My friend Joe and I enjoy doing two things together:
- Watching movies at mine
- Trying out new dining spots
With item nr 1, we have truly horrible luck. We have seen some seriously crappy movies. At first it was obviously not by choice but then after a particularly bad run, we decided to just make a thing of it – like a personal challenge to ourselves to find the worst movie on the planet. The current winner is the 2009 train wreck that is “I love you, Beth Cooper” featuring Hayden Panettiere and some nerdy guy. Watch it, it’s truly horrible. Another honourable mention goes to “All about Steve” with Sandra Bullock. All I’m saying is thank goodness for The Blind Side, cause with Miss Congeniality 2 and this movie, she was skating on very thin ice for a while. 
Then… we’re still working up the courage for the Bennifer disaster, Gigli… but that one makes me very nervous.
Luckily for us, item nr 2 has shown us way more love. Case in point a recent discovery in Three Anchor Bay. Actually to me it’s more Sea Point. The Three Anchor Bay boundaries have always confused me. And I used to live there! But anyways. The restaurant is called Experanza and it’s been open now for just about 2 months now. Decor wise it’s pretty casual, but cosy. Nothing fancy.
The thing that really caught my attention were the prices. At R29 – R40 for starters and R59 – R90 for mains (only exception is the fillet at R115), it’s pretty well priced for Cape Town.
For starters I had the Asian Calamari Noodle Salad (R32):
And Joe was actually looking at the Chicken liver parfait, but apparently it wasn’t doing well, so they decided to take it off the menu. But they were very cool to offer to make him some chicken livers instead:
Both starters were a hit. I especially loved the nice spiciness of mine. It had just enought “bite” and the flavours really popped.
For mains I had the Risotto (R59) with Bacon, Roasted Butternut, Baby Peas, Mushroom
and Basil, Topped with Feta Cheese and Rocket:
And Joe had the chicken schnitzel (R59) with Creamy Parmesan Potato Wedges
and Mushroom Sauce:
My risotto was tasty, but not really my thing. I felt like there was just too much going on and the serving was way too intimidating. Joe took half of it home for his lunchbox the next day, so he was pretty chuffed with that. He was also pretty chuffed with his schnitzel.
For dessert we shared the Deep Fried Vanilla ice cream with Mixed Berry Compote (R29):
It was quite hard to eat. I’m used to getting smaller, cigar like portions when ordering deep fried ice cream. That makes it easier to break through the outter shell. So I thought this was a bit clumsy, but the flavour of that berry compote was lovely.
I would give Experanza the following Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings:
- For ambience:
- For food:
- For service & price:
If you’re looking for well priced comfort food in a no frills, no fuss environment, give them a bash. They don’t have their website up yet, but you can download their full menu over here. Their breakfast options sounded yummy as well.
Address: 257 Main Road, Corner of Main and Camberwell, Three Anchor Bay
Opening times: Mon to Sat 7am-11pm, Sun 7am-5pm
Tel: 079 160 4104
xxx
