On Fri eve I had dinner at La Mouette in Sea Point with some friends.  I’ve mentioned this restaurant before because Leigh and I did a dessert tasting there back in October.  You can read about that here.

It’s such a beautiful restaurant, I just had to go back to do their 6 course taster menu.  And at only R150 pp, it’s an absolute steal.

We were seated in this secluded little dining spot, perfect for a table of 8 – where you could even close the doors and have absolute privacy.  I think they saw my loud bunch coming a mile away and figured it would be safer to keep us hidden.

As I was still suffering through my post Deadmau5 hangover from hell, I was strictly on water and Appletizer for the evening. hehe.

Course # 1 was an onion bhaji and potato samosa with yogurt and spiced tomato chutney:

The samosa was beautifully crispy and light and when mixed with the other flavours in that bowl, it just created heaven in your mouth.

Course # 2 was a coconut broth with spring onion, butternut and black sesame seeds:

I really enjoyed this, although the choice of serving plate (or should I say cup) caused some laughter at the table. You see, my friend Grant felt it was taking to long to eat with the little spoon they provided and decided to just drink it like you would a cup of Maggie soup. Nice, real nice.

Course # 3 was tuna tartare with avocado puree, toast and spiced tomato jelly:

Now I’m not a fan of tartare… The vegetarian option for this course was a marinated tomato salad with wild rocket, basil oil and goats cheese.  Most people at the table opted for that as they weren’t brave enough to face the tartare.  But not me! I figured I should at least give it a bash.  And I’m glad I did. Even though it’s not something I’m going to be eating lots of in the future, it was very interesting.  The flavours of all the little things they serve with it worked really well and I polished off my plate in the end.

Course # 4 was free-range chicken with spinach, crushed potatoes and sauce vierge:

When I saw chicken on the menu, I must admit I wasn’t too excited.  I have this rule about not ordering chicken at restaurants as it’s just so easy to have at home.  I prefer to go for a nice piece of red meat or seafood or something.  BUT, this chicken was something special.  It was really tasty, with lots of different flavour components and I especially liked the mustardy mash it came with.  I’m a total sucker for mashed potatoes, it reminds me of home.  One thing my mom could totally rock out was a mean bowl of mashed potatoes.  Mmmmmmm.

Course # 5 was strawberries and cream, but with a twist. It was actually vanilla panacotta with a strawberry foam/jelly topping:

This was sooooo yum!  I kinda wished they had given us a bigger serving.  I scoffed down that shot glass in seconds.

Course # 6 was a different take on a classic cappuccino – Coffee ice cream, milk foam and warm doughnuts:

At this stage I was totally stuffed.  So I didn’t finish it.  But the ice cream was super creamy and those little warm dougnuts were like little soft clouds. I just honestly couldn’t fit anything more into my body, so I just had a small taste of everything.  The boys at the table with the man-sized appetites did claim however that they could have gone through this entire menu once more…  Doubtful.  But I would agree that the boys would have probably preferred one more meaty option than having 2 sweet options.

So, my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings for the La Mouette 6 course tasting would be:

• Vibe: 
• Price:
• Food: 
• Service: 

It’s obvious that the chef takes pride in what he puts on your plate.  I thought the menu was carefully thought out and well executed.  Sadly, this menu finished it’s run on Sunday.  But for December they’re doing a Seafood tasting menu for R295 pp.  It consists of the following courses:

• Petite moules et frites  (had to check this on the Yahoo! Babel Fish translater and it seems to mean:  Small, fried mussels)
• Salt and pepper prawns chorizo popcorn and sweet corn pureé
• Open lasagne of crayfish almond crumble cauliflower and truffle foam
• Grilled tuna Niçoise confit potatoes, green beans, tomato and sauce vierge
• Strawberries and cream strawberry foam, panacotta and warm doughnut
• Lemon tart burnt honey cream, honey comb and crème fraiche sorbet

Sounds delicious!  Perfect for a hot summer’s night. I might have to plan another return trip now…

xxx