As you may have seen in my previous posts, I am a little bit
in love with the app Zomato which is building strength in South Africa. You can
use it to check out menus, reviews or ratings, etc. and so so much more!
Lucky for me I was invited by the kind people at Zomato to a
#ZomatoMeetup where a group of foodies get invited to a restaurant and treated
to a delicious meal on the house.
I had always heard of Seelan and knew it was at the V&A
Waterfront but was very uncertain as to where exactly they were and had never
been there so this was a first time for me. To start with, the location is
awesome. Its right on the sea and has a spectacular view of both table mountain
and the Cape Wheel which makes for quite a sight when the sun goes down.
Upon arriving, I was taken to my table and within 1 minute a
fresh welcome cocktail was placed down for me. The excellent service never
lowered from this point and I was really impressed by the special attention.
Full disclosure: I obviously know that they were out to impress us because we
were going to be blogging, tweeting, etc. but they really did an awesome job
and I can’t fault them for that.
Starters:
We began with some really fresh and crispy salads, salmon
carpaccio and fish soup. The salad was simple but just different enough to make
it special from those you would make at home. The salmon carpaccio was slightly
boring in my opinion and didn’t have much of a ‘wow’ factor although it did go
very well with the salad. Now I get to the fish soup. We had a menu in front of
us so we knew that we were in for a severe feast and that we would need to hold
back. The soup totally ruined that concept. Too often you have a fish soup that
is ‘fishy’ and doesn't really have any other flavour. This soup was perfection.
The broth was smooth and fragrant and the seafood inside was a delicious extra
that didn’t overwhelm. Most has seconds. Some had thirds. If you don’t try
anything else there but this soup, you will leave very happy.
Main Course 1:
The first two mains to come out were Chicken and Duck
portions. I absolutely love spicy food and have been known to throw chilli into
any dish to give it a bit of zing but I found the chicken to be way too spicy.
Maybe it’s because we didn’t have any warning but it was the kind of hot that
makes your eyes water. I wouldn’t have been able to eat a full portion and was
lucky to have just taken a drumstick. The duck was soft and tasty but a little
bit on the dry side, (a brave choice for a large table of guests.) On the plus
side, what I liked about the dish was the fact that the chef wasn’t trying too
hard to make it taste like anything else. Sometimes you find that restaurants
throw sweet sauces and marinades on duck and it can ruin the flavour. This duck
was just lightly spiced and cooked so that you just tasted delicious duck
flavours.
Main Course 2:
The next course consisted of two massive bowls of curry and
some rice to go with it. Already we were getting full but upon tasting the
deliciousness we indulged! The options were prawn and lamb. Considering the
restaurant specialises in seafood, I was honestly surprised by how good the
lamb curry was. The meat was cooked SOFT and the taste was top notch.
Unfortunately, because the lamb was so good, I found the prawn to be
underwhelming in comparison. It was VERY spicy and felt like it was maybe a bit
too spicy for such a gentle flavour but very much enjoyable. If you feel like a
really good home-style, melt-in-the-mouth lamb curry then I would give the
local curry joint a skip and try this place on for size.
Main Course 3:
Yes. 3 main courses. Try to imagine how delirious we were
with over-consumption of food. It was delicious nonetheless. This was one of my
favourite courses but I struggled to eat it because I knew that there was still
dessert coming. We were served both a steak and a kingklip tagliata. I had
anticipated that I would enjoy the steak more but it was actually the kingklip
that ended up winning first prize here. I find kingklip can be quite bland at
the best of times and I wouldn't normally order it from a restaurant if I were
planning on splurging. I was proven wrong! I would come to the restaurant and
order the kingklip in order to treat myself! The steak was great too and I
found the meat soft and cooked to a perfect medium rare (although I prefer it
rare but I can deal!) It was served with the most delicious sun-dried tomatoes
and rocket which gave it a fresh and vibrant finish.
Dessert Course:
This course was a selection of bakes and some fruit. I
struggled through this course. We had eaten, eaten and eaten some more and at
this point it was actually difficult to go on.
Honestly speaking though, I am not a “sweet” type of person and much prefer
a sandwich to a cupcake. Our selection included tiramisu, banoffee and
chocolate brownies. The brownies were nice and moist but had a bit of a
from-the-box flavour and I don’t really like banana so that was lost on me. The
fruit was a nice touch and quite refreshing after such a heavy meal. I would
have preferred a lighter dessert in the form of sorbet or something but that is
coming from someone who hardly orders dessert.
What a spectacular treat by Zomato and Seelan and was very touched
to have been invited to this spectacular night out. I would really recommend this
place to anyone who is looking for a great night out or a romantic dinner.
My ideal 3 course meal:
Starter: Fish Soup
Main: Lamb Curry or Kingklip Tagliata
Dessert: Fruit platter
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