By Brian Berkman

Many people will agree those brave enough to open a restaurant should see a head doctor, so I’m not sure what to make of affable head doctor Derek Marshal’s hands-on ownership of Pastis restaurant in Constantia. Heads aside, start with the Onion Soup, sweet and hearty with lots of soft translucent onions waiting at the bottom of the bowl. As a lazy eater, I’d prefer not to fight to cut the cheese crouton in my bowl with a spoon and rather have smaller ones that I can effortlessly pop into my mouth. Lee seemed to enjoy her escargot that came, as expected, dripping in garlic butter with a wedge of fried bread.

If effortless eating is your goal too, order the steak au poivre. I was cataloguing all the pepper steaks I’d enjoyed over the years to see where this one was located and find it somewhere between the hot white pepper offering at Den Anker and the softer Madagascar green pepper option at Belthazar. It is certainly of a quality superior enough to drag me from the far North to order it at Pastis again.

Along with sensational garlic mash, the ox tail was very delicious with root vegetables bolstering the flavours of the red wine in which it was cooked but, for my preference, it needed another while slow cooking to release every bit of connective tissue from the bone.

A dish in which to toss bones would have been useful too.
Their pork belly comes with an interesting apple sauce but it didn’t provide enough moisture to dry roasted meat while the duck with Asian noodles was tasty enough but I found the sauce a little too sweet - not that it stopped me from scoffing the remainder of Lee’s portion.

We greedily ordered five desserts for the four of us as they were all so compelling. Although the apple tarte tatin wasn’t right – it should be served topped with pastry with a caramel syrup, but that said, the apple tartlet was very elegant and good to eat. The winner was the baked cheese cake, rich on the tongue but feather light in which to bite and the crème brulee had the perfect Goldilocks texture – not to stiff not to soft but just right. The lemon tart would have been stellar had the pastry been baked blind to give a crisp base rather than a raw one. I did love the crisp melted sugar topping against the freshly acidic lemon in the curd-based tart.
Pastis has a cozy downstairs bar area with a big wood-burning fireplace.

They’ve recently refurbished the main restaurant area but I was disappointed they opted for a gas fireplace with faux logs where they had a wood-burning one downstairs.
Pastis, High Constantia.
021 794 8334.
www.pastisrestaurant.co.za

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jenny Morris for many years and am a great admirer of her recipes. In fact, my greatest baking achievement – the perfect carrot cake, is her recipe from her first book.

Last week we attended the launch of The CooksPlayground in its new modern multi-purpose facility where she’ll offer regular weekly recreational cooking classes, corporate team building, social parties like kitchen teas, baby showers etc., all of which are fuelled by her irrepressible fun and laughter. The facility can host 80 people seated restaurant style or 120 conference style and the kitchen has 30 work-stations.

There are also HD Plasma screen displays to watch Jenny’s every move or to use for presentations.
The CooksPlayground is at
32 Napier Street (across from Cape Quarter), De Waterkant
021 425 3000. www.gigglinggourmet.com

Brian Berkman assists clients with PR campaigns and writes about travel when he can leave the table for long enough. See BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter or www.BrianBerkman.com