Tag Archives: pizza

Massimo’s for killer pizza

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On Sun I was really in the mood for some Italian food…  I think it must have been thanks to my disappointment at Ragù the day before.  It seemed to have left a lingering need in my soul. ;)

I didn’t want to hit up any of my usual spots, so I decided to consult my trusty EatOut website.  They do this “Best of” thing, for example “Best of… sushi” or “Best of… bistros” and then they give you their top picks for each major city.  In the “Best of… Italian” list for Cape Town I spotted Massimo’s out in Hout Bay.  I checked out their website and looked at one or two online reviews, liked what I saw and decided this would be the dinner spot I would drag two of my friends, Lara & Grant, to that evening.

Now just a tip for getting there.  It’s on Hout Bay Main Rd, but if you’re coming from Cape Town via the Llandadno side and then hit that traffic circle which gets you into Main Rd, turn left at the circle towards Constantia, not right towards Chapman’s Peak.  You see I made this mistake and then got horribly lost.  Add to that the fact that I have seriously poor night vision and that area (and the road to get to Hout Bay) isn’t well lit, you get a minor panic attack.  But hey, nothing a glass of wine couldn’t fix…

Massimo’s is part of a little country style shopping center and sits snug in the far right hand corner.  It’s definitely got a strong country kitchen feel, nothing too flash, just nice and cosy, with lots of wooden details and a big pizza oven right where everyone can see the action.

For starters I tried their soup special which was green pea & mint.  Lara had the Bresaola (air dried sliced beef with parmesan shavings & extra virgin olive oil – R42).  And Grant had the Tagliere (Coppa ham, salame felino, Mortadella, bread & preserves – R42.  So his was basically a plate of meat – just the way die manne loves it right. :)

My soup was quite blah.  I would have preferred it to have a thicker texture and I needed to add quite a bit of seasoning.  Lara & Grant enjoyed their starters.  Of course, there wasn’t any cooking involved in those 2 dishes, but the ingredients were fresh and tasty.

For mains I was initially totally set on having a pasta.  But as we were sitting there beautiful pizzas kept coming past us and the smell of those freshly prepared stunners totally got to all of us.  Pizza it was!

Lara and I both opted for the half & half option (you only pay R7 extra).  Grant wasn’t as indecisive as us and opted for a normal pizza.  Below you have mine on the left.  I went for half Pere (olive oil, gorgonzola cheese, sliced pears – R72 for full) and half Cacio (garlic butter, Italian sausage, cacio cheese, roasted peppers – R118 for full).  So the cost of mine came to:  R36 + R59 + R7 = R102.  On the right below was Grant’s pizza, he opted for one of the special pizzas for the day.

This pizza was right up my alley.  Super thin and crispy base.  Not too much heavy, rich sauce, like with damn Debonairs pizza. Blegh.  A solid spread of toppings.  Fresh ingredients.  To me it was pizza heaven.

After starters & and a BIG pizza, we were totally stuffed.  Dessert was not on our minds at all… well that was until the table next to us got the most amazing looking baked cheesecake.  We basically drooled all over their table and then were like “for us too please!”.

Yeah, nothing soothes the soul like ass killing cheesecake WITH ice cream… Mmmm…

Now when I mentioned on Twitter that I was heading to Massimo’s, I got a mixed response.  But I must say we really enjoyed ourselves there.  I will give Massimo’s an overall Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating of:

And I will have to go back to try the pasta at some point.  But before I do that I’ll have to do lots of running to get rid of the after effects of this meal first.  I hear “muffin top” is like so not a good look with your skinny jeans this winter. ;)

xxx

Pizza with a view

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So… you’ve got a killer hangover & your body is craving all kinds of junk… what do you do?   Normally I would opt for a Steers fix with a Cream Soda on the side, but weirdly this time round that’s not quite what my body wanted…

Then when a friend suggested getting a mean ass pizza at an old favourite haunt, I grinned from ear to ear… yup, that would hit the spot. :)

We headed over for an early dinner at that true Italian style pizzeria, Bacini’s, in Kloof St.  Bacini’s has been around since 1989 and is a definite favourite with many locals thanks to the casual atmosphere and the great value food.  They serve up some seriously tasty pizza and pasta options which are baked in a regte egte clay brick oven, which gives it that extra oomph. Yum!

As it was a piping hot day – we booked a table outside and got to take in the amazing view:

That's the quirky Bombay Bicycle Club across the road. Love that place as well.

The place was buzzing, so we were very glad we had booked ahead of time…

While waiting for our food, we had a bit of a giggle at the signs up for “Barman Wanted”.   Two words specifically got our attention:  “experient” and “vibey”:

So for the “experient” part – most of us thought they had misspelt “experienced” – but turns out (thanks to Google), that it’s an actual word that’s just a fancy way of saying “having experience” .  Ah, Afrikaans girl learns a new word! hehe.  The vibey part was just plain funny.  It’s not really a word you would expect to see in a job ad.  We kept making jokes about how “vibey” our waiter was and how people at the table were totally “vibey” enough to work there. Like O-M-G guys. Yes I know… small things… ;)   But hey, if you do happen to think that you’re very vibey – give them a call.

Anyways, back to the food.  I opted to go for one of their gourmet pizzas.  They only come in one size and they’re a bit pricier than their normal pizzas.  But trust me – it’s worth the extra Rands.

Boom! In your face bitches...

It was called the Adriano and it was topped with brie cheese, peppadews & rocket.  Fresh rocket is my absolute favourite thing to put on pizzas at the moment.  Loooooove it.

I do reckon that Bacini’s serves up some of the best pizzas in town.  I love their thin crispy base and the fresh ingredients they use.  It sure as hell totally cured my L’Ormarins Queens Plate “hangover from hell”.   And for that, Bacini’s will be getting the following Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating from me for overall awesomeness:

On the way out I snapped this quick pic to give you a street view of the cute outside area:

Doesn't that look soooo inviting?

xxx

Room service…

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One of the awesome things about my apartment building is that there is a little coffee shop on the ground level of the building called Mugged.

Their menu has a Lebanese flavour, serving hearty breakfasts, salads, snacky stuff like chilli poppers (a favourite of mine), pastas, pizzas, gourmet sandwiches, wraps & burgers.  I must also add that they have the best chips in town – like those thin chips at McDonalds, but a thousand times tastier. :)

Of course as a coffee shop, they also have you covered on all your caffiene cravings.  And they do these seriously yummy mini chocolate cupcakes and great muffins, scones & croissants.

The food is really well priced, with nothing on the menu more than R70. And a coffee will only cost you R15.

The place is always buzzing with locals amd they have free WiFi and a big screen TV to catch up on those sporting events and such…

BUT – you guys know what the best part is?  They do FREE delivery up to my apartment!!!  I use them like my very own room service.  It’s freakin’ awesome…  the perfect thing for those lazy days where you couldn’t be fussed to head out to get food and you don’t feel like paying those crazy delivery costs at Mr Delivery.

Convenience doesn’t get better than this. ;)

xxx

Birthday fun @ Maranello’s

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My friend Darryn had a birthday dinner this past week at Trattoia Maranello  – a lovely little Italian spot in Camps Bay.  Now this is the 2nd year in a row that he has carefully selected this spot as his bday celebration location… Why?  Because it’s bloody awesome, that’s why! :)

Classic Italiano styling

Normally one would associate restaurants in the Camps Bay area with terms such as “pretencious”, “flashy” & “will max out your credit card”…  but this little gem is far from that.  The menu is filled with classic Italian comfort foods and the prices are very descent.

To get into the Italiano mood.  I decided we needed some Italian wine.   I had a look through their imported options first, but then I noticed a Sangiovese wine from the Stellenbosch region.  The name of the wine estate also got my attention, Monterosso, which is one of the 5 beautiful villages that form part of the amazing Cinque Terre in Italy.

Italian name… check… Italian grapes… check… will it match up to my expectations? Hell yeah!

It was really really good.  Got me very interested in this Monterosso Wine Estate.  The estate is run by the De Franchi family and is named after the birthplace of the owner, “Papa” Socrates.  It’s a Tuscan style cellar that produces a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chenin Blanc,  a Cab Sav / Merlot blend and then the Sangiovese Socrate which I sampled (OK, not sampled… guzzled down… :)   )  Here is the description of the wine:

Fragrant, elegant and expressive nose with hints of strawberries, spiced plum and prune aromas. Full and firm in dry, yet soft tannined mouth. Flavours of bitter cherry, more strawberries and plums with well judged oak support. Already very good drinking yet with enough character to develop over a number of years. Great company to a wide range of antipasta and continental type foods.

Sounds amazing right?  I might need to plan a trip out there soon…  would love to try out their other wines…

Now there is one item on the Maranello menu that simply can’t be beaten! The Capellini d’Angelo al Salmone (R63 std portion – add R10 for full portion)

Angel-hair pasta with smoked salmon,
brandy, tomato, chopped onions, a hint
of chilli and finished with a touch of cream

This is the std portion…  spend the extra R10 if you have a mighty appetite.  But this portion is perfect for us ladies. ;)

I always end up going with that – with extra chilli & parmesan on the side.  Sure, I flirt with the other yummy options on the menu, like their brilliant thin crust pizzas:

My friend Ben gave me the evil eye when I got too close to his precious baby…

And then seafood lovers will really enjoy the Frutti di Mare alla Fiore:

Fresh from the sea!

But I’m always slightly nervous that I won’t be as happy if I deviate from my usual master plan. ;)   As dinner was served, the two huge tables which we were occupying went totally quiet.  And it’s quite hard to get this bunch to be quiet! haha.

For dessert we deviated from the restaurant’s menu to enjoy an amazing slice of wicked chocolate cake from Charly’s Bakery.  Here’s the birthday boy cutting his cake:

No need to cut it dude! I’ll eat it just like that! haha

Charly’s serves up the best chocolate cake in town!  (trust me… I’ve tried them ALL)  But if we didn’t have the cake, I would have ordered some Tiramisu for sure…

So, it was an incredible night with great wine, great food, but most importantly great company!  Looking forward to next year’s gathering Darryn.

My Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings for Maranello’s would be as follows:

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

xxx