In a garden da vida loco, okay, it's only the Company's GFarden Restaurant

 11 October 2024

 

COMPANY’S GARDEN RESTAURANT

Company’s Garden, Cape Town 

 

I worked in the CBD between January 1986 and the end of July 2002 and regularly ate lunch at the Company’s Garden restaurant, partly because it was cheap and cheerful and partly because it’s close to Huguenot Chambers, where  various friends practised as advocates of the Cape Bar.

 

In this period, the restaurant was almost determinedly low budgie and was perpetually in dire need of a face lift. The main dining area outside was on uneven paving stones and the tables and chairs were garden furniture, initially wire  and later plastic. A gigantic tree in the centre of the space, a bluegum I think, provided shade. There was little turnover in the waiting staff who got to be on almost familial terms with the regular patrons.  

 

It was one of the last remnants of a long-lost Cape Town, with a shabby charm and the comfort of familiarity. The food was hardly beyond reproach but the worst one could say for it, was that it was unexciting.

 

At some point this century the Madame Zingara group took over the restaurant as part of its quest to become a major player in the Cape Town restaurant scene and updated the look, style and menu to bring the restaurant into the 21^st century as an upscale café. Gone were the old garden furniture and the monotonous, utilitarian food and in came modern furniture and contemporary bistro fare. 

 

That iteration didn’t last very long. Within a few years the menu had been scaled back and the shabby chic seemed to have snuck back in. 

 

I was under the impression that this deterioration happened because the Madame Zingara group had tanked but I was wrong. On the back of the menu, there‘s a statement that the Company’s Garden restaurant is one of a group of 6 eateries in the Madame Zingara Group of Restaurants as well as a statement that “this store has been lovingly created for people of the world by all the crew of the Royal Countess Madame Zingara.” 

 

Quite a few “people of the world” passed through the restaurant’s outside space while I was there but very few were inclined to linger. I guess most of them came by to use the restroom facilities.

 

The interior is low key elegant and the outside tables and chairs  are a damn sight better than the garden furniture of yore but the outside space is still burdened by a slightly  down at heel feel, mitigated by the luxurious greenery of trees, shrubs and lawn around the area.

 

The beloved, giant, ancient tree has been cut down and only a large stump remains. The area around it has been landscaped into a kind of arty- garden  space. 

 

I can’t remember the last time I ate here. It was with the wife and well before COVID, but I do remember that we were quite disappointed with the experience. The intention of today’s visit was to see whether it was any better.

 

The menu booklet, neatly laminated in plastic, is quite different from the early days of the  Madame Zingara make-over and not only looks much cheaper but the breakfast offerings are fewer and less intriguing, if no longer cheap.

 

I chose the eggs Benedict with bacon and on brioche (R147) and was quite chuffed that it was quite good. The eggs were poached to order, the two rashers of bacon were crisp, the brioche was light and the Hollandaise was proper. I would’ve liked more of it, though. 

The sweet option was a choice between four types of cake and I decided to take a punt on the carrot cake (R60) even though my general belief these days is that few restaurants offer a decent moist, flavourful carrot cake and that it’s often money down the drain.

 

The slice of carrot cake was substantial even if it wasn’t a double layer cake; I prefer this more manageable quantity to the multi-layered iceberg so many eateries offer. A very large slice of dry carrot cake is absolutely no good. The crumb was satisfactorily moist but also fell apart as soon as I dug in my fork, necessitating the use of a teaspoon to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, the flavours were unbalanced, Cinnamon was the overpowering flavour and taste, eliminating any hint of carrot. 

So, my prejudice about carrot cake at restaurants isn’t completely unfounded.

 

The bill, including an espresso and a cappuccino,  came to R284,00n before tip.

 

The service was friendly and efficient and the coffee was good. 

 

Breakfast at the Company’s Garden restaurant isn’t cheap but, on the evidence of the eggs Benedict, the food is worthwhile and it’s very pleasant and quiet on a lovely morning; until about 11h00, when I left, I was the only patron.