BRAZA – Emperor’s Palace

On the way home, we got stuck in Johannesburg for the night due to some stupidity between South African Airways and South African Express Airways. This however did give us the opportunity to go for supper with Jivika’s parents, Yachna and her cousin from down under Akira. When we arrived at Emperor’s Palace we found them sitting at a Sports Bar having a few cocktails, this was their pre determined waiting area. Walking through the Emporium area towards the Sport Bar, Jivika and me noticed Braza’s and remembered eating at the St. Lucia franchise sometime ago. When the time came to make a decision on where to eat, Jivika and me eagerly suggested Braza’s.

We were met at the entrance by our waiter and taken to our table. They had live entertainment which contributed to the electric atmosphere.
Even the waiters were enjoying the music, which made it even more entertaining, watching them clapping and dancing to the Portuguese music provided by the singer and his guitar. As an opening we decided to have a drink each – Jivika settled on a wine spritzer (the menu name eludes us now) which is basically a choice of White or Red Wine with Lemonade or Coca Cola as a mixer while Jeremy had the normal Spiced Gold Rum and Lemonade. Mom and Dad had Whiskey while Yachna and Akira had Vodka and Coke and Lemonade respectively.

That’s when the menu browsing bit started. They have a good variety on the menu, sadly though no lamb dishes, which being married into a Hindu family was the only pretty big letdown. Other than that, they have mostly everything else on the menu including Turkey. Braza’s took the best of dishes from the various Portuguese countries and combined them into one restaurant, flying the flag of the Ocean Basket franchises proudly and high.

Jeremy once again decided on the steak and asked for the Portuguese steak with chips / French fries. The preparation of the steak remaining the same, medium. My firm belief is that you lose the flavour and juiciness of a steak if you fry it more. The steak also came with an egg placed on top of it. This I decided to take sunny side up. Jivika, Dad and Akira took the Braza house chicken; Yachna had the Chicken Espatada, while Mum had the Moroccan baby chicken.

When the steak arrived at the table, it looked seriously good. Jivika and I were starving seeing as we were fighting with SAA at OR Tambo Airport for a good 3 hours! The steak was prepared to perfection, with the egg sunny side up as ordered. It also came with fried vegetables which, coming from a meat eater, was really good. The sweet potato, pepper, fungus (mushroom), carrot and butternut went down really well. Frying them did not compromise on the taste nor did it draw out the natural sweetness of the vegetables. It all went down really well with the juicy steak, perfectly fried egg I was in heaven. The manager himself was friendly fellow and even spent a few minutes chatting at our table to Mom and Dad about his love for Indian food.

The Braza’s House chicken was definitely well loved by all who ordered it. Don’t be fooled by the arrangement of the chicken, veg and starch of your choice on your plate. We all had originally thought it wasn’t the biggest of servings and would no doubt finish every last bit, but by the time we got to the last chicken fillet, we were all very satisfied and completely stuffed – A meal definitely worth ordering again. Mum’s chicken was flame-grilled and tasted delicious, as was Yach’s Espatada. Everyone of us sat back extremely satisfied after our meals and pondered whether or not there was still some space for dessert. After browsing through the menu one last time, we decided on Dom Pedro’s for Dad, Jeremy, Yach & Akira, with Whiskey, Kaluha and Frangelico respectively & Mum and I shared a Caramel dessert. I’m not really one for Caramel, but this was similar to a Creme Brulee and I absolutely loved it!

All in all, the experience we had at Braza’s was amazing. However, seeing as we are in South Africa which has a pretty big Indian community most of whom do not eat beef, lamb would be a very welcome and in my humble opinion wise addition to the menu. For this reason and this reason only we will award Braza Emperors Palace 4/5 on our rating system.

To contact them, use the below details:
Tel: (011) 928 1132
Physical address: Shop 24, Emperors Palace, 63 Jones road, Kempton Park.

Till next time, happy eating!

Joops Place – Morningside Durban

On occasion we have the opportunity to re-review a restaurant. Joops Place would be one of those, it remains an all time favourite for us in Durban. A visit to Durban would not be complete without a visit to Joops with great friends. In this case it was again the review team itself in it almost entirety that made it there Lee-Ann, Jivika, Shelton and Jeremy. This was probably the fifth time in the past year we went to Joops making the choice on what to eat pretty easy. In fact we knew what we were going to order before we even got there!

Lee-Ann made the reservation for 19:30. The secret is out people, Joops makes the best steak in Kwazulu-Natal! So it’s imperative that you phone ahead and make a reservation. Jeremy and Jivika arrived there first with Lee-Ann and Shelton being a fashionable 20min late (a change in roles it seems). The restaurant was packed as it normally seems to be, unfortunately the table we were given did not come with our usual waitress. She is seriously bubbly, friendly and knows what we are going to order the moment she lays eyes on us. This time however we had a change in heart and decided to try some of the other stuff on the menu. Drinks order was placed, Jeremy and Shelton had Spiced Gold rum and lemonade while Jivika and Lee-Ann shared a bottle of Nederburg Rose.

I (Jeremy ) decided to give the mixed grill a try. It had Steak, Sausage, Bacon and chips / French fries. The steak was prepared medium as requested and remained soft and succulent the way only Joop’s can prepare a steak. I have no idea where they get the sausage from but man alive was that excellent! Having grown up with a Butchery in family, I can honestly tell you that this was top class sausage. It’s really hard to place what they put in the sausage (spice wise) it did however have the slightest hint of some heat. I am almost sure it’s also mixed meat they put in, I got an distinct taste of pork and beef in it. Never before have I had sausage like this and will most certainly be returning for the mixed grill, even if it’s just to have that sausage. The bacon wasn’t salty as you normally get it in the restaurants, it was prepared perfectly. As for the chips / French fries, perfectly fried, without a hint of it being old or poor quality potatoes being used to prepare them.

Seeing as I (Jivika) am pregnant I was advised to stay away from the hotstuff and decided to give the Joop’s special (Steak) a try. It’s one of Joop’s Pan-fried steaks, which all come very highly recommended by us all. If you prefer your steak anything more than Medium, don’t bother ordering these as you’ll completely kill the meal. Joop’s Special is a fillet filled with pineapple and cheese and pan-fried to perfection in a sauce with mushrooms. Lee & I ordered the same meal with side orders of mash, butternut and creamed spinach. As usual the food was so good that even when I was completely stuffed, I couldn’t bring myself to leave any behind and the last couple of bites were taken home.

Shelton decided to go with the Old Man’s Steak this time round, and the mustard sauce it was served with was absolutely sublime! After our meals, we were yet again a little too stuffed to even think about dessert, so the boys ordered their usual coffee and us girls finished what was left of the bottle of wine. Yet another amazing evening with great friends and mouth-watering food.

Again we cannot fault Joop’s and his staff on anything. So ladies and gentleman, presenting to you our first 5/5 review since we initiated the star rating system. If you ever get to Durban, make the time, make the phone call and get to Joop’s Place on Ninth Avenue Morningside. If you are a steak lover like most of South Africa this has to be on your “Bucket List”.

Again, to contact them use the following telephone number: 031 312 9135.

Cuba Lounge – Gateway Shopping Centre

My wife’s cousin from Aus is here on a little visit, so we decided to head over to Gateway shopping centre for a few drinks and something to eat. Once we arrived there, we walked over to the eating area that’s located close to the fountains.

We knew we would find a few nice eating places there. While we were standing there, close to the outside / curb side tables of Cuba lounge (which I have a bad 1st impression of) we started talking about what we feel like eating. I said something to the effect of “I don’t particularly care, as long as there’s food” when the waiter popped up and said “We have food and there’s no queue”. That was enough to make all of us sit down and eat there.

We had a seat and awaited the menus and the drinks menu. Owing to the fact that Jeremy was the designated driver he stuck to the non alcoholic drinks, namely Appletizer. Jivika being pregnant, had a alcohol-free Strawberry Mojito which was definitely worthwhile. Kasha had the Pineapple Daiquiri, Yach the Olmeca Berry Sours & Akira a Forbidden Fruit cocktail, all of which went down extremely well in the Durban humid heat. The biggest irritation to Jeremy was the new smoking laws of South Africa, no smoking allowed within 30m (yes, 30 bloody meters) of the entrance to a restaurant. I (Jeremy) would love to see this law being enforced in the townships of SA.

With the arrival of the menus, we paged through and made our decisions. I (Jeremy) settled with the rump steak and chips, ordering it as usual medium.

When the steak arrived it was slightly over cooked, with the medium section only in the extreme middle of the steak. I tried looking for the telltale “cuts” in the steak that the chef / griller uses to gauge the cooking progress of the steak but alas there was none, which makes the chef / griller seriously good or a complete novice. Personally I am leaning towards the latter since the steak was over cooked. The chips, well, there’s not much we can say about chips / French fries since a chip is a chip is a chip. All in all, the food was good, it might have something to do with the fact that we were virtually starving by the time we arrived there and the service from the waitress Mbali Majola made the experience all the better with excellent service and a sense of humour to match.

I (Jivika) together with my cousin Kasha decided to have the prawn stir-fry. Akira settled on a burger and Yach on the battered fried calamari. Yach’s calamari was divine and Akira really enjoyed her burger. Both Kasha & I agreed that we’d had much tastier stir-fry dishes elsewhere, as this dish was particularly bland with the only veg being stripped bell peppers.

All in all, the atmosphere was really good and with Dbn’s sun out and a very light breeze, it was the perfect cocktails day! Not being able to fault the service, atmosphere or decor included in this the fact that they are pretty reasonably priced. Cuba lounge Gateway scores a 4/5 losing 1 point for the food quality. I will most certainly return there, just a note though. Should you decide to go there after 18:00 ensure you are not dressed to casual (i.e. Shorts and sneakers) as they will turn you away.

To contact them, click on the following links or phone them on the number listed below:

Website: Cuba Lounge
Tel: 031 584 6444