The girls came back from George for Norman’s birthday and we planned a few days of casual celebrations with friends and family rather than a big birthday party as Norm didn’t want a fuss.

Thursday was his actual birthday and he was taking me to the periodontist so we got back to Hout Bay quite late so we popped into Pirate’s Steakhouse which was his choice for takeaways. We went home and ate and he finished a bit of work, then we watched a movie and had chocolate mousse cake.

Friday after work we met our friend Greg at Peddlar’s On The Bend for dinner. When we arrived we saw that half the room was decorated as if for Christmas. We were told there was a ‘Christmas in July’ theme and some large group was having a party. We asked if we could sit further away as I didn’t fancy the chaos but I was told that they had no other table available, despite there being many empty around us at that moment. I should have been advised they had rented out half the venue when I booked as it was incredibly noisy and annoying, I would have booked elsewhere if I had known.

Anyway, as always the food was excellent. You can count on a consistent standard of food there since the restaurant branded as Volare.

I had the Caesar salad, I can honestly say this is the best I have ever eaten. They met all of the criteria of the traditional Caesar but added a few twists, they made a sort of bowl type arrangement with the cucumber slices, even though a traditional recipe doesn’t cater for cucumber, it worked. The creamy dressing was nicely distributed, there were crunchy small bacon tidbits, boiled eggs, small homemade croutons and some smooth bone free bits of anchovy. And proper cos lettuce. Really, just perfect.

Norm had the Caprese Salad and Greg had the Prawn Cocktail. Both looked fresh and lush and the boys enjoyed them.

For our main course Norm and I both had steaks and chips and ordered a side of their delicious garlicky spinach to share.

We were asked which sauce we wanted and were given a long list of options, and we both chose mushroom. I was surprised to see a charge of R38 for sauce, I hadn’t noticed it was extra and the way it was offered by the waitress made it sound as if it came with the steak. At R165 a 280g fillet I think it should come with sauce. Especially such a tiny portion of sauce.

For dessert we chose to share the Banana and Chocolate beignet: chocolate centered banana donuts with cappuccino ice cream. These should have been more donut less banana as they were slightly stodgy. A beignet cooked properly is light. We couldn’t finish them.

The best beignets in the city are still from Beluga in my opinion.

The noise really made us want to exit so we had a coffee and made our goodbyes rather than lingering.

Saturday I had a hair appointment so I trundled off to the CBD to Mop Hair in Bree Street. It’s such a lovely venue.

Thembi gives amazing head rubs so it’s a pleasurable day, I had a relaxing cut and colour.

That night we were doing our main celebration and as you can see I’m so happy I popped a leg.

Lily’s and Cait’s beaus Josh and Vic were joining us at Cheyne’s Hout Bay my favourite venue of all. Cheyne is a master.

We ordered a bottle of La Motte Sauvignon Blanc and settled in. We decided to pair off into 2’s and share 2 starters each pair. We ordered the Firecracker Crayfish, it is lobster in a crisp tempura batter. I always have this I adore it, it’s wonderful.

We ordered a new starter we have never had, pan fried line fish on a bed if cucumber and basil noodles.
Oh.
My.
God.
This was divine. Tender and moist, solid piece of fish with a nice firm texture. Just amazing and I loved the noodles! It was an exceptional piece of fish perfectly prepared.

We had ordered 3 portions of our favourite potato and coconut dumplings with hot and sour coconut cream but Cheyne gave us a few complimentary ones. They seemed a bit doughy last night, they are normally really light and fluffy. They seemed just slightly undercooked. 3 seconds difference. Fragile little bites of heaven, I’ve gone on about these before!

Aubergines tempura were also plentiful as I ordered 2 but I’m sure we had at least 3!

For our second course we shared pulled lamb teriyaki pie. I’m not a lamb fan but Norm is and I knew being pulled lamb it shouldn’t be fatty and I was right, it was delicious and almost crispy, like Mexican carnitas. It was so tasty.

We had family favourite crispy chili beef. We love this dish.

We had a dish of chicken wings as well and the kids had a few other things which I didn’t take note of, it was too chaotic!
Cait and Vic went off to a party and the rest of us ordered coffees and desserts. The birthday boy chose the Apple Pie with Sour Cream ice cream and Lily had the blonde chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate truffle. I had the banana brioche which was a toasted brioche with sliced banana and drizzled with toffee sauce, topped with a scoop of peanut butter ice cream. So so delicious.

Norm loved his pie as well.

You can see for yourselves that Lily enjoyed hers.

The fellas had a few whiskeys and then we headed off home designated driver at the wheel.

It was a stunning night. It was the first time we met Caitlin’s fella so it was notable. We had good conversation and a lot of laughs. Norm noted that none of the men are tattooed and between the women we have a total of 9. Funny how the world can be upside down from the conventional.

This morning was the final in our itinerary of gastronomic delights. We had lunch bookings at Ragafellows our tried and true fave. The lovely Julie greeted us at the door and we settled in, ordering a round of cocktails and beers.

For starters we ordered a few things to pick at, the crispy calamari with chunky aioli, the kofta meatballs and the fish croquettes, all of which were perfectly cooked and flavored.

For my main I had the cheddar, bacon, pickle and jalapeño burger and Norm the pulled pork chorizo burger,

We were so over saturated with food, but it was exceptional as always and the potatoes were great, brown and crispy. Lily had dessert which everyone helped her eat and Cait and I had Kailua Dom Pedro’s while the men had coffees. We had a lovely weekend.

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