La Tête
Tête | head | noun
Did you know that Cape Town was recently voted number 1 on Condé Nast Traveller UK's Best Food Cities in the World – eclipsing Sydney, London, Rio and Hong Kong, among others, to take top honours.
With this in mind, there is a French Bistro on Bree street which is all about nose-to-tail dining and taking Cape Town by storm. After being open only a few months, it already got a mention on the CNN Best New Restaurants for 2017 list, so it is no surprise, we were suitably impressed.
Nose-to-Tail dining is a newish concept in the mother city and we can thank brothers Giles and James Edwards for introducing it to us. After working closely with the legendary Fergus Henderson’s nose-to-tail philosophy from St John Restaurant in Clerkenwell, London, Giles and his brother have brought their culinary dream to life. This restaurant provides no fuss - there isn't even any art to look at, it is all about the food. Pure and simple.
The menu changes daily but does keep a few favourite dishes as staples, like the crispy pig tails. This was my second visit to the bistro and I had high expectations. Funnily enough, I have heard some not so good reviews lately, so of course needed to see for myself. I can happily say, it was top nosh. We started with the duck liver toast, smooth and rich and served with homemade sourdough and cornichons, quite delectable. Next, we tried a salad of Jerusalem artichokes and one with pig cheek with radishes, equally delectable. We then had roast quail and their quintessential cauliflower cheese. We didn’t converse much during this course, as we were too busy savouring every last morsel! The restaurant was buzzing and the chilled chardonnay going down a treat.
Make sure to save room for pudding – a difficult decision, so we ended up ordering one to stay and one to go. The floating islands are what sweet dreams are made of and the madeleines equally as sumptuous delivered in a brown paper bag to go. May I add, still hot and steaming from the oven - what a treat!
I think this may be edging to the top of my dining list at the moment and so it is no wonder, features on my Russell Epicurean Guide. This is a bistro with heart and soul, leaving the head happy and satiated creating food memories, that will keep you coming back time and again.
Until next time, Lucie
