No Bogart in the joint at Rick's Café Americain

 7 March 2024

 

RICK’S CAFÉ AMERICAIN

103 Kloof Street (corner of Weltevreden Street), Cape Town

 

That history is doomed to repeat itself, is a reality we experience every time we order some kind of starter platter yet boldly and foolishly order main courses at the same time, as it always turns out that the platter has so much food that we can barely finish it and then either eat no more than half of the main course, or nothing at all.  Don’t order a main course until you’ve seen the size of the platter, stupid.

 

That’s the intro, here’s the main feature.

 

On propitious nights you can see Humphrey Bogart prop up the bar of Rick’s Café Americain, side-eying Lauren Bacall and her cohort sharing Tik Tok clips in a corner and wondering how they were teleported through time from Casablanca to Cape Town.

 

Well, no, of course not. 

 

The patrons propping up the bar are a mixture of locals and tourists but, as far as I know, none of them owns, or has owned, a hostelry in North Africa.

 

This restaurant, known in Cape Town in various locations for many years now, is but a mere speculative, imaginary recreation of the more famous joint.  I’ve not seen the movie but my guess would be that the Cape Town hotspot is almost nothing like the Moroccan nightspot.

 

The building is one of the few 19^th century buildings still left in the City and enough of the original look and feel are left for a warm, cosy atmosphere as close as dammit to that war time vibe.

 

The bar is downstairs, the main restaurant, with balcony overlooking the street scene is on the first floor and there’s also a roof top terrace for  warm evenings.

 

Our table was at the window to Kloof Street, with banquette seating against the wall. The restaurant is decorated with Moroccan tiles, one walks on original Oregon pine floor boards, the ceilings are high and the decorative motifs reflect Casablanca the movie and, I suppose, a bit of Morocco too.  The interior is very dimly lit, which creates an atmosphere of intrigue and mystery but also makes it very difficult to read the menu.

 

Moroccan flavours predominate from starters (and tapas) to main courses but you can have a burgers or a steak if you’re not into North African style food. There are six vegan/vegetarian options and six tajine dishes (two vegetarian and four with meat, chicken or seafood).

 

One can choose between two platters, the “mezze” for R179 and the “tapas” for R195.

 

We ordered the “tapas” platter and for the life of me I don’t get how it’s labelled tapas instead of mezze, given that there are eight quarters of pita bread, taramasalata, tzatziki, hummus, lamb kofte (that seems more like an Adana kebap to me), Moroccan fish cakes, Moroccan cheese parcels (covered in honey and nuts), chicken brochettes, olives, roasted vegetables, squid and chickpeas.

 

Perhaps I’m splitting hairs but that mixture of Mediterranean elements signified mezze.  

 

Anyhoo, however one wants to identify the platter, the contents were generous and extremely tasty. The cheese parcels were the best on show, though almost like a dessert, but one couldn’t fault any of the other items. The kofte and chicken skewers were particularly good: deeply flavourful and succulent.

 

The pitas had crisp crusts and good, soft crumb. I ate more of them than I should’ve, purely for the pleasure of bread and hummus.

 

We barely made it through the platter and the harsh reality  sunk in that we’d once again over ordered on the starter phase of the dinner and that we couldn’t actually face the  prospect of a main course anymore.

 

The wife, who’d ventured out tonight because she craved a burger, ordered the buttermilk chicken burger (R150) with a spicey Peppadew mayonnaise on the side and a side salad.

 

My choice was the vegan spiced lentil, sweet potatoes and butternut tajine (R150) with Ras al Hanout and Harissa, and cous cous. We love tajine / tagine style cooking and I wanted a light, dare I say, vegan, meal.

 

The chicken burger was an astonishing sight to behold, with two tender pieces of chicken breast already pushing up the top half of the bun into the stratosphere, only to have that dizzy height extended by plump onion rings.  Put it up in Dubai and you’ll have the tallest structure in the world.

 

The wife was utterly despondent. There was no way she could eat this gargantuan burger, which she’d eagerly anticipated. She ate one yummy chicken breast and asked for the rest of the burger and the side salad to be boxed for taking home.

 

My tajine dish was very satisfyingly vegan. The vegetables were perfectly cooked and brim-full of flavour with the slightest hint of chilli heat, the al dente lentils added a welcome textural contrast and the cous cous cookery was spot on. 

 I cleaned my plate. I wasn’t about to take cooked vegetables home.

 

There was no appetite for dessert or coffee. 

 

The bill, including one glass of red wine and one beer, came to R622,00 before tip.

 

We could’ve had a much more budget friendly date night dinner, yet still be replete, if we’d ordered only the platter and drinks, and maybe dessert.

 

I liked the dimly lit, intimate feel of the restaurant, the service was good and very jovial and the food was  excellent and my wife looked beautiful. I’d be happy for a return visit to try some other tajine dishes.