The setting
Myoga is a glamorous restaurant with a twist of funk. Set inside the Vineyard Hotel in the heart of Newlands, it fuses old school colonial with modern elegance with a playful and imaginative touch.
There is an open kitchen set to one side and a slick bar as you walk in with smiling staff that make you feel like a special guest.
If you’re lucky, you get to sit in one of the over-sized Alice in Wonderland orange velvet high backed chairs and when you need to powder your nose you can watch the chefs hard at work on a flatscreen on the back of your bathroom door. Great foodie touch.
The food
The Winter Menu is fantastic. Six courses of great food, beautifully presented with imaginative flavours and interesting combinations. Nice choices too. See our gallery for pics.
Myoga means ginger blossom in Japanese and Mike Bassett’s emphasis is on contemporary, global fusion. So lots of clean Asian flavours with classical undertones. A kind of east meets west. Robert Erleigh is the head chef at the helm and is doing a damn fine job if it.
One thing that always makes an evening – and the whole experience that much better – is the vibe, and it was pumping. Not too loud and not in the least austere, no tinkle tinkle of quiet silverware. More like a warm and inviting restaurant filled with people having a great time.
Dishes that stood out were:
– the prawn amuse – chef is famous for these and so he rightly should be.
– the seafood bouillabaise – rich, deep flavour.
– the lamb and lemon canneloni with tandoori spices – deliciously different.
– roasted pork belly – wow, I loved it, sweet and sour Asian style.
– hot apple and pear brulee tart – beautiful.
Click here to see the whole menu.
The wine
You can have the whole meal paired with selected wines for an extra R135. The selection was fantastic and very interesting (they’re not scrimping on price here either), I felt that they had carefully selected the wines and the choices are a toast to our diverse and wonderful South African collections from each corner of the winelands.
Price range
This is the clincher, the whole 6 courses comes in at a crazy-wonderful R150. Some establishments charge more for a main course. This my friends, is the deal of the season and perhaps the century.
If you go the whole pairing route it still comes in at under R300. All I say is ‘shoo’, well done guys and thanks for putting it out there.
Perfect for
A rowdy dinner with friends or a fancy dinner for two. Get the girls together or make it you next date, you won’t be dissapointed. Myoga is also open for lunch – R95 for 2 course, R125 for 3.