At the beginning of June I spent a weekend in Midrand, visiting my brother. Coming from a smallish town on the Dolphin Coast of KwaZulu Natal, a town that boasts a Spur as its only eatery, you can imagine my delight and enthusiasm at having a wide choice of restaurants to have dinner at! Our Saturday night venue was Da Vincenzo in Kyalami.
Da Vincenzo, as its name implies, is a family run Italian restaurant owned by Vincenzo and Maureen Incendario. The recipes Vincenzo uses are all derived from recipes his mother brought to South Africa from Napoli and the restaurant itself dates back 30 years when it started as a small pizzeria in Johannesburg South before becoming a chain of restaurants in a number of Gauteng towns before finally establishing itself as Da Vincenzo at its current location in Kyalami in 1997.
The food was, in a nutshell, sensational. Dishes are prepared daily using only the freshest ingredients and it speaks volumes in the plate set on the table in front of you. The pasta is handmade, daily and the pizza dough is from a traditional Italian recipe. The restaurant has five wood burning ovens, which explains why our pizza arrived in less than five minutes!
A beautifully warm focaccia bread was brought to our table shortly after we had ordered drinks; slathered in butter (what other way is there to eat it?!) we wolfed that down with ease while perusing the extensive menu. There is a lot to choose from; a variety of salads, soups, focaccia breads, pastas, pizzas, calzones, gnocchi, risottos and specials. We kept it simple, sharing a Quattro stagioni pizza as a starter before ordering pastas as a main course. I opted for the Melanzane sauce served with linguine (Vincenzo recommends the type of pasta that best suits the sauce).
The Melanzane sauce was a napoletana and creamy béchamel base with ribbons of brinjal and Parmesan cheese. It was out of this world and just what I fancied; nothing too rich or heavy. I tried valiantly to only eat half of the portion but no such luck – I had to keep going until my plate was clean! My brother has always been more adventurous when ordering and chose the Marsala E Vitello served with penne; strips of veal and mushrooms served in a creamy napoletana sauce with marsala wine. This too was delicious but I preferred the lighter, meat free dish that I chose.
I really enjoyed my meal at Da Vincenzo. The venue is beautiful and the open fires in the dining areas would certainly take the chill off a Highveld winters evening! I will certainly be going back for another visit when I’m next in Gauteng.
Kyalami Info:
When?
Lunch from 12 noon to 15h00
Dinner from 18h00 to 22h00 Tuesdays to Fridays.
Saturday hours are from 11h30 to 22h00.
Sunday lunch from 11h30 to 16h30 and closed all day Monday.
Where?
29 Montrose Road, Barbeque Downs, Kyalami, Midrand
Contact Da Vincenzo:
Telephone: +27 (0)11 466-2642 / 18
