No Poirot at Jarryd's

 13 February 2024

 

JARRYD’S

90 Regent Road, Sea Point, Cape Town

 

Jarryd’s has been a go to brunch destination in Sea Point  for the wife and me for many years and it purveys a consistently good standard of food, except that, until this morning, we usually didn’t care for the sour taste of their coffee.

 

Today we had really excellent, highly enjoyable flat whites and the day was all the better for it.

 

The restaurant was very busy, especially the relatively new front section taken over from a now defunct Italian joint, and opened to the street, where the patrons all seemed to be young, sporty and possibly touristy.  We headed inside to the older, more established space and found a good table at the central banquette. It was also considerably quiter there.

 

The wife ordered the eggs Benedict with fried chicken (R175) and, after first considering a more exotic option, I settled for the fry up with Brioche toast (R155). The latter was served in an iron skillet. Skillets are definitely back on the culinary scene in Cape Town.

The wife was very happy with the Benedict; my semi-English breakfast met expectations, which, admittedly,  weren’t high. The elements were well cooked, the toast was light and crisp, the dish was tasty and filled the lining of the stomach.

 

As afters, the wife ordered what allegedly was a Belgian waffle (R155) and I chose the Dutch baby (R195), something I’d read about before and always wanted to try. This was the first time I’d seen it on a menu in this city.

 

The wife was disappointed with her waffle. The only thing it had in common with a proper Belgian waffle was that it was sweet and called a waffle. From Brussels, it wasn’t. It was bready and not crisp enough, though it had enough sweet elements. She couldn’t finish it and I had the last third of it at home. It was okay.

No The Dutch baby (also served in a skillet) was, surprisingly, more crisp and chewy than I’d expected, with a load of delicately sweet cultured cream, banana and nuts and I very much enjoyed it once I was used to using a chainsaw to cut through the pancake part.

 

The bill came to R832,00 before tip.

 

As always, the service was efficient and friendly, the food was good and the coffee was excellent today.

 

Apparently, some people have complained about prices at Sonny & Irene; Jarryd’s isn’t a budget option either and easily on par with Sonny & Irene though the latter, for me, currently has the edge with a more sophisticated, elegant ambience and far more interesting menu. 

 

The point is, though,  eating out (decently) is pricey wherever you are.