Yesterday, with the promise of summer tickling my fancy, TrickyRicci and I were in the mood to eat great food and dead keen to get out for a Sunday lunch with a few glasses of good vino. Café Verde, located in the hub of swish Umhlanga, offers a ‘taste of Brazil’ to its patrons.
If you are looking for great food with atmosphere – look no further. This restaurant is the ideal location for friends to gather for cocktails and really great casual Portuguese food. Personally, I love the music they play … dark and sexy Latin rhythms do it for me. Combine ‘la musica’ with the flavour packed food and you have a match made in heaven. When I go out for a meal I want romance, comfort, great food and I want to leave the restaurant with a satisfied silly grin from ear to ear.
There are so many ‘pluses’ to eating at Café Verde. First and foremost, their food is authentic Portuguese; secondly Chef Stephen makes real potato chips. NOT oblong piano keys of smash compressed into grainy oil sodden blocks of wallpaper glue masquerading as ‘chips’, they make chips from real potatoes and the bread rolls are fresh, crusty and crafted by the hands of angels!
I ordered the Calamari starter served with succulent plump green olives and spicy chorizo sausage all swimming in a little pool of lemon peri peri sauce (R45) and yes, I mopped up every last drop of that sauce with my bread roll. Hubby went for the chicken livers & calamari starter also with peri peri sauce – bread roll heaven. (R42)
My organic beauty of a Beef Rib-Eye infused with rosemary melted in the mouth and of course, I had this with chips (R85). You have a choice of chips, rice or leek mash with all of the main courses. TrickyRicci and Max (my son) opted for the hormone-free baby chicken marinated in red wine and garlic with a peri peri sauce with double orders of chips. All that was left after they had feasted on their birds was perfectly clean little piles of bones.
I reluctantly shared my apple crumble with the perfect home-made (not too sweet) custard with TrickyRicci …. Ah bliss. Chef Stephen respects and celebrates the produce and doesn’t get all silly buggers with too many processes that tend to detract from the inherent quality and flavours found in top quality meat and seafood. We settled down to our espressos and left our Sunday lunch around 4pm like two swollen ticks.
We ambled out of Café Verde, arm in arm and very very happy.
Please be advised that this was not a sponsored meal.