The Book Club restaurant in Pringle Bay reviewed.
With a three-course dinner menu pegged at R375.00 each, dining at The Book Club, a June 2024-opened restaurant in Pringle Bay, represents superb value.
Chef patron Calvin Metior and his wife have settled in Pringle Bay via Durban. Both worked in big-name establishments in the UK previously. At The Book Club their elevated cuisine means that Pringle Bay is now also a serious eater’s destination.
Our little village’s foodie acclaim started with Hook, Line and Sinker and followed with @365 and its more casual bistro, Simply Coffee. The Book Club replaces Simply Coffee and @365.
Ma Cuisine, just behind, continues to deliver top-drawer food from a small menu that is big on French-style items all of which are expertly served. Also nearby, The Cork, serves quality food with a small plates and wine-bar vibe.
What The Book Club served us for dinner on a cold and windy Monday night will meet the fine-dining expectations of the most exacting of eaters.
Select from three options – meat, seafood and vegetable but within that structure the dishes change often. From the the home-baked sourdough bread course served in a rustic woven-reed nest along with whipped kimchi butter and hummus, we knew this meal would be outstanding.
Of our all-delicious selection, two items stood head and shoulders above the rest. The steak tartare starter and the Beef Sirloin main. The former, a Jackson-Pollock look with intense flavours from pickled mustard seeds and a syrupy reduced onion. The beef is cut into neat micro-cubes rather than chopped. A mushroom dust on the plate adds both visual appeal and earthy flavour.
The latter was served with a carrot “blossom” side that would not be out of place in the Chelsea Flower show. And, amazingly, deeply-roasted whole baby carrots still with their fresh green fronds attached. A bone broth is poured over the sliced steak table side.
My main, mussels in a turmeric and cumin-forward sauce with curried saltana-raisins, is served with Pont Neuf potato “chips” and a home-made mayo. Without any spoken reference to this style of presentation Chef Calvin is quietly announcing his grasp of culinary history and styles.
To end a wonderfully smooth and not overly sweet baked cheesecake and a parfait of berry and white chocolate “ice cream”, lime, lemon verbena and marshmallow in a tuiles sandwich.
The stated pricing on their website for three-courses is R495 and for two courses R395. We paid R375 each for three courses. When friends, who recommended The Book Club to us dined, they were offered amuse-items included in the higher price which, when we dined, were separately offered as menu snack items at an average cost of R65.
The Book Club opened mid-winter which is exactly the time a restaurant that plans with longevity in mind should as it gives plenty of time to further up-skill the already excellent staff, some of whom have been retained from the locations previous incarnations.
There are further plans for opening the upstairs and utilising the roof deck in summer climes but based on how we dined, Pringle Bay’s excellent culinary reputation is already secured.
Reservations at DinePlan. https://www.thebookclubrestaurant.co.za or call T: +27 69 355 8622. Do note their operating hours which are not standard.