Ramen revelation in Stellembosch

 26 April 2023

 

GENKI

De Wet Centre Courtyard, Stellenbosch

 

Every time I eat ramen I’m reminded of a Sunday lunch I had roughly 21 years ago at Wasabi at the Constantia Village centre where my companion was aggressively hungover and spent most of the lunch lurking in the toilets while I morosely, and somewhat unappreciatively, picked at my food until she finally emerged and took me home.

 

Fortunately, these memories don’t trigger me and I’ve enjoyed many a  bowl of ramen since then.

 

On this auspicious day I wandered past Genki in the rear courtyard of what used to be the De Wet Brothers department store during my formative years in Stellenbosch and was quite taken by the festive atmosphere of the huge, leafy tree, for once not an oak tree, casting its shadow over the congregation of small tables on what could be imagined as a picturesque European square. It’s probably the best restaurant site in the Stellenbosch CBD.

 

They probably have indoor seating too, but on a day like today it was redundant.

 

Next to Genki, which focuses on sushi and Japanese tapas, there is an associated joint called something like The Little Fish, which concentrates on seafood dishes. One can order from either menu.

 

Genki offers only one ramen dish, shoyu ramen, and that was my immediate choice (R138) as I was not in a sushi state of mind.

 

What you see when you regard the bowl are a spicy, flavourful  broth with a couple of slices of crisp yet succulent belly pork, two hardboiled egg halves, a good amount of proper noodles, greenery and mushrooms.

 

The pork was splendid and the balance of flavours and textures wondrous and the amusing little chilli kick didn’t overstay its welcome. I have no idea how “authentically Japanese” this dish is but it sure is authentically  yummy.

 

Of course, I tried my best to eat as much of the food with chopsticks as I could, though I am a bit of a klutz, but right at the end I was forced to use a fork to dig out the final bits and bobs and then raised the bowl to my lips and drained it like a peasant. 

 

I wanted the crème brûlée dessert from one of the two menus (I can’t recall which) but they were out of stock and hadn’t yet made a batch of sesame ice cream either, not that it was a loss. My choice was cheesecake spring rolls (R65) from the other menu.

 

I was happily surprised. The spring roll casings were crisp and the cheese cake was warm and scrumptious. The accompaniment was two balls of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

 

The bill, inclusive of two espressos, came to R253,00 before tip.

 

Genki’s courtyard setting is unsurpassed on a lovely early Autumn day,  and the ramen  is excellent. 

 

You can’t do much people watching unless your thing is to stare at your fellow patrons but in that courtyard you truly feel as if you’re on some  exotic holiday, and you do see some interesting people, locals and tourists alike.