One of the very many terribly cool things about working at Food24 is that we often get to try things we have never experienced before. Most of the time, it’s food… but in this case, I got to do ‘dinner and a show’ a la dating in the 1960s.
And I had a blast!
SideDish (not to be confused with Sidedish, the Bo-Kaap eatery) is a new restaurant venture upstairs at the Theatre on the Bay, an off-shoot of Dish Food & Social, the well known caterers and Gourmet Garagistas.
It’s small and stylish, and starts serving dinner from 6pm so that you can get your grub on before you settle down to your show. Sure you could also eat at Primi or further down the Camps Bay strip and then do the short walk up to the theatre… but then you have the hassles of getting your meal speedily enough, and stressing about not making the curtain. And SA service being what it is, well – it’s a real concern.
To my delight, I discovered that SideDish is more than just a stress-free pre-show dinner; it’s also a delicious one. I had a garlic and parsley butter prawn linguini (unusual as a starter, but tasty) and a really great 200g Namibian sirloin. (If I’d known the food had been this nice, I would have been as adventurous as my friend Dax, who ordered the gnocchi and proclaimed it light, fluffy and fabulous. Good gnocchi is hard to find.)
I found myself wishing I had more tummy space.
After our mains, we took our seats. To be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to Fascinating Aida, and was seriously surprised by how funny it was. I laughed my arse off, but not as much as the man sitting next to me, whom I was concerned might actually wet himself at some key moments during the performance.
In the interval, we were welcomed into a function room, where pretty people offered us even prettier food, and I became quite embarrassingly attached to a tray of cheesecake, until dragged away for the second half by my date.
Who knew dinner and a show could be this fun? (Well, our parents.) Seriously, give SideDish a whirl; I’ll be taking my family.
SideDish was reviewed by Sam Wilson. Follow her on twitter.