The Skotnes Restaurant

1 December 2019

THE SKOTNES RESTAURANT

The Norval Foundation, 4 Steenberg Road, Tokai, Cape Town

The Norval Foundation is a ginormous concrete structure, its stark, grey modernity somewhat at odds with the semi-rural environment and absolutely looks like a modern-day museum building for contemporary art, or corporate headquarters. When one approaches, the expectation is to find a cafeteria selling confectionary, quiches, sandwiches and warm and cold drinks for the weary of feet.

Not quite. When you enter through the huge glass front door, you step into a cavernous, 

double volume hall of a restaurant, with the dining space a huge L-shape wrapped around the open kitchen, and huge windows affording splendid views of the not completely unspoilt green hills in the background. As a shorthand description, I’d say it’s a bit of Sandton in Tokai, not so much because it’s bling bloated but because of the sleek, trendy style and size.

 There’s a false ceiling below the actual ceiling but it doesn’t dampen the ambient sound of the room very effectively and on a busy day like today,  it’s noisy at the level where it was difficult for me to have a conversation with the people across the table.

There is also an outside space, with even better views, that might be quieter.

The wife and I were here with our overseas friend, and another couple, to celebrate the former’s birthday in a low-key kind of way. No getting day-drunk. We stuck to the sparkling water and finished with excellent cappuccinos.

The fresh bread was served with a smooth, creamy pâté that looked like hummus but was not. Should’ve asked the waitress what it was but none of us were clued up enough to identify it. Just call it delicious.

The wife and I shared the grilled calamari and crispy tentacles (with Lowerland Familiemeel, corn queso fresco and chakalaka) starter (R95), which is also served as main course for R180.

The calamari was juicy, the tentacles provided the textural contrast, there was a lovely sweet unctuousness to the corn and chakalaka, with only the merest hint of chilli, and the seasoning was on point. This was one of those dishes where you either anticipate an even better main course, if the quality of this dish is any guide, or sincerely hope it wasn’t going to be the highlight of the day. I caught the wife’s eye and we both nodded and grinned in unison; it was that good.

The wife opted for the Skotnes Caesar salad with grilled chicken (R120) and were quite delighted by it, even if the chicken was a smidgen over cooked. 

One friend ordered the seared tuna salad (R155), with avocado, sweet corn, tomato, egg, capers, pickled red cabbage and a sesame dressing. It looked beautifully arrange in its bowl and she was highly complimentary about it.

Our birthday friend chose the Cape Malay chicken “tacos” (R155), a chicken curry with rotis rolled up to look like tacos. She was enthralled by it.

My choice was the pork belly (R190.) If you’ve followed me over the past few years, you’ll know how I dote on this dish. Recently though, I’ve mostly been disappointed when I ordered it in restaurants (Saigon is the major exception that comes to mind immediately) and have therefore shied away from this default selection but today I felt lucky.

The accompaniments are crackling, carrots, peri peri kimchi Brussel sprout hearts and makataan salsa. As a side dish, 

I ordered broccoli and green beans with chilli, lemon & garlic butter and Parmesan cheese. 

Now, I will be so bold as to say the three cubes of pork on my plate were the best non-Oriental pork belly I’ve eaten this year, if not over the past few years. Only the pork fillet dish of Le Maquis in Knysna rivals this example of high-quality pork perfection.

The meat was moist and succulent, flavourful and enhanced by a deeply rich reduction. It was pork nirvana and the bits of makataan dusted over the meat added the necessary crunchy contrast and a touch of sweetness. I did enjoy this. 

The carrots were slightly al dente, slightly sweet and lovely. The two huge halves of a Brussel sprout were less successful. They were over-grilled (or roasted), with no discernible peri peri, and therefore more bitter than a Brussel sprout usually is, and tough to boot. This was a lamentable attempt at a kimchi.  I ate it because my mother taught me to eat everything on my plate but, frankly, it wasn’t good on its own and would have destroyed my happiness if I tried eating bits of it with the pork. It has no place on that plate.

The final disappointing element was perhaps due to my elementary error of leaving the splendidly puffed up half pipe of crackling for last instead of chowing down on it straightaway, because it was cold by the time I got to it, Perhaps 10% of it was still brittle; the rest was tough, rubbery and inedible unless one was prepared to gnaw on it for a couple of hours. This is absolutely an example of looks deceiving the beholder; I did eat the crackling with my eyes and that was the highwater mark of it.

Never mind, the pork belly was the unequivocal, undisputed superstar of the show. It will go into my little Black Book of Belly.

The broccoli and beans were a superior, yummy side that totally made up for the bad Brussel.

None of us had dessert and finished off with the coffee.

The wife is keen on returning, for breakfast, if one can sit outside in a quieter atmosphere. Well, maybe. I don’t know so much about lunch, despite the quality of the food. It’s a long way to come to eat in a hall, no matter that it’s an elegantly appointed hall, if it’s so noise it actively disturbs me. The conversation is part of the enjoyment and if that’s hamstrung, the experience is diminished for me.

Having said that, for those who don’t share my concerns, I’d recommend The Skotnes Restaurant. The food was good and the service equally so. When our friend requested extra ginger biscuits with our coffee (each cup comes with one biscuit), we were given a small pile of them, no trouble. That’s worth a bunch of merit points. 

Oh, and another thing, the restaurant is named for Cecil Skotnes, a South African artist of some repute.