Dinner at Shortmarket Club in Cape Town

Dinner at Shortmarket Club in Cape Town

If you are ever in Cape Town I suggest you visit Shortmarket Club in Shortmarket street. I went recently with my brother and a friend.

First and foremost make sure you bring a loaded gun when you come to the restaurant for dinner; not that the neighborhood is unsafe, Shortmarket street is actually quite popular and festive especially on a Thursday night. - I’ll explain later-

We started with some oysters; fresh, plump, meaty; full of ocean flavor just the way they should be, with two drops of lemon and the fantastic sauce that came alongside with them.

Since I guess we must be so cool and they saw that I am a chef, the manager and chef sent us some extra dishes on the house - That technically makes them even cooler than us -

A Tuna Seviche - I particularly do not believe in making seviche with Tuna -  but this one actually worked well; it had ginger accents, and it was served on a frozen ice plate; brillant idea! They also sent us a side of paper-thin corn and duck fat flatbread, a sort of Indian-style papadums.

We also got a tuna tataki with bonito flakes, pistacchio crumble and other things I can’t remember at this point - The tuna was ruby red, shiny and very fresh - much appreciated-

Beef Tartare with pickled mushroom and pickled celery a sous vide yolk, grated aged egg white and a few accents of local fynbos herbs was fantastic.

Octopus Cape Malay style, deep fried with a base of tahini- dressing and a sweet coulis; a chunk of aged Ribeye with a béarnaise and the waiter brought in a coffee sauce for the steak that rocked and surprisingly worked very well. 

Now pull out that gun, but before you shoot yourself try the side of savory potato churros - outrageous! I bet any chef in the planet will steal that recipe, just be kind and credit the chef for it.

 a Seared Duck breast, which seemed sous vide and then seared, with sage-smoked figs and very soft turnips and a potent licorice powder; and for dessert, since we were so incredibly satisfied; we had a peach with mozzarella ice cream and a kind of sourdough crumble.

The place is beautiful and I much recommend it, I loved the vintage carts with cheese, meats and desserts that come to the table; all the waiters were beautiful people and their service was right on top and the wine service precise.