Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters
No Result
View All Result
Food24
No Result
View All Result

Labelled as gastropub but rather a British bistro: review of The Crazy Horse

Food24
Cathy Marston by Cathy Marston
August 23, 2017
in Food News
0
Labelled as gastropub but rather a British bistro: review of The Crazy Horse
0
SHARES
287
VIEWS
FacebookTwitterPinterestWhatsapp

(Photos from The Crazy Horse Facebook page)

The first duty of a gastropub is to be a pub. Of all the things I miss from the UK, I do miss a good pub. Somewhere warm, dark and cosy in Winter and sunny and outdoors in Summer. Somewhere with good ales, nice wines, even better food. And most importantly, somewhere with soul, with personality, with quirks. I want uneven floors, random stuffed pheasants leering down from the wainscot, Auntie Marjorie’s teapot standing on the mantelpiece filled with ostrich feathers, a special chair bearing the name of a long-dead regular, nooks, crannies, board games, books, plastic statuettes of the Babycham deer – I want to see things that tell a story and I want chatty, convivial landlords or managers who will happily relay said story, creating an atmosphere and ensuring no-one need ever drink alone. It should be like Central Perk from ‘Friends’ but with beer.

ALSO READ: The best pubs serving good ol’ pub grub across SA

The Crazy Horse is not a pub. Why do I say this? Well, the biggest problem with Crazy Horse is the space – you can’t deny it, it’s awkward. The bottom level is split in half by a staircase leaving the bar counter on one side, invisible from the plain banquette seating on the other. Upstairs, it’s a smart-looking restaurant space with a gorgeous artwork on the stairs and nice fixtures and fittings, but it’s undeniably a restaurant, not a pub, and you can’t change that by putting a couple of old prints up on the walls. The whole set-up, whilst lovely and well put together, feels as if it’s fighting with this space rather than working with it.

The beer selection covers all the bases, although the wine list is pricey and too brief and doesn’t give essential information as to blends etc. But without a doubt, the saving grace of the The Crazy Horse is the food. It’s not exactly pub food (not even gastropub food– who ever heard of bar snacks which have to be eaten with cutlery for God’s sake?!) – but it is good, modern British food, well cooked, very tasty and at the moment, the only reason I would go back.

We tried a selection of ‘bar snacks’ aka small tapas plates and they were all excellent. Puffy Yorkshire puddings with rich and meaty oxtail were the star, the cauliflower cheese risotto balls were excellent and the homemade tartar sauce for the battered fish goujons was a triumph. More seasoning is needed on the crackling, but it’s excellently teeth-breaking and enjoyable nonetheless.  Onto mains with an interesting-shaped and very rich lamb pie, a smoky gammon steak (a little dry but tasty), fabulous hand-cut chips and a homemade ketchup which they should bottle and sell as an extra income stream. You can sign me up for a case right now.

There is plenty to like at this establishment and all the bones are there for a successful business -but not as a gastropub. My advice is cut the silly name, lose the jokey logo and for God’s sake get rid of the oh-so-hilarious, look-at-me-am-I-funny-or-what house lager named Horse Piss (split my sides and pass the waterproof underwear) and rebrand it as a modern British bistro. Because then everything works, there is a strong focus which matches the space they’ve got and they can stop confusing customers and get on with doing the things they’re doing well.  It’s worked for more than 30 years for Browns of Oxford and Cambridge and trust me, Cape Town needs a good British bistro quite as much (if not more) as it needs a gastropub. And start selling the ketchup – you can thank me later.

ALSO READ: Cape Town hotspot: Love Thy Neighbour serving contemporary and creative Greek food

Save

Tags: Bree StreetCape TownRestaurants And Bars


Related Posts

coffee beans
Drinks

Changing the lives of Cape Town’s homeless one coffee bean at a time

September 29, 2023
air-fryer-loaded-fries
Recipe Round-Ups

Kick off the party with these 10 snacks

September 28, 2023
10-grocery-finds
Featured

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Next Post
girl shopping

How to set a realistic monthly food budget and stick to it

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Food24 Team Loves

10-grocery-finds

10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

September 27, 2023
Peppermint-crisp-cheesecake

We asked, you answered: What is SA’s favourite dessert?

September 20, 2023
best-south-african-chutney-brands

Fruit chutney showdown: 8 store-bought picks put to the test

September 8, 2023
fondue charcuterie

5 ideas for the perfect winter-friendly charcuterie board

August 14, 2023
roasted-potato-and-tomato-soup

Food24 shares our memories from the ‘soup-er women’ in our lives

August 9, 2023

Recent favourites

  • layered cake

    Woolworths launches new cake slice range – and Checkers responds in the best way!

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Peppermint Crisp pudding: Homemade vs store-bought

    23 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 10 new products we’ve discovered while grocery shopping

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 6 different braai marinades for lamb that you need to try

    14 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Food24’s top garlic butter baguette revealed

    1 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get weekly access to our best recipes, tips and tricks

Sign Up
Footer

Quick links

  • Home
  • News
  • Videos
  • Win

Collections

  • New Recipes
  • Festive
  • Baking
  • Dessert Recipes
  • Braai Recipes
  • Lunchbox
  • South African Recipes
  • Pasta Recipes

Other links

  • Advertise with Food24
  • Editorial Policy
  • How to Pitch
  • Contact us

Not in the mood to cook?

Visit eatout.co.za to find the perfect restaurant near you.

eatout.co.za

© 2020 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

  • About us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • New Media
IAB
No Result
View All Result
  • Recipes
    • New recipes
    • Easy weekday meals
    • Videos
    • Budget recipes
    • South African recipes
    • Cooking with lamb
    • Beef recipes
    • Fish and Tips
    • Braai recipes
    • Pork recipes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Chicken recipes
    • Vegetarian recipes
    • Baking
    • Gluten-free recipes
    • Dairy-free recipes
    • Pasta recipes
    • Cocktails
    • Non-alcoholic drinks
  • Features
    • Food news
    • Recipe round-ups
    • Food24 Taste Tests
    • Kitchen Design and Appliances
    • Drinks
      • Wine
      • Beer
      • Coffee
    • Conscious Cooking
    • In Season
      • Spring
  • Cooking guides
    • Pantry staples
    • Load shedding lifesavers
    • Baking tips and tricks
  • World Cup Weekend Guide
  • More
    • Win
    • Newsletters

© 2019 Food24.com. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Fill the forms below to register

Subscribe to Newsletter

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Close
Food24
Recipe Disclaimer

All recipe content is the responsibility of the party from whom such content originated. You agree that you use the content on Food24 at your own risk. Please read our editorial policy.
Close
Food24
Get the latest recipes delivered to your inbox weekly
Promotional Newsletter

Be the first to receive information about competitions and special offers from Food24 and it's partners.

You have successfully been subscribed!
Something went wrong. Please try again.
Make sure you have completed all required fields.
I don't want to see this again