrities and rock stars such as Tom Jones, Cher, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Toyko Sexwale, Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney and was the first female sous chef at Terence Conran’s Quaglino’s in London. Now she’s enjoying what she does best – hands-on cooking.
At Soulsa the mood is hip yet relaxed. Couches spill onto the pavement as patrons with colourful cocktails ignore looming Highveld storm clouds and the more real threat of impending power cuts. From downstairs, a wooden staircase leads to a more intimate mezzanine and open-air deck. There are colourful paintings of trees and flowers on the wall and a myriad twinkling lights.
The menu boldly declares that the restaurant loves food and wine and they certainly do. The wine list is a good one with a huge amount of care and effort put into it. There’s a comprehensive list of South African wines with all winemakers credited. There's also a small French section as well as a list of organic and biodynamic wines.
Even better is the fact that many wines are available by the glass and under each menu item are a few wine suggestions. Our waiter Paul was as knowledgeable as the list and made some impressive food and wine pairing suggestions.
We started off with a bottle of 2007 Springfield Life From Stone (R140) before opting for wine by the glass. The menu is compact with a few daily specials utilising the freshest produce available, a real Nicky Gibbs trademark. For starters we settled on a Thai mushroom soup of the day, crispy prawns, a Caesar salad and angry duck.
The last was the pick of the bunch – innovative tofu parcels stuffed with sushi rice and slices of duck breast. The soup was spicy and refreshing and the prawns were an interesting combination with a seaweed salad and coconut and lime dressing accompaniment.
Disappointing was the Caesar salad with its optional white anchovies. Frankly I prefer those more salty critters than the overpoweringly vinegary ones serves that tasted more like conventional herring. The salad lacked oomph and while the other starters were R25 to R35 cheaper, it had a rather hefty R70 price tag. Certainly not worth it.
For mains two of us had Loch Duart Scottish salmon served rare with a Ponzu sauce, wasabi mash and gorgeous lightlysteamed cabbage. The fish was of the finest quality and was allowed to speak for itself; its accompaniments were subtle including the Ponzu sauce which is more delicate than regular soya. An absolute must for salmon lovers.
The beef fillet was served with roasted fresh peaches, wild rocket, roasted beetroot and a green pepper and brandy sauce and was an excellent combination of flavours. Also finding huge favour was the chicken jerk; deboned rolled chicken breast with a hint of a bite, stuffed with mango, prawn, black beans and risotto.
We went with Paul’s wine suggestions which were spot on – the 2005 Joubert- Tradauw barrel-fermented Chardonnay with the chicken and the Springfield Special Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc with the salmon.
The menu also offers interesting vegetarian offerings like vegetable roulade and organic quinoa (not normally found on restaurant menus) which would make optimum nutrition expert Patrick Holford a happy man…
We ended up sharing a home-made ice-cream selection of coffee, chocolate and nut. Delicious.
Average three-course meal: R185.
By Janine Walker
Address: 16 Seventh Street, Mellville
Tel: 011 482 5572
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