The Benedict Battle: Mulberry & Prince vs Sonny and Irene

 26 January 2024

 

MULBERRY & PRINCE (AND A RETURN TO SONNY & IRENE)

12 Pepper Street, Cape Town

 

Three of us met for brunch; at 10h30 the place was packed  and buzzing; in fact, it was quite loud, though our corner table offered some mitigation, but distressed walls, a polished cement floor and minimal decoration do not contribute to good acoustics.

 

This was probably the first time in 6 or 7 seven years that the wife and I’ve been here and if we weren’t particularly impressed the first time, this visit didn’t do much to change our minds.

 

The minimalist style still makes it look like a work canteen and it’s still expensive for what you get, which isn’t exactly substantively superior to what one can get elsewhere.

 

The wife ordered the eggs Benedict with bacon (R185), her colleague had Shally’s pancakes (R185) with additional bacon (R60).  

 

I chose the Turkish eggs (R150), mostly because I wanted to see how Mulberry & Prince does it. I’ve not come across any non-Turkish restaurant in this town, who have this dish on their menu, who do it the proper, simple way. For  some unfathomable reason they all add bits and bobs that you wouldn’t get in Turkey.

 

I cook this dish for my breakfast just about every Tuesday.

 

The coffee (flat white and espresso) was unpleasantly sour, even with sugar, and at respectively R42 and R36 are what I would call exorbitantly priced. The wife switched to a mochaccino (R55), which her colleague prefers anyway, and this was a better choice.

 

The eggs on the wife’s benedict were overcooked (not to specification) and there was far too little Hollandaise sauce, rendering the dish dry, although the taste was good. The tater tots accompanying the main dish were the best things on the plate.

The American-style pancakes were quite substantive, and seemed too hefty a portion to me, but went down a treat. The pancakes were light and fluffy, the bacon a perfect addition, the syrup was a delightful sweetener and the fresh fruit served as the playful, zesty counterpoint to the comparatively heavy pancakes.

The Turkish eggs (çilbir) were excellent, with an extraordinarily good, highly aerated flatbread that’s easily the best flatbread I’ve had in a Cape Town restaurant. The eggs were poached to order and, as I’d requested, the chef hadn’t grated raw garlic into the sumac flavoured yoghurt. The chilli sauce was spirited yet not overpowering.   

The restaurant doesn’t offer any sweet pastries. 

 

The bill came to R996,00 and management are kind enough to add a gratuity to make up the total of the bill just so you don’t have to raise a sweat calculating a tip.

 

The service was efficient and friendly.

 

It seems that Mulberry & Prince is still attractive to trendies and tourists and must be doing something right for their demography to remain this popular after so many years in business, but it’s not a comforting, cosy coffee shop and the prices are out of kilter with what I consider value for money.  Also, if one judges a kitchen by the quality of their Benedict, Mulberry & Prince barely passes muster.

Perhaps one should simply focus on other menu items. Two out of the three breakfasts were well satisfactory.

 

If you’ve guessed that it’ll probably be another half a decade or longer before we return, if ever,  you’re a contemporary Nostradamus.

 

BONUS MATERIALS!

 

 I know comparisons are odious but sometimes on point.

 

We met two friends for brunch at Sonny and Irene on 28 January and three of four had the eggs Benedict (for one it was the first ever eggs Benny) with bacon or salmon and these Bennies were superb, with perfectly poached eggs and abundant, proper, tangy Hollandaise sauce and good amounts of bacon and salmon, as applicable. Absolute triumphs. The pricing is similar to Mulberry & Prince yet the Benedict offering is superior, not to mention the coffee, and, frankly, the ambience is preferable too.