Societi Bistro

16 November 2019

SOCIETI BISTRO

50 Orange Street, Cape Town

We came with two friends, who’d recently celebrated their 24^th wedding anniversary and combined that with yet another celebration of the wife’s birthday last week, at a bistro venue that offered good food, without being too far out or too fancy, for friends who are less adventurous than the wife and I when it comes to dining and prefer a good, solid meal over tiny morsels artfully arrayed on bespoke ceramicware.

We’d considered Homespun but it was fully booked when I phoned. They placed us on a waiting list and undertook to contact me should a table become vacant. They did phone, but it was at 17h00 today, by which time we’d made the arrangement for Societi and, the timing apart, we had no stomach for driving to Table View in a howling gale when we could Uber to Societi and not have to bother about parking or drinking responsibly.

I’ve lived in Cape Town long enough to remember the dwelling house at 50 Orange Street, that looked like a decrepit, abandoned, haunted house and was always of interest because I thought it’d be so great to have this humongous residential property so close to the city centre. Then the owner died and we heard that she died in what seemed to be abject poverty, in a house drowning in refuse, but who was actually quite well off.  The house was converted into an Italian eatery, where I ate once, sometime between 1996 and 1999, and then I lost track.

In all the years that Societi bistro has existed, the wife’s been there once, very long ago, and I have never, and yet it’s perhaps 500 metres from where we live.  We’ve never been to Nonna Lina, on the next block, either.

There is a large, paved courtyard as one enters. The tables that would normally be set up out there if the weather were amenable were stacked to one side. Tonight’s gale force wind drove everyone inside.

Our table was in a room to the right of the entrance, with another room to the left, and more separate spaces further back, creating the effect of several, private dining rooms. Most of the walls are bare brick, presumably the original bricks used in the construction, contrasted with plastered walls decorated with small works of art. 

Perhaps it’s because our table was too close to the tables to the left and right of us, perhaps it was the odd decorations, but the interior and feel of the place didn’t impress me.  I also think our table was a bit too small for four people.

These reservations aside, we had a good evening, with friendly, efficient service and tasty nosh.

Our friends brought a bottle of Riesling and a bottle of MCC. The corkage was a mere R30 a bottle.

The menu is simple, with a few “specials” on a blackboard.

Only the wife and I ordered starters. Her choice was the mushroom risotto (R94)

and mine was the watermelon salad (R62).

The risotto was perfectly cooked, very flavourful and hearty. The watermelon salad, with a mint and vodka dressing, goat’s cheese and bitter leaves, was fresh and zesty but built up to a cloying sweetness, despite the cheese crumbs, as if the vodka dressing included a syrup. This distressingly sweet salad was no good as a starter salad.

The deal of the day was a main course of a 200 g piece of ribeye steak, served with only a lemon wedge, plus a glass of Hartenberg Shiraz, for R110,00. 

The wife and one friend ordered that, with two sides of fries and one side of vegetables, and bearnaise sauce for the wife’s steak. The other friend, declining starter and dessert, ordered two steak main courses.

The steak was cooked medium rare, succulent and lovely, with an excellent bearnaise sauce. The hand cut fries were exceptional, not triple fried, and almost old-fashioned in texture yet very satisfactory. Apparently the vegetable side was similar to the contents of my Japanese curry. 

When the wife read me the menu online, the vegan Japanese curry (R98) and seasonal vegetables, quinoa and pineapple immediately enticed me, despite the availability of pork belly, because I’ve become curious about vegan food and because I’ve not heard of Japanese curry before.

The mix of crisp, fresh vegetables, cut in tiny portions, with al dente quinoa and cubes of pineapple, and a subtle curry flavour that I would characterise as coming from  the same ballpark as Thai curry, but with no sauce, was delightful. There was a lightness and zest and just the hint of chilli on the back of the palate. I was well chuffed with my choice despite the raised eyebrows of the meat eaters at the table.

Two of us had had the baked cheesecake (R62), allegedly New York style, which is a meaningless concept to me, never having crossed the Atlantic yet. But never mind that. It was a damn fine cheese cake, easily the best I’ve had in a long, long while. The texture was ultra-smooth, firm yet soft and maintained a fine balance between sweetness and cheesy savouriness throughout, unlike so many of its type that ultimately just become too sweet. It was absolutely sublime from first bite to last. It would be well worth it to return to Societi Bistro for just coffee and cheese cake.

The bill, before tip, came to R1026,00, which is a very reasonable total for a dinner for four adults, including wine.

We ate well. For me the only false note was that overly sweet watermelon salad. Perhaps I would’ve felt better about the place if we’d been seated in a different room but, having said that, there was a group of patrons directly behind us, and another group in the space beyond, and if they were noisy it wasn’t in any way obtrusive, and the overall experience was enjoyable. The ribeye deal seems to be well worth it, and I must admit I am curious about how good Societi’s pork belly would be.

It’s a bistro, and it’s one of the small satisfactions of life to enjoy good, unpretentious bistro food in an informal setting that’s a few degrees up from your average chain restaurant. Society Bistro is a longstanding survivor of the faddy, finicky Cape Town restaurant scene and I guess this means they’re getting it consistently right.