La Mouette
Everyone loves La Mouette. Especially people who like to use complicated words such as ‘triumphant’ and ‘yummy’ when writing about restaurants.
It’s certainly a very charming spot, with its Tudor-style windows, outdoor fountain and what-not, which isn’t that easy to find on Sea Point Main Rd. — I’ll go so far as to say it’s one of its kind in that neck of the promenade.
It’s also one of very few spots in town that offer a 7-course tasting menu for under five hundred Rond, which is pretty excellent value for money. Assuming the food is good, that is.
Well is it?
We didn’t do the tasting menu, because the à la carte had some tastier-looking options, like crispy lamb shoulder for mains, and frankly, who really needs “Local Organic Veg” (second course on the current taster) for Sunday lunch?
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What we did need to start were Fontina Ravioli (on both menus), some kind of beetroot salad, and some truffled croquettes. And wine.
The ravioli were very nice, as was the beetroot starter. The truffled croquettes are a bit of a signature thing, since everyone has inexplicably been going mad for them since La Mouette opened, meaning they can probably never take them off the menu, held hostage by Cape Town’s poor taste. One is fine, in a sort of grown-up Melrose moment (Mum didn’t just remember Melrose — she truffled it!). But twelve as a starter? This strikes us a particularly un-ladylike, and it would have been an utter waste had we not brought some munching men to hoover up leftovers.
For mains, the crispy lamb was universally praised, while an ostrich dish scored higher on sauce than meat points. Kudos must go to the chef for making everything more complicated (and pretty) than it need be, but perhaps the Italians are onto something with the whole simple is better/less is more vibe, which presumably allows a kitchen to focus a bit more on doing just a few things phenomenally.
Alas (who says that?), desserts only cemented that point. Black sesame cake with coconut sorbet, carrot cake with cream cheese foam and blood orange sorbet, and mascarpone ice cream with dehydrated chocolate all sound pretty intriguing, and arrived in their Sunday best, but that was about it.
No one likes hating on dessert, but this was a really sad case of style over substance. The carrot cake was possibly the worst rendition of that classic that anyone at the table had tasted. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t anything worth eating. The black sesame cake was the most interesting of the lot, with a deep sesame flavour, but granular ice cream does no dessert any favours. And dehydrated chocolate? It tasted just like what’s commonly known as chocolate.
There’s potentially some philosophical banter to mount about the silliness of restaurants trying too hard, and the irritation that a diner can feel being directly proportional to what sorts of expectations are raised at the beginning of the meal. But that could too easily slide into entitled complaining about what was a perfectly lovely day out with friends, marred only by an adequate meal. And at least no one made us eat a course of local organic veg.
Originally published at 2ladieswholunchblog.wordpress.com on February 5, 2017.
