Dinner at Belthazar Restaurant & Wine Bar at the V&A Waterfront

Belthazar Restaurant

It was all sys­tems go when the screech of my alarm clock resoun­ded in my ears at 06h00 wak­ing me up far earlier than my body, mind or eyes were will­ing to on Sunday morn­ing. I reluct­antly got out of bed and dressed and was soon out­side in the blustery wind of Cape Town driv­ing my cousin and his friend to the start­ing point of the Argus Cycle Tour for their 08h00 start time. After I dropped them off I rushed home to try to catch a glimpse of them start­ing — of course I couldn’t spot them, with over 35000 cyc­lists and me still half asleep — how­ever, it was the thought that counts. I spent the morn­ing catch­ing up on the pile of wash­ing that needed to be done and try­ing to revive my tired plants.

Around lunch­time I got the call that the ath­letes were tri­umphant and tired and ready to be col­lec­ted at the fin­ish point (the new Cape Town Stadium), a 4hr 15min time was indeed some­thing to be proud of espe­cially con­sid­er­ing the crazy wind that had been blow­ing all morn­ing ... Off I went to col­lect these tired lads and I was sur­prised by the ease in which this could be done, I was expect­ing loads of traffic and road blocks which meant I would need to park kilo­metres away and walk to the sta­dium. I was sur­prised to find I was able to make my way straight to the sta­dium and park basic­ally on site. Congratulations to the event organ­isers I was very impressed with your efficiency.

Belthazar Restaurant

The boys decided to have a long, well deserved rest and we decided we’re go out to din­ner that even­ing. What should be on the menu, but steak, def­in­itely some­thing one can reward one­self with after such a race. We decided to head into the V&A Waterfront and were going to chance our luck without mak­ing a reser­va­tion, but I thought that we were early enough that we might just be lucky enough to find a table. And lucky we were, although I think it may have been due to the fact the wind was pump­ing so fiercely out­side pat­rons were weary of sit­ting in it’s path.

We were seated at  Belthazar Restaurant and Wine Bar at a table that was slightly sheltered from the wind, I only had to grab onto my nap­kin and glass twice dur­ing out meal. Belthazar is renowned for their steak and have a large “by the glass” wine section.

The menu looked fant­astic, with some great sea­food options and I was toy­ing with the idea of going for some sea­food, how­ever I was swayed and decided to try this steak for myself. It was def­in­itely a great idea. The menu is a little bit pricey and if you’re liv­ing on a strict budget this isn’t your eat there once a week kind of place, it should be some­thing spe­cial. To start us off we were served a bread­board with bri­oche and a bowl of pork and beef saus­age in a neapol­itan sauce to whet our appetite.

Belthazar Restaurant

I ordered the sir­loin with chips (you have a choice of chips, rice or baked potato) and a Madagascan Green Peppercorn sauce. Dawie ordered the sir­loin as well and John ordered the rib-eye with a Monkey Gland sauce.  The ser­vice was effi­cient and before I could look again there was a plate in front of me with a pretty intim­id­at­ing piece of meat and I was think­ing I would have to share. However, when my knife glided through the first slice I knew that there would not be a crumb left on my plate.

My steak was cooked to abso­lute per­fec­tion, medium-rare but more rare than medium, and it is not, in my exper­i­ence, often that res­taur­ants get this right. I was more than pleas­antly sur­prised by the chips too, they were golden and crispy on the out­side and soft and fluffy on the inside and abso­lutely more-ish! The sauce I had chosen was delect­able and the bowl was scrapped clean with every last morsel on my plate. I always think it’s a sign of really good food when no one talks until their food is com­pletely devoured and not a word was whispered while we were enjoy­ing this meal!

Belthazar Restaurant

Completely sat­is­fied we asked for the bill as we had decided to head over to Häagen-Dazs® for some ice cream and chocol­ate sauce. I was too full to cram any­thing else into my tummy, how­ever the ath­letes decided on some ice cream. I must say that although the ice cream was deli­cious and tasty it is extremely over­priced. The price list is stra­tegic­ally hid­den in the corner and the vari­ety of fla­vours sucks you in before you have a chance to real­ise what you’re going to pay. We ordered 1 scoop + 1 top­ping and 2 scoops and the bill was R73! Yikes, that is very steep if you ask me! I would have to say that you really need an ice cream fix if you’re will­ing to pay those prices, stick with a Choc 99 soft serve from the St. Elmo’s round the corner — that’s where you’ll find me.

If noth­ing else I left the even­ing feel­ing sat­is­fied and happy yet feel­ing slightly ripped off by the ice cream par­lour, but it was an exper­i­ence I wouldn’t trade for any­thing. The memory of that steak will stick with me for a long time, it’s going to be hard for any­one to top that!

Contact:
Belthazar Restaurant & Wine Bar: +27 (0)21 421‑3753/56

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