Friday Night Drinks: Frank's Speakeasy, Mount Edgecombe

Luxuriating in the country club atmosphere of Mount Edgecombe, within a driver's range of the nearby golf courses you will find Marco Paulo Bistro, and its adjoining bar - Frank's Speakeasy. Frank's styles itself a 'speakeasy' after the illegal American prohibition-era saloons that were spoken of quietly, for fear of alerting the authorities. Here, however, I think the speakeasy nature most likely applies to the locals reluctance of 'outsiders' discovering the existence of this stylish venue.

Outside of Frank's, the luxury SUVs line up in neat rows, while inside, the predominantly middle-aged and wealthy crowd sip on craft beers, and tuck into great bar food. There's a definite sense of an unofficial dress code, with Golf Dads rocking shorts and Superdry T-shirts and Soccer Moms wearing leopard-print blouses and skin tight pants. The waiters sport beards and tattoos and dress like they've stepped off a Levi's commercial, in skinny jeans and V-neck T's.

The bar has a cool, industrial feel, with bare light bulbs and blacked out walls featuring chalked on specials. There are a handful of deep booths with plushly upholstered seats that will suck you in and make it hard to leave before final rounds. The soundtrack ranged from Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind and Coldplay to recent hits from Imagine Dragons.

The first port of call on arrival must be the impressive list of beers, including perennial crowd pleasers like Darling Brew, CBC and Jack Black but extending to more unusual selections like the Imperial Tequila Ale (at R100 for 660ml). If you're not a beer drinker, there are some good wine choices too, as well as plenty of single malts and pretty much anything else that you're after.

Frank's shares a kitchen with Marco Paulo, so you can enjoy the fine bistro fare, or you can pick from a shorter list of bar specials on the wall. I started with a snack from the bistro menu - brinjal done three ways, including with risotto; parmigiana style, and atop bruschetta. Classy and tasty - particularly the risotto.

Now feeling really hungry, I went with the Frank's burger from the bar menu. It's a serious burger, featuring 250 grams of aged, grass-fed Angus beef from Greenfields in Mooi River; white cheddar; onion rings and chips. Apparently the meat is dry-aged on the bone for three weeks before mincing and flame grilling - it was certainly the best burger I've had in ages, full of flavour and so good I ate it all and was too full to finish the onion rings. This was sad, as the onion rings were excellent.

The dessert choices were rather limited to the usual suspects of crème brûlée and chocolate fondant, along with retro-classics like bread-and-butter pudding and apple crumble. I picked the chocolate fondant, and was not disappointed, probably the best one I've had anywhere, with a luxurious, molten chocolate interior nestled inside a light, crisp edged cake. Served with a simple scoop of vanilla icecream, it was understated but excellent.

So, I've broken the first rule of the Speakeasy (you do not talk about the Speakeasy) - but hopefully they will let me back in. I need to go back, firstly to try out the bistro experience at Marco Paulo next door, but also to return for another go at those onion rings.

9th Avenue Bistro

A lot has been written about 9th Avenue bistro (almost all of it good), now open for almost thirteen years, and consistently considered one of Durban's best restaurants.

Like many excellent restaurants, it is more concerned with the food than with the exterior view, and is found in the Avonmore Centre in Morningside, an unremarkable location with an inadequate parking lot and a view of... well, just the parking lot really. Having said that, the place has undergone a revamp sometime in the last year or so since we last visited, and the interior is no longer entirely minimalist. A small, enclosed terrace is lined with accents of raw wood, and the interior is painted in cool grey tones. A feature wall carries a collection of paintings and photographs of aloes while the opposite wall holds some of their excellent wine collection. Simple hanging bulbs create a welcoming light, and my only quibble with the interior was the use of plastic flowers (fake protea pincushions) on a high shelf.

The wine list is short enough to read through, but long enough to mean business, and includes offerings from several boutique Cape wineries. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc No 7 from Hermanuspietersfontein, a winery we were lucky to visit earlier this year. Platter's gives it four stars - I give it a delicious.

The menu itself is tight and focused, with around ten starters and ten main courses over two pages. We didn't get to dessert on this visit (birthday cake!) so no comments on that front. Prices are on the steep side, but in line with the level of service.

To begin, we selected the pork and chorizo stuffed squid and the crispy fried calamari, which seemed a good combination. The calamari was tender, well battered, hot and delicious and came with two dipping sauces, a Vietnamese and a roasted jalapeno aioli. Both sauces were tasty, but didn't do full justice to their names - they could equally well have been described as a soy sauce and a chili mayo - it would have been good to taste some real smoky flavours from the roasted jalapenos. Presentation was on a wooden board, which I liked, sitting on a paper serviette, which I didn't (soggy serviette, bad).

The squid was artfully presented, the plate painted with squid ink and piled with a rustic couscous, the stuffed tubes, a scattering of Cajun prawns and a dusting of some kind of powder in one corner, which looked good, but was almost flavourless. The pairing of pork and squid was great - although I think that can be said of all pork pairings (bacon chocolate anyone?).

We were well satisfied with our starters, as were the majority of the table, with the exception of the soup of the day (field mushroom) which was rather weak - blandly presented and thin.

Main course was a tough choice, with the pork belly and duck options vying for attention. In the end I went off menu for one of the nights specials: suckling pig (under three months old - I asked, and then felt guilty), roasted whole, pulled off the bone and packed into a slab, topped with crackling and served with a warm salad of potato, apple and basil and a roasted carrot.

The picture doesn't do it justice - it was one of the most wonderful things I have ever eaten. The shredded pork meat was amazingly soft, with just the right proportion of fat, enough to carry the wonderful flavours, but not enough to overpower the senses. The highlight, however, was the crackling, which was thin, crisp and yielding, unlike some crackling, which can be hard enough to break a tooth on. The side salad nicely balanced the pork, with just a hint of apple with the potato. By the time I was done, nothing was left on the plate, and I was sorely tempted to pick it up and lick off any remaining sauce.

I have mentioned before my misgivings about ordering risotto (too often underdone). Happily, 9th Avenue's effort was spot on, with tender, gooey rice, subtly flavoured with leek, mushroom and soft cheese. The risotto was served with 'spring vegetables', which turned out to be asparagus, grilled courgette and peas - simple, tasty, and a welcome improvement on what normally passes for vegetables at most restaurants.

As we were visiting to celebrate a friend's birthday, we ended the meal with a delicious birthday cake, along with coffees (small and strong). We will have to visit again soon to review the desserts...