HOME FROM HOME: Calm and excellent food in the restaurant with no name

My iPhone app notes, tapped out between mouthfuls, tell the story. Crispy black pepper squid. Taste the pepper. Also tastes of herbs, very pleasantly. Very crispy thin coating. Heads and tiny tentacles too. Garlic and lime emulsion so garlicky, so creamy. Norwegian salmon. Dreamy teriyaki sauce. Crispy skin, so yummy.

Where could I be? This is the Home Suite Hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg. There’s one in Sea Point, Cape Town too, and they have a trade arrangement with Daily Maverick that sees your intrepid investigative reporters and hotshot political analysts (and the occasional food writer) staying in their inns. They invited TGIFood to try out the food at the restaurant at their Rosebank, Jozi, location.

But, there’s no pandering here: those are, verbatim, my notes to myself while dining at Home Suite Rosebank’s cute lobby restaurant. When approached, I readily agreed to write the place up, as it gave me an opportunity to give something back; they look after us so well when we stay there, and I don’t know about my colleagues but I happen to be on first-growl terms with the two lobby dogs, Hazel and her new other half Maggie, who adore me as much as I do them. Maybe because, last year, I treated Hazel to lunch. 

So, even though I was a guest, and had agreed to dine there and write about the food, my notes tell you that I was genuinely impressed with the food, so we can proceed from there in the knowledge that this is not fawning copy; it’s my honest appraisal.

Is it even a restaurant? It has no name. The legend *Larder is affixed to the striking green tiles of the far wall, but it is only pointing guests to the honesty bar. You can literally pour yourself whiskys, gins and wine and leave the cash for your choices. But staff are usually on hand and are always ready to serve your drinks, so in all honesty on both of my two stays I have never needed to help myself.

It is, therefore, nothing like any of the restaurants that Joburgers go to. The grand, opulent, crowded, insanely busy places that with few exceptions are busier every night than most of the Cape equivalents. Only a couple of handfuls of the city’s masses of diners could fit in, in any event. And Joburgers go out all the time. There are people in that city, and not a few by any stretch, who dine out every single night of the week. Cape Town should be so lucky. (I wish it was, it is still my home city, sort of, even though we moved away 10 years ago. I adore the place and it always will be.)

Guaranteed calm and quiet

Who would dine here, other than the hotel guests? Well, that tiny size means one thing: it is possibly the only eatery in the city where you are guaranteed the calm and quiet that comes with its small scale. I didn’t count the chairs but in my mind’s eye I can picture three or four tables along one wall, and three along the other. Plus a big round table near the open kitchen that could seat six. So, there’d be comfortably no more than 20-odd people with you if it were full.

After having dined out lavishly the night before and for lunch that day, I was ready for a “night in”. But I had to push the boat out because I needed to try more than just one starter and main course if I was to get a proper idea of things. So I had a chat with chef Frank Mwase and explained that I would be pretending I was eating there for two nights in a row, so he shouldn’t be concerned if much that was on my plates went back to the kitchen. Make Frank Mwase’s Burrata Salad here.

Which became something of a meme through the evening, with me saying “that’s for the kitchen staff” and insisting that they take advantage. I don’t know if they did, if it would be frowned upon, or even allowed, but I did see lots of happy, laughing countenances and the occasional inquisitive face appear in the glass panel of the kitchen door.

Calm presence

Everything on the menu was new, Frank told me. Head Chef Megan du Toit was not there, due to private matters, but Frank looked after me very well. He is a meticulous chef with a quiet charm, just the right kind of calm presence that a place like this needs.

I was urged to try the crispy black pepper squid and the eggplant parmesan. If these were what “the kitchen” fancied tasting, I can’t blame them. The garlic-lime emulsion with the squid was sublime, the squid super crunchy, and a generous portion. The kitchen staff loved it. (I presume.)

You can see it in the photo: the Eggplant Parmesan (melanzane parmigiana) was every bit as good as it looked, even more so. Just what I hoped for, fabulous. I realised, then, that Frank Mwase is a gifted cook who understands the classics and the basics of good cooking.

Asked for two main course recommendations, Mwase went straight to the pan-seared Teriyaki Norwegian Salmon and the Beef Wellington.

The salmon was succulent, crispy, moist at the centre (correctly), sticky with that dreamy teriyaki sauce, and great accompaniments too. What would you pay for that at a top city grillhouse, I wondered… here you pay R280, which for Norwegian salmon is, I’m sure, much less than you’d pay elsewhere. (If you’re not from Joburg, you won’t be accustomed to Jozi restaurant prices; you pay that for certain starters at some of the fancy establishments.)

A proper test of a chef

Beef Wellington is a proper test of a chef, even at the highest echelon. Mwase turned out a Wellington that was spectacularly good. Perfectly done beef, so soft, utterly delicious; textbook crispy pastry. Delightfully moreish sauce. Top marks, chef.

Okay, a confession. I was so tired at this point that I forgot to photograph the dessert, Honey Bee. I made a mild stab at morsels of the burnt honey crème, the honey phyllo, pineapple wafers and lovely shortbread crumble, but after the tiniest of tastes I was happy to make the kitchen happy. I’m sure they were. 

On the last morning I went down for breakfast, and such a refreshing brekker menu: a range of smoothies, assorted quiches, various bagels (I had smoked salmon with cottage cheese, tomato and rocket), “loaded oats” (topped with toasted coconut, banana and berries).

Two variations of Eggs Benedict (which I never order, anywhere, any more, having been disappointed so many times), French toast, a Home Suite waffle, fruity and creamy with granola, and omelettes. I saw that one of the chefs was cooking hot breakfasts to order, but I was in a hurry to get to the airport, so nibbled at the edges of the bagel, for form’s sake.

Hazel and Maggie got pats on the head on my way out to the uber. I got winks and doggy-kisses in return.

Thank you, Home Suite family. And that includes you, Hazel and Maggie, you gorgeous things. DM