Total tapas

 30 September 2023

 

BISTRO SIXTEEN82

Steenberg, Cape Town

 

The wife and I love a tapas and have even travelled to Spain to see if they can do it as well as we do in this country. When we heard of the amazing special offer at Bistro Sixteen82 of a tapas for two special of R465,00, we were prepared to  drive to the far reaches of the Constantia Valley (surprisingly close to our inner-city manor) for this bargain of a life time. However, we can’t ever just do with just a basic few small plates but must always have more and so we ordered two more tapas dishes, dessert and bubbly. 

 

(Tonight was the last night of the special. We’d wanted to do it earlier in the month but due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cut it fine.)

 

This was our first visit to Bistro Sixteen82 and we were suitably impressed. The exterior of the huge barn-like structure is somewhat daunting and forbidding but once you step inside and pass the humongous stainless steel wine vats you step into a rather beautiful, luxuriously understated space. One passes a display of the house bubbly outside the wine storage section, as well as an oval bar with a stunning, planet-sized light fitting hovering over it before reaching the dining space, which is on two levels. There is a splendid view of rolling lawns and shrubbery, with outside seating for warm evenings, from the lower level of the dining room.

 

The five-course chef’s special comprised of bruschetta, beef pot stickers, crumbed mushrooms, pickled fish tacos and mussels. In addition, we ordered the patatas bravas and pork belly.

 

The fish tacos with avocado pulp, coriander mousse and soy syrup, and the mussels with a lemon grass, lime and basil velouté, were the unchallenged highlights of the meal. The tortillas were light and crisp, the fish was refreshingly zesty and the mussels were absolutely perfectly cooked but the lemon grass got a bit lost in the velouté, which was otherwise incredible. 

 

Having said that, the other three courses of the special were also suburb and picking a “winner” is nit-picking. I particularly liked the crisp, crumbed mushrooms.

 

The patatas bravas were more like potato skins with chilli and crème fraiche, and not quite the zingy, spicy dish one would’ve expected. It was a very generous portion, though.

 

The pork belly with celeriac mash and sour fig and rooibos jus, was quite pleasant, with succulent meat and a flavourful jus, but it was not the bravura dish I’d had at Reubens in Franschhoek the other week. I must admit, though, I was  no longer very hungry by the time I got to the pork and this might’ve coloured my appreciation.

 

When I saw “bread pudding” on the dessert menu I looked no further. The wife hesitated a bit before ordering the lemon posset.

 

It was a raisin and pear bread pudding with ice cream and other bits and bobs. The pudding was yummy, with a perfectly moist crumb, as was the ice cream but I thought the additional things on the plate were far too sweet for my taste and detracted from the main event. 

 

The wife thought that the coulis with the posset was too sweet and overpowered the tartness of the  lemon and that was a relative disappointment.

 

The bill, including one bottle of sparkling water and the bottle of bubbly, came to  R1254,00 before tip.

 

Bistro Sixteen82 is an exquisite restaurant, the service was efficient and cheerful (as if the servers were absolutely delighted to see us) and the tapas dishes, minor issues aside, were superb. The special was huge value for money.  We could’ve left it at the five courses and would still have gone home well-fed.