Villa Taverna: a journey to the past

 4 March 2022

 

VILLA TAVERNA

176 Upper Buitenkant Street, Gardens/Vredehoek, Cape Town

 

Villa has been a Buitenkant Street institution since  the early ‘90s and has survived seemingly intact and uncompromising, despite the usual ravages of time and the recent pandemic lock downs. The wife and I used to live around the corner and had a Friday night tradition, for roughly the last two years of residency in the neighbourhood, to go there for the really moreish ribs. The restaurant not only had its regular diners but there was a recognisable coterie of drinking buddies who hung out at the bar. Villa was, and perhaps still is, a true neighbourhood joint.

 

This was my first visit to Villa in a long, long time and it was like a nostalgic journey to a dim, distant past that time forgot.

 

There are tables outside on the pavement, tables on a kind of covered stoep and then there’s the interior, with both a front room and a back room, if the latter still exists, with the aforementioned long bar on the one side. The decorating style was deeply retro, even for the ‘90s, dark wood panelling and extremely plain tables and chairs that verged on looking cheap rather than as purposeful minimalist elegance.  Superficially, the place hasn’t changed and perhaps the motto is not to mess with success but I’d say the eatery is in dire need of freshening up visually speaking.

 

The elder goddaughter and I were here by accident, really, because our choses lunch destination, Lazari, is closed because the premises are undergoing extensive reconstruction and Villa was literally the closest equivalent.

 

On the face of it, the Villa’s menu hasn’t changed much either, except, natch, for pricing and the basic Portuguese vibe remains intact.

 

I paid R260,00 (before tip) for a lunch consisting of one small Coke, one beer, a Prego roll and chips and grilled hake, vegetables and chips, and this seems to be eminently reasonable in this day and age.

 

The goddaughter thoroughly enjoyed her Prego roll and ate with gusto.

My hake was well cooked  and properly flaky but, for my taste, could’ve come off the grill half a minute or a minute earlier. The vegetables were nicely al dente and the fries were good.

 

I would call the food journeymanlike. The wife would probably use on of her favourite phrases, “decidedly average.”  It’s not pretentious fare and not in the same ball park as fine dining, but it’s decent and the portions are generous, useful for a quick bite to eat if you’re in the area yet not exactly a destination to cross the peninsula for.