The Woodlands Eatery: Our Italian neighbour

 27 October 2023

 

The Woodlands Eatery

8 Breda Street, Gardens, Cape Town

 

The wife didn’t want me cook tonight and clutter up the kitchen and leave it in a mess, as she claims I customarily do when cooking, because we were going away the following day and she wanted to leave a clean kitchen.

 

The Woodlands Eatery is right around the corner from our humble abode but we don’t go there much, mostly getting take out.  It just made so much sense to pop around for an early supper; no need to struggle to find parking, no need to Uber and the nosh is nice. 

 

We were seated upstairs, against the one wall, with a large table decorated for a 21^st birthday against the opposite wall and were almost dismayed but the party wasn’t very intrusive. We were early enough that room was rather empty at our arrival though it soon filled up to the brim.

 

The interior is far from chic or elegant and the downstairs and upstairs spaces are bijou in size, which can enhance the atmosphere but must be hell when happily drunk noiseniks are in the house.

 

We started with the mushroom (R95) arancini and crumbed calamari (R99) to share.

 

The arancini were crisp outside, smoothly creamy inside and packed with the earthy, heady flavour of mushroom. The calamari was equally crisp, with a light batter, crunchy and delicious.

 

The wife chose the Woodlands beef cheese burger (R159)  and salad  (instead of fries) as main course

and I opted for the  sweet potato gnocchi with a four-cheese sauce (R155).

 

The burger was excellent with a large patty, cooked perfectly medium rare and succulent and flavourful. The wife was most impressed with her salad, though. Freshly made, good proportions of elements, especially the beetroot of which she isn’t fond, and a minimum of leaves.

 

The gnocchi were excellent, with a slight resistance when chewed, unlike the standard potato gnocchi,  which simply melts in the mouth when properly done, but yummy nonetheless when combined with the supreme cheesiness of the generous quantity of sauce.

 

From a previous visit, I recalled that Woodlands Eatery’s tiramisu (R79) is to die for and that was my dessert and the wife ordered the chocolate truffle (R33). The latter with deep chocolate intensity and the texture of dense mousse hit the note with the wife, but one small mouthful was enough to last me for a lifetime. The tiramisu was the optimal combination of coffee, softened biscuit, cocoa powder and cream and each mouthful was a tiny morsel of bravura Italianness.

 

The bill came to R748,00, inclusive of two 330ml glasses of beer and a large bottle of sparking water and before tip.

 

The Woodlands Eatery isn’t short of afficionados and I’d guess many of them are regulars. The food is unpretentious, tasty and in generous proportion and the service is always  friendly and efficient. It’s always crowded and that’s generally testimony to the high quality of the dining experience.