Tapas time at Bistro 1682 revisited

 6 September 2024

 

BISTRO 1682

Steenberg Road, Tokai, Cape Town

 

We made a return visit to Bistro 1682 (after a similar offer last year), accompanied by Tayfun and Louise Aras, for their winter dinner special of tapas for two at R515,00 a person. Mrs Aras is a pescatarian and Mr Aras made a prior arrangement with the restaurant manager to swap out two of the dishes on the plat du jour menu to accommodate his wife. I guess being an eminent restauranteur emeritus in this town has its value.

 

We had a good table, at the banquette seating on the lower level, below the wine racks and at the window with views over the garden. The room was buzzing and our little space afforded us as much privacy as one could manage in the circumstances. As I mentioned in my previous piece about Bistro 1882,  we like the simple, elegant design style that’s eminently luxurious without ostentation.

 

The others shared a bottle of red wine. When Mr Aras showed interest in a particular, cheaper wine, the waiter warned him that it was of a recent vintage and not yet fully formed and recommended something else. An exploratory  taste of the young wine confirmed the initial advice and the switch was made to the far superior, more expensive plonk.  Wine connoisseurs eh?

 

I drank a couple of glasses of bubbly.

 

Each couple was served 5 small plates for sharing and we started with 4 cups of pumpkin and sweet potato soup, amusingly served on a tray as if it were a coffee order gone astray.  Yes, we did point out to the server that it must be a mistake, that we hadn’t ordered coffee until he chuckled and lowered the tray, held above our heads,  so we could feel foolish for our misunderstanding.

 

The soup was deeply rich from the flavour of roasted vegetables, cumin and goat’s chevin and an early highlight.

 

Having said that, for me the mussels and chicken livers were the other highlights in terms of bravura flavours though the pickled fish tacos and beef pot stickers were as tasty. Each dish was well balanced in flavour profile and texture and offered its own delights.

I had an unexpected bonus: the chilli heat of the chicken livers was too much for the wife who promptly abandoned the dish, leaving 90% of it to me.

 

Although one always fears that sharing even 5 dishes might not be enough to fill the belly, the cumulative effect always adds up to a solid meal.

 

Our desserts were one white chocolate cheesecake (R125), one blueberry mille-feuille (R130) and two warm, crisp almond brioche with sorbet (R125 each). The latter was served with a biscuit, maple and citrus compote and a caraway ice cream and it was sublime, a superb end to a marvellous meal.

 

There was a weird mix up with the bill and we were presented with two: one for the main courses, wine and water for the table, and one for my bubbly and the desserts.

 

The total bill came to R2159,00 before tip.

 

The nosh was nice, the service was affable and efficient and the splendid ambience was cosy. A great night out.