Quo Restaurant, Gillitts

'You simply have to try this baked potato, Brandon! Whether you like it or not. It's out of this world!'

The obnoxiously loud woman at the table alongside ours was haranguing her friend to take a taste of her main course. Having recently poured the dregs of her table mates' wine glasses into her own while they were on a smoke break outside, her tone was increasingly belligerent and higher pitched.

'I've never tasted potato like this!' she enthused - waving a crisp skinned roast potato with a soft and moist interior in Brandon's face. Her generosity I imagine was wine fuelled - at Quo, the food is almost too good to share, and more easily inspires jealous protection than such open handed largesse. Luckily for me, I have a standing sharing arrangement with my dining partner, which doubles the number of dishes that I can enjoy, and allows me to drop my guard against the kind of opportunistic fork that approaches unbidden from across the table.

We had found our way to Quo up a rather dark and winding road to the imaginatively named Gillitts Shopping Centre at the intersection of York and Clifton roads. It's a nondescript mini-mall that houses a pizza joint; a shop selling sexy (tacky) dress up items; a pleasant courtyard, and Quo Restaurant, the creation of chef Jonathan Jones.

The decor is different from most Durban restaurants, with a simple, modern interior. The lighting is quite bright, but softened by the addition of candles on wall sconces. There is a broad stripe of duck egg blue on the walls, and tables have either simple plastic chairs or deep leather wingbacks. The focal point of the room is an impressive collection of about 20 flowering orchids in white, pinks and yellows that line one of the walls. Either someone has quite the green fingers, or they must be spending a lot of money on bringing in fresh plants every other week. The photo below was taken at the end of the evening - every table was full while we were there, although we managed to get a booking that morning for the same night.

The service was brisk, and we soon had a bottle at the table from the brief but reasonable wine list. Quo's menu doesn't really do the food justice, being a single laminated page, with dishes presented a little haphazardly. Starters are described as 'light meals or starters to share', which I wouldn't really agree with - I easily managed one on my own, and they are reasonably priced in any case. The style of the food could be described as modern fusion with an Asian influence, but there is no real cohesiveness to the offerings, with salads, sea food and Italian inspired dishes rubbing shoulders.

No matter - the food, which arrives promptly is great. We started with an Asian fillet bruschetta which combined fresh French loaf with tender strips of rare fillet cooked in a fantastic sauce that might have been oyster sauce based - dark, rich and sweet/salty. Deciding we had space for another starter, we then shared the calamari pan fried in a pad Thai sauce and were very glad that we had - the calamari tubes were tender and simply cooked, but the sauce was even better than the last, with hints of sweet and sour tamarind and lemon, salty shrimpy flavours and fresh coriander.

The main courses, like the starters, are a bit of an eclectic bunch, featuring sections for baguettes, linguini, and beef fillet as well as a handful of others. The special of the day was pork belly, but we opted for the lamb cutlets, and a beef fillet and prawns combination. 

Both dishes were excellent - the lamb cutlets were moist and pink and served with an Asian style basting. The fillet was sliced into quite thin medallions and topped with juicy deshelled prawns. Both main courses were served with the aforementioned baked potatoes - which really were out of this world. Again, there was plenty of fresh coriander garnishing the meals, which I love, but may not be to everybody's taste.

During the meal it was great to have the chef visit our table on more than one occasion to see that we were enjoying ourselves. While some restaurants skip this nicety completely, and others overdo it with intrusive commentary on every course, Quo struck a good balance, and I felt like I could have brought up any issues, had there been any. As it was I merely enthused as to the quality of the food and the sauces (mostly in gestures, as my mouth was generally full).

The dessert menu was fairly short, and we opted for the 'bread and butter' pudding (made with croissants - which sold it for me) and the Turkish nougat served with dark and white Belgian chocolate. The bread and butter pudding is something of a signature dish there it seems, and was pretty good, and not something that I have ever ordered before. The croissants are baked (with butter, one imagines - as well as chocolate and cranberries) in an individual portion, and were crisp on the outside and soft and warm on the inside. The dish went well with the vanilla icecream, which I suspect was homemade.

The nougat was probably the weak point of the meal, simply pieces of nougat served with bowls of melted milk (not dark) and white chocolate, and too sweet to really enjoy. It would probably be better with a dark chocolate, but might be one to share if you just want a little something with your coffee at the end of the meal.

Quo has recently moved to the top spot on Tripadvisor's recommendations for Durban Restaurants (on the strength of relatively few, but very positive reviews) and you can see what people like about it. The decor is attractive, service efficient and friendly, food tasty and imaginative and prices reasonable.

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.

The Greedy Buddha

Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama as he was also known, was born in the Himalayan foothills around 2500 years ago, and found enlightenment through a 'middle way' which avoided both sensual indulgence and severe self-restraint. So he would possibly be a little bit peeved at being called greedy. Having said that, if he were to eat a meal at this fresh and cheerful Durban North restaurant he would probably be forgiven for throwing caution to the wind and getting really stuck in - after all you only live once (a little Buddhist joke there for you).

Describing their approach as 'Asian fusion tapas', The Greedy Buddha delights with playful morsels, tastefully presented and served by a knowledgeable and friendly staff. When we visited, we were seated at a round table for eight and found that conversation (and tasters) flowed much more freely than in most venues, where a couple of small square tables get stuck together for larger groups. The food and the menu here are structured around sharing (not greedy at all really) and this is an ideal venue to visit with a group of friends.

The decor is simple - white plastic tables and chairs with green cushions, and all of the seating is outdoors on a covered veranda, which works well in Durban and adds to the easy going ambiance. The tables are bare, except for a central lazy Susan which makes it easy to shoot your dim sum from one side of the table to the other in a kind of delicious Asian roulette.

As it was our first visit, we were happy to try the '11 Tastes' option which offers eleven selections from each portion of the menu, excepting desert (at a reasonable R185 a head). At this point our waiter came in very useful, assisting us with choices and pointing out the various possible combinations and permutations. 

We began our trip through South East Asia with a Japanese miso soup. The soups are all served in espresso cups, and this one was mildly flavoured, salty and slightly sweet, with mushrooms, sweetcorn and spring onions - a good opening act for the dim sum that followed.

Dim Sum are available in three variants: 'potstickers', which are pan fried on one side, then steamed;  'shumai' with translucent wonton wrappers holding together steamed fillings, and steamed buns, with soft, fluffy dough that breaks open to reveal lamb, duck or roast pork.

Each kind of dim sum has a choice of three fillings, and the beauty of the tasting menu is that you don't have to think too hard about it, because you can try a lamb, chilli and coriander filling in the potsticker (there are two per portion) then move on to duck, spring onion and hoisin for the steamed buns, and finish off with pork and ginger shumai. This kind of approach avoids a lot of menu envy, and each combination that we tried was delicious. The sides were also excellent, with the sweet and sour pickled cabbage that came with the potstickers so good, it could have almost stood proudly as its own dish. 

Next on the menu was a miniature Yorkshire pudding with roast beef and horseradish wasabi mayo - I guess this is the 'fusion' aspect of the restaurant's offering. It was a tasty morsel, that at another establishment would have been well received as an upmarket bar snack, but here I felt that it didn't really add anything to the overall experience, with the introduction of a British classic a step too far from the main thrust of the meal. Perhaps if the wasabi had given a real kick, rather than just a subtle poke.

The next group of courses from the 'Classics' section of the menu headed back in the right direction with the aptly named 'ducking fantastic', crisp slices of pork belly on braised red cabbage, sweet and hot glazed halloumi, and an unusual dish of crispy spinach - a deep fried treat with a dusting of five spice sugar that made it moreish in a way spinach shouldn't really be.

Our final course before dessert was from the wok - calamari in a Kung Pao sauce, served with steamed rice. I was won over by the mention of Thai Sriracha chilli in the sauce, but found this dish slightly wanting. The calamari was tender and enjoyable, but the sauce was a little thin and sweet for my taste, with not enough fire, and too little rice to soak everything up. 

Some people have mentioned about this restaurant that the portions are too small, and that they left hungry. I felt overall that the portion sizes were well balanced, although I easily managed 11 tastes, and still had room for desert, so keep in mind that one or two courses will not fill you up - this is tapas after all.

Desserts are changed regularly, and when we visited there were two interesting options to choose from, a chocolate brownie with candied orange rind and rice crispies in white chocolate, or a lemongrass panna cotta with green tea sherbet. Both options were dinky - the chocolate brownie is about half the size of a box of matches, but are a great sweet mouthful to end on. The brownie was more like a square of dark chocolate mousse, resting in an intense orange sauce - slightly too much for me, but I'm not a huge fan of orange and chocolate. The panna cotta was lovely, a lightly flavoured, smooth shot of panna cotta, with a refreshing jolt of sherbet dusted on top. Very close to Nirvana...

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...

Tasty Thai

Thai is a difficult language, with a pretty incomprehensible script that makes for cool tattoos, but does not facilitate easy understanding. Having said that, apparently the word 'aroy' (phonetic spelling, obviously) means 'tasty', which is why you see it mentioned often around Thai restaurants.

Aroy Thai in Westville, is definitely living up to its name. It's a small, fairly nondescript restaurant tucked into the Engen Centre, a strip mall on Rodger Sishi Road which also houses a Food Lover's Market and the A Tasca restaurant.

When visiting Thailand, I found that the ornateness of the decor was inversely correlated with the quality of the food, and the same holds true here. Inside Aroy Thai, simple plastic tables and chairs, tiled floors and office-like ceilings are the perfect complement to fantastically tasty Thai food.

As it was our first visit, I wanted to try the Tom Yum soup, which to me is the acid test of a Thai restaurant's quality. Too often in local establishments the hot and sour flavours of a good Tom Yum are dumbed down to an over salty broth housing a few sad prawns. Happily, this was not the case here. The soup, when it arrived, was a beautiful sight with a bright red-orange slick covering the broth and islands of dried chilli, spring onion and mushroom peeping above the surface. Diving deeper there were plump prawns to be found and flavours of lemongrass and lime leaves.

We also tried the wonton soup (the restaurant does several Chinese influenced dishes) and found it equally good, with delicious, fat dumplings.

We washed down out starters with Singha beers - Aroy is licensed and has a reasonable selection of beers as well as a small wine list.

Continuing with the classics, I wanted to taste the Pad Thai for my main course. We selected calamari as the protein, but were somewhat disappointed, as the dish was rather bland, with not enough fish sauce or shrimp paste to impart a good umami. We requested additional chilli, which arrived in a dried, powdered form, and improved matters somewhat.

Luckily we also ordered the creatively named 'Duck in a Jacket' which consists of a half duck, deboned and wrapped in a pancake. The owner (a Thai lady) clearly thought that this was a good choice, and seemed pleased that we had ordered it - perhaps next time we visit I will ask her to choose a selection of dishes for us.

The duck was crisp and dark skinned, wrapped in an egg-rich pancake and drenched in a sticky and sweet sauce that went well with the salty duck. Definitely a dish that I would order again.

Like most Thai restaurants, there were limited desert options, and we opted to buy a bag of White Rabbit candies on our way out instead.

With an extensive menu still waiting to be explored and three out of four excellent dishes on first attempt, Aroy Thai holds a lot of potential. Sushi is also served, and several patrons were eating it - it looked pretty good. They also do takeaways.

'Gin khao reu yeung?' is another useful Thai phrase. It's used as a greeting, similar in meaning to 'are you well?', but literally means 'have you eaten rice yet?'. I like the priorities the Thai have.

The oracle of Delphi has spoken

According to Greek Mythology, Delphi was the centre of the earth, as determined by eagles sent forth by Zeus himself, and was home to the Delphic Oracle. According to TripAdvisor, it is also the 76th best rated restaurant out of 160 in Durban (in its defense it has a 90% recommendation rate based on only 11 reviews), and is home to some of the best Greek food in Durban.

Delphi (they spell it Delfi) is found in Lilian Ngoyi (Windermere) Road in Morningside, and is housed in an unprepossessing building just off the road. When we visited, the place looked a little like the temple of Apollo with its tumbledown columns - the wind had recently blown down their patio roof.

Perhaps fortunately, I had forgotten my camera, as the interior is very Greek-kitsch, with lots of checked table cloths, faded posters, chipped plates on the wall (memorabilia from a big plate smashing night?) and tastefully arrayed plastic grapevines.

The wine list is on the minimal side, but luckily I had come prepared with a bottle of Waterford Rose-Mary in the boot, and their corkage is a very reasonable R15.

The place seems to do very well out of repeat business, which speaks well for it - there was much hugging of the owners, and plenty of people seemed to know exactly what they were going to order. It's a small restaurant, with only room for 6 or 7 tables. 

We ordered the meze platter for starters, as well as a portion of squid heads. The platter was the highlight of the whole meal, and featured fantastic eggplant, saganaki, kofta and dolmades. The squid heads were decent, but not as good as some.

The main course was less inspiring - my lamb shank kleftiko was very tender, but a little flavourless, with a thick, sticky gravy which did not add greatly to the experience. The side dish of rice was also cooked with frozen peas and carrots, a pet peeve of mine. The chicken souvlaki was served in a pita and was fairly good, but also lacked real depth of flavour, focusing mainly on garlic, with few other tastes coming through. I felt that it could have used more tzatziki, lemon, dill or mint.

Dessert - the halva and icecream was delicious - I need to make this at home, but the galaktoboureko was also a little plain. The less said about coffee the better.

Overall - it's a cheap and cheerful spot, with simple, hearty fare on a road with several other restaurants. If in doubt, pop in for the meze, and if nothing else takes your fancy - go for a roving dinner.

This little piggy went to Market

When we arrive at Market for a leisurely brunch they are only just opening up at 9am, but Durban is like that. The place is well hidden, with a narrow pathway beside a fairly nondescript building in Gladys Mazibuko (Marriott) Road leading into a rather lovely courtyard. 

Beneath the trees, the gravel is scattered with fallen leaves. A bulky lady squeezed into a regulation maid’s outfit is attempting to gather them up with a rake. She is assaulting the leaves with relentless strokes, and moving more stone than leaf in the process. The source of her frustration is a ring of graceful Leopard trees surrounding a small stone pond. The pond features a fountain, which is anaemically pulsing tepid water through the moist air down to the koi that circle below. A man in tight fitting yellow pants and a white, v-neck that shows off his tattooed arms, carefully measures out a single scoop of pellets for the pond’s gaping inhabitants. Judging by his proprietary air, he is the owner of the fountain, the trees, and the restaurant that they form part of. 

At the table next to ours, a young couple takes their seats. She wears an orange sheath that complements her obvious fake tan, and the too-thick makeup which covers her face. Despite the breakfast hour, she has obviously spent time preparing her eyelashes, which are too long to be real and must have been meticulously applied with adhesive, like some kind of disguise. Her boyfriend is explaining something obvious to her, in an unconsciously condescending fashion: ‘No you have to go into the bank to change your account limit… No, they won’t let you do it online’. She looks admiringly at him, impressed by his mastery of the self-evident.

‘Are you ready to order?’ Our waitress has taken her style cues from the restaurant owner, or perhaps there is a dress code – like him, she has a collection of tattoos, Cyrillic script on the forearm, a religious symbol near her shoulder, and a fairy that adorns her ankle. We order drinks: freshly squeezed carrot and orange juice with extra ginger, and later, coffee. Both are excellent. 

For brunch we order croissant French toast with lemon curd and crispy bacon, and a potato rosti, salmon, crème fraîche and poached egg combination. The croissant French toast is so good that I have taken to making it at home. The unusual pairing with lemon curd is fun, tasty and different. The rosti is equally good - a fairly regular breakfast arrangement, but the proportions of egg, salmon and crème fraîche are just right, making the medium sized portion sit perfectly - not too heavy, not too light.

As we eat, we watch the couple next to us and attempt to guess at their relationship. Now they are asking each other what type of music they like, what TV shows they watch. Is it a first date? Perhaps she has slept over at his place, and is wearing her makeup from the night before. He outlines for her his plans for workplace success: ‘I just need to score a couple of big deals’, he says, ‘then I’ll be ready for promotion when he retires’. She makes supportive noises, but seems more interested in her breakfast (she has also gone for the rosti with salmon and poached egg).

Before leaving we explore the retail space opposite the restaurant. Called Shoppe, it is full of art, ceramics and furniture from South African designers. They stock Lisa Firer, Sootcookie and many other artists, and the shelves are full of beautiful items that you normally see only in decor magazines. Think of it as dessert.