Epic failure at a waffle House

 28 October 2021

 

TWIN TREES WAFFLE HOUSE

29 Lang Street, Bergsig, Groot Brakrivier

 

The wife prodded the half-waffle topping her chicken “smash burger” and frowned.

 

“It’s stone cold,” she said, “and flabby”.

 

I lightly tapped the waffle. It was, indeed, not warm, with the rubbery texture of a thick pancake. That’s not the optimal texture for a waffle.

 

“I bet they simply made your  burger with fresh chicken and the old waffle,” I said.

 

This was not an acceptable situation. 

 

Fortunately, the waitress who’d brought the dish was within earshot and I called her back and in no uncertain terms indicated that the wife wasn’t interested in this shoddy effort and requested that they make the smash burger properly.

 

 

The waitress scuttled off.

 

“Actually, I no longer feel like having that,” the wife said. “The fries were nice but I’ve lost my appetite for the burger.”

 

I went to the kitchen and cancelled the repeat of the smash burger yet confirmed I was still keen on the sweet waffle and coffee I’d ordered as dessert. 

 

Back at the table, the wife and I shook our heads at this egregiously epic fail of an effort to correct a previous mistake by the kitchen when they prepared a dish the wife hadn’t ordered.

 

So, how did we get here?  Let us take a step back in time.

 

Twin Trees Waffle House had been recommended to us and seeing as how we had some time and were in Hartenbos, again escaping from our house where the time frame of the maintenance project seems to be as infinite as the ever-expanding universe, we decided to go for a drive and try a waffle.

 

The restaurant is housed in what was once probably a residence against a hill on the outskirts of Groot Brakrivier, with wooden bench tables covered by umbrellas outside, and a dark wood floor and dark wood tables and chairs inside. The view is of De Dekke, across the reeds and river.

 

The menu is, unsurprisingly, heavy on dishes championing the waffle with a twin Benedict, French omelette, very berry waffle and tropic waffle as breakfast options, with a waffle replacing bread. You can order additional toppings or build your own breakfast. For lunch there are three types of savoury waffle dishes, steak and  beef or chicken smash burgers, a whole slew of Belgian waffles with sweet toppings for dessert.

 

Oh, the vegan options are gluten free pancake based.

 

The wife’s drinks choice was a chocolate milkshake and mine was a lime milkshake (R40 each) and then we waited a while for our meal orders to be taken, which mission was accomplished  when we received our drinks.

 

I liked my milkshake very much, and they were proper milkshakes, not a milk drinks with ice cream, though the wife thought they were overpriced for what they were.

 

The wife ordered the chicken smash burger (on a savoury waffle) with potato (sweet potato is an alternative) fries (R95), and I fancied the beetroot and roasted butternut waffle (R85).  

 

There was another lengthy waiting period, peculiar as there was only one other group of customers in the vicinity. 

 

The wife immediately noted that she’d not received the chicken burger she’d ordered and sent the dish back but kept the fries to tide her over until her main course was returned. The fries were good.

 

My waffle was excellent with that yummy mixture of textures and flavours of savoury  butternut, sweet beetroot and salty feta on a lightly brittle waffle.

 

I’d basically finished my meal when the chicken smash burger arrived at the table, and I  ordered a plain waffle with maple syrup (R65) (I could also have had cream or ice cream for R19,00 more) and a cappuccino.

 

As she was about tuck in, the wife realised to her utter dismay that the kitchen had “rescued” her incorrectly prepared dish by simply re-using the original waffle.  One almost had to laugh to keep from crying tears of rage.

 

The plain waffle, or rather half a waffle in two segments, was very good, even if, probably, with maple flavoured syrup, I thoroughly enjoyed my dessert.  Perfectly crisp, with a good crumb, if that can apply to a waffle.  On reflection, though, R65 seems a tad pricey for half a waffle, that, when studies the photograph, looks pretty damn sad on the plate. I doubt that a helping of ice cream would’ve cheered it up.

 

Service was  slow, if friendly, so inevitably typical in a situation where there were almost no patrons, but to be fair, I guess the wait for the food could be down to the kitchen making the waffles fresh, well, sometimes, eh?

 

To their credit, Twin Trees did not charge us for the wife’s aborted lunch and the waitress, who wasn’t at fault, apologised on behalf of the kitchen. 

 

The bill came to R280 before tip.

 

My food was good, if not hugely substantial and the waffles, when freshly served, are excellent. We’ll never know what the chicken smash burger tastes like. On reflection, the slow service and somewhat underwhelming portions, do not qualify the joint for a bucket list and though I wouldn’t advise anyone against visiting Twin Trees, I’d say it’d be prudent to be no more than  cautiously optimistic at best.