The temptations of Asian fusion at Silk

 14 July 2023

 

SILK

Heritage Square, 108 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town

 

It was a warm evening and on a whim the wife suggested we make the most of the pleasant weather by going to Silk. She’d heard good things.  I phoned at 17h3O and when I was told they were fully booked I was persuasive enough (my sobs were gut wrenching) to secure a table for two at 18h00 provided we were out by 20h00.

 

We stepped inside the premises at 18h00 sharp and was shown to a small table in the second room, cheek by jowl with the neighbouring tables.  It was a far cry from the good old days of Covid and social distancing when the tables would’ve been spaced much further apart. In this small space that would probably not have made Silk an economic proposition. 

 

Silk is what one might call boutique. The bar counter is immediately on the right-hand side as one enters the first of the two small rooms that comprise the restaurant. The second room leading off from the first seems slightly larger. However, when the joint is jumping, every inch is utilised.

The kitchen is completely outside the dining rooms, on the other side of the entrance passage.

 

I sat facing a large window to that passage and had a pleasing view of the young, chic and sleek arrivals. Silk is clearly a venue du jour for the cool set. We don’t aspire to be cool anymore but we can hang with the best of them and not feel out of place.

 

The Asian fusion tapas menu is very extensive and one can easily slip into a feeding frenzy with the cornucopia of choice, as we tend to do. Fortunately for us, there is a winter warmer special of three plates for R265,00  and this strict discipline kept us in check though the wife did optimistically inform our waiter that we might order more food once we were done with the first lot. 

 

Never happened. Those six plates were plenty and plenty good.

 

We started with a cocktail each, the wife had another one and my second drink was a glass of bubbly. The wife also always orders a bottle of still water for the table of which I drink little or nothing. I prefer to take my water on board as part of my alcoholic beverage.

Both cocktails were exemplary and were a good kick start to a fun evening out.

 

Our six dishes: (1) crisp wontons filled with lamb and  with coriander and pickled daikon salsa; (2) pan seared duck breast with sweet and spicy soy sauce; (3) soft steamed homemade bao buns filled with chasu pork belly, fermented chili, mayo and rainbow slaw; (4) seared squid with garlic, chilli, lemon, parsley and Japanese tartare;  (5) karaage chicken with orange and soy glaze and sesame seeds; and (6) the Korean BBQ pork ribs.

The dishes were brought in pairs and the three “courses” were served far enough apart that we had ample opportunity do chow down without feeling rushed.

 

Each dish (except for the pork ribs) was beautifully presented and each was excellent and deeply flavourful in its own way but our consensus was that the squid was the dish of the evening, perfectly cooked and with a delicious dressing that had a good, though not unpleasant, hit of chilli at the end. This simple yet exquisite dish was so supremely tasty I involuntarily chewed slower to extend the culinary nirvana to its maximum potential.

 

The accompanying dish to the squid was the delightful crispy wontons with spicy lamb, and I thought that serving two piquant dishes at the same time was perhaps not the best idea.  The incremental increase of chilli heat from dish to dish distracts somewhat. 

 

Surprisingly, at the other end of the spectrum, the Korean BBQ pork ribs were a bit of a led down, as they did not have much flavour even though clearly cooked over coals. File under “pleasant but not essential”.

 

Our second favourite was the perfectly cooked, pan seared duck breast, with a zesty, slightly sweet dressing. It was slightly pink, slightly chewy and a whole lot agreeable.

 

I particularly liked the bao buns and chasu pork. The buns were super soft and slightly sticky and the pork was a yumfest. We've had the Woolworths version of this dish and, frankly, it falls far short of the brilliance of the Silk’s offering.

 

The karaage chicken was an interesting flavour experience. The orange and soy dressing presented a flavour profile of ever so slightly sour orange rind rather than the sweeter taste of duck l’Orange. The small chunks of chicken were tender and juicy and that essence of orange was possibly the most interesting flavour I've experienced in a while.

 

We shared a slice of the really outstanding matcha cheesecake, slightly denser in texture than the Japanese cheesecake at Mochi Mochi, but still light, off-dry (in a good way) and with the delectable matcha sauce. The portion is of moderate size, which I prefer to the giant slices of cheesecake one often gets and that are hard to finish because of cumulative sweetness that becomes unhappily cloying.

 

The ball came to R1065,00 before tip.

 

Silk was packed by the time we left and, as I've said, it appears to be the place for the young and beautifully hip to eat and be seen but, never mind the hipness,  on the showing tonight the food is really excellent, well presented and the service is highly efficient. 

 

Even six plates between two people doesn’t do justice to the vast array of tempting dishes and perhaps one should do the three tapas thing on more than one occasion to work through the menu. Obviously, we chose the six things we’d most like to eat but there were enough other options I found intriguing to justify a return for more.

 

Incidentally, one of the topics of our conversation was how much we enjoy the tapas at Bouchon, even if their style of food is different, and the wife, after some reflection, ventured that she preferred Bouchon. For me it was much of a muchness, given the different cuisines. 

 

As it happens, Bouchon and Silk are both owned by the same people.

 

Both are highly recommended.