Riana Andrews
Cape Town - We arrived at the Townhouse Hotel on a very special night. Trees, the hotel restaurant was unveiling its new menu.
And what a treat it was.
Situated in Cape Town’s CBD and close to Parliament, the hotel mainly caters for conferences and seems more of a business than pleasure venue. However it is lifted from being just a business and conference hotel by the restaurant and some quirky and artistic touches.
The restaurant is cosy and pretty with trees brushing up against its windows. Our waiter was excellent and seemed to take personal pride in revealing the kitchen’s new dishes to our party of three. These included starters such as a prawn laksa (the best dish of the evening), warm squid salad and duck liver mousse.
For mains we tried new additions: pork belly with very interesting accompaniments and a seafood gratin. An oldie but goodie rump was delicious from start to finish. All this was washed down with Flagtone’s Poetry Merlot. Then we each squeezed in one of the three dessert offerings: creme brulee, but not as I know it, cardamom-lemongrass creme brulee; a chocolate pudding cup, which needs fancier name I think; and sticky toffee date tart.
A lovely meal in a lovely venue.
Trees Restaurant also runs a very convenient pre-show meal special served from 6pm -7pm. Choose between two meal options with a glass of wine, show your theatre tickets and get 10 percent off your meal. - a great idea with The Fugard down the road and Artscape a quick drive away.
The rooms are comfortable and have all the modcons you need. Some have magnificent views of Table Mountain. One small complaint - better coffee in the rooms please.
A quick look at their conference rooms confirms that they can more than satisfy that need, but with no pool and no gym it could be a harder sell for visitors with pleasure on their minds.
But as a tourist if all you need is a warm comfortable bed, an excellent breakfast and dinner, and a comfortable base in the CBD to get to the city’s hotspots, the Townhouse Hotel ticks all those boxes.
Now for the hotel’s quirky and artistic touches that I loved: copper wall sculptures, the beautiful hand-carved banister on the staircase, a flock of glass birds outside the lift, and my personal favourite: a bathtub in the bedroom of one of their luxury suites.
And if you live in Cape Town, I highly recommend a dinner date at the Trees Restaurant.
IOL
More info...
Visit their website: http://www.townhouse.co.za/
Accommodation includes 107 standard rooms and suites