Double feature: Therapy / Paris-Cape Town

 20 May 2024

 

THERAPY

5 Park Road, Cape Town

 

PARIS-CAPE TOWN

Lifestyle Centre, Kloof Street, Cape Town

 

I’ve not been in therapy until today and, frankly, it didn‘t do my mental health much good. 

We arrived shortly before 13h00 and the first impression wasn’t positive, as the furniture on the outside patio were piled up and put away and a crew of workers were doing something that made a lot of noise. Only the slightly open front door was an indication that the joint was open for business. 

The restaurant is divided into three separate spaces: the central, slick bistro area, as you enter, with the bar counter, a lounge area with halfmoon shaped banquettes seating and some loose tables on the right and the luxury dining room with more banquette seating against the wall and upholstered round back chairs.

There were hardly any other patrons and the harsh light of day emphasised an eery sense if desolation but it’s probably supremely vibey and atmosphere rich at night.

Breakfast and brunch are served from 08h00 to 14h00.   The menu isn’t extensive and there isn’t much excitement to the dishes but they cover the basics.

The wife ordered the Therapy omelette (R130) with which one has a choice  between Feta or Mozzarella, to accompany the cherry tomatoes, basil pesto, sticky onion marmalade, rocket and chorizo. She asked for the Feta. The server returned after a while, apparently puzzled, to ask whether the wife wanted extra Mozzarella with her omelette. My  ever patient spouse had to point the server to the item on the menu to convince her, or the kitchen, that she was indeed within her rights to exercise her consumer’s right to Feta without any extra charge.

My choice was the Chef’s Benedict (R145), which is differentiated from the “classic” version of the dish by the inclusion of Black Forest ham and comes with “classic house Hollandaise.” 

After the pesky issue of the Feta had been sorted out and the server had returned to the kitchen, she returned again with the news that the kitchen didn’t have Black Forest ham and asked whether bacon would spark joy as a replacement. Oh, okay.

After the respective orders had been cleared up, we waited more than 30 minutes for our food, which was a tad baffling, as two other patrons who’d already been there when we arrived, had already received their food and the few customers in the lounge area were having drinks only. 

It always seems to be the case the food takes longer to come out of the kitchen when the eatery is empty than when it’s packed. 

At least the server apologised for the delay in the kitchen without illuminating us on the background.

The quality of the food didn’t make up for the long wait.

The wife immediately spotted that her omelette had been drizzled with sriracha, which, unlike the Feta/Mozarella alternative, wasn’t indicated as part of the deal on the menu. She wiped it off with a serviette but couldn’t get rid of all of it.  The ghost of sriracha past continued to haunt her and she is not a fan.

The omelette was heavy and oily, probably from the chorizo, still redolent of sriracha and not quite the light, fresh dish she would’ve liked.  It was decidedly average, not utterly unpleasant but not entirely marvellous and a bit of a rip off at the price.

 

The eggs Benedict were swamped by a tsunami of Hollandaise sauce, which wasn’t a good thing. The sauce was bland, lacked the tang of lemon and tasted mostly just of melted butter and overwhelmed the other elements. One of the eggs was soft poached, the other was not, though not completely overcooked either. The bacon hadn’t been cooked through  and some of the fat remained unrendered. Every now and then, a delicate whisper of cheesy flavour  popped up, a hint of bacon briefly revealed itself and some spinach rose to the surface but it was mostly just a snoozefest of a dish, with a supremely flat flavour profile. Again, not unpleasant, and filling,  but not a dish I’d ever recommend.

The total bill, including coffees and tip, came to R370,00.

 

We didn’t stick around for second coffees (and I’d bet you can tell how often we’ll be back) but paid the bill and strolled around to the Lifestyle Centre and Paris-Cape Town for pastries and coffee.

We know Paris-Cape Town from its original site in Sea Point  and it’s yummy, fresh pastries but hadn’t yet been to the Kloof Street establishment and looked forward to a treat.

The space  is small, elegantly furnished and decorated in a mixture of old-school European and contemporary, and exudes a sense of welcome and cosiness (quite absent from Therapy) and we immediately felt at home; like tourists in our city. It’s quite a visual feast to marvel at the wide range of pastries displayed at the service counter.

We drank flat whites and I chose an apple tart (R72) and the wife opted for what they call a roll custard (R40); I love apple-centric baked goods and she loves custardy pastries. 

Sadly, the roll custard was a relative disappointment that didn’t taste of much and wasn’t firm enough. On the other hand, the apple tart, with nicely al dente, not overly sweet slices of apple and a crisp pastry case, was excellent. The coffee was good too.

The total bill here, including tip, came to R208,00.

It’s a lovely, cosy space with plenty good things to eat (except perhaps the roll custard) but I’d imagine, unless you like a breakfast consisting of pastries, it’s mostly just a coffee shop though they have a croque Monsieur as savoury option.