{"id":2662,"date":"2024-08-28T07:47:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T07:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2024-08-28T07:48:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T07:48:44","slug":"the-book-club-restaurant-in-pringle-bay-reviewed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/?p=2662","title":{"rendered":"The Book Club restaurant in Pringle Bay reviewed."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our little village\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter was served with a carrot \u201cblossom\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My main, mussels in a turmeric and cumin-forward sauce with curried saltana-raisins, is served with Pont Neuf potato \u201cchips\u201d 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To end a wonderfully smooth and not overly sweet baked cheesecake and a parfait of berry and white chocolate \u201cice cream\u201d, lime, lemon verbena and marshmallow in a tuiles sandwich. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are further plans for opening the upstairs and utilising the roof deck in summer climes but based on how we dined, Pringle Bay\u2019s excellent culinary reputation is already secured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reservations at DinePlan. https:\/\/www.thebookclubrestaurant.co.za<\/a> or call T: +27 69 355 8622. Do note their operating hours which are not standard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2679,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianberkman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}