The Setting
Awww Parkhurst. The area I was first taken to in Jo’burg as a selling point from my friends. Naturally I assumed all of Jo’burg was a reflection of this particular area. When I got lost and ended up in Germiston, I realised that I had been conned.
Parkhurst is your typical pavement café-type area and yes, you do look onto the street and see parked cars but they are the kind of cars I stand next to while I take a call in an effort to pretend they’re mine. George’s on 4th is simplistic, chic and good looking. They don’t go overboard with décor with the intention that their focus falls on the food and you. We’re happy with that.
The Food
There’s a first time for everything and for me, it was chicken livers. Trying to explain to the waiter that I was a lover of the living chicken, not the chicken liver, was a waste of time and a blessing in disguise. Sorry chickens, George’s on 4th needs you to please their customers… mainly me. If you’re really not a lover of the liver, try the mozzarella stack. Healthy, light and easy on the fork.
For a main course I recommend the lamb shank with rocket mash. I’m a big mash potato fan and while I’ve cringed ordering mash potato at fancy restaurants and getting shot down with a curl of the lip from an anal retentive waitron, George’s on 4th know the value of good mash. I recommend their rocket mash, and no, don’t ask if Shrek died on your plate. It’s not funny. It’s hysterical!
Price Range
I’ve always been slightly hesitant of the Parkshurst restaurant bunch. I usually choose the take-away down the road and then telling everyone ‘I had dinner in Parkhurst’. Which means I sat in my car on 4th avenue unwrapping chips. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. For two starters, two healthy sized mains as well as two bottles of delicious wine (how did that happen?) and a shared dessert, our entire evening came to just over R700. I don’t think I’ll be eating refried chips in my car again!
Perfect for
A date, dinner with the girls, an evening before you hit the bars and clubs or Parkhurst and Greenside. And if you’re of the ‘need to be seen’ variety, you want to be seen at George’s on 4th. Look for me, I’ll have my hand wrapped around a glass of wine with my face in the delicious rocket mash.
George’s on 4th was reviewed by Baglett. Read her tea-snortingly funny blog here.