“Kayli, we’ve been invited to review RUA“
“What is a RUA?”
“It means street. As in, they make street food.”
“YES LET’S GO TO THERE NOW.”
RUA Review Gardens Cape Town
STARTERS
To start we shared some tapas. While each individual dish was delicious, we chose badly because everything we had happens to have been deep-fried – a bit more variety in texture would have been nice. Oops. Be sure to check them out in the afternoon when they serve ALL their tapas at half price!
Chilli Poppers // 35
Filled with plain cream cheese (i’m always sad when people use flavoured cheese) and with a thin batter – they were simple and executed well. Pretty much everything I want from a chilli popper.
Deep-fried Ravioli // 45
These were a good time. These little ravioli with stuffed with a herbed mushrooms and then fried ’til crisp. They were served with a spicy tomato salsa, creme fraiche and guacamole, which added much-needed freshness to our “fry up”.
Panko-crumbed Prawns // 65
Surprisingly, the prawns were a bit… limp. You expect anything fried in panko – a Japanese bread crumb – to be crispy as can be, but they just weren’t. The prawns themselves were juicy and the harissa cream they were served with was great, but I can’t see past the sogginess.
Crispy Baby Calamari // 60
Deeeeeeeelicious. A nice, big portion of calamari, well seasoned, crisp and tender. The garlic aioli it was meant to come with wasn’t a garlic aioli, but I loved the rustic tomato “sauce” on which it was served.
MAINS
Beef Burger with Red wine Marmalade // 85
In general, I’m not a fan of beef burgers, unless I make them myself. All too often beef burgers are dry, grainy and just all-round disappointing. This one most certainly wasn’t. A fat, juicy, delicious beef patty, topped with a rich red wine onion marmelade, mustard for heat, gruyere cheese for it’s sharp creaminess, and deep-friend leeks for texture and their delicate onion flavour – magical.
Peppercorn Crusted Fillet // 140
When this arrived, I was skeptical. The crust looked wrong – but it tasted so right. Great quality, tender meat, cooked perfectly rare as I like it. The cauliflower puree added an earthiness, which was complemented by the acidic roasted vine tomatoes.
DESSERT
Waffles
After suggesting to Marvin that we share dessert, I pretty much ate the whole thing and let him taste this once. Light and fluffly, with vanilla ice cream and berry compote – you just can’t go wrong.
I will 100% take the blame for not enjoying our starter as much as we could have – I saw all the fried things and my brain yelled “WANT!” without thinking of the repercussions. While I am normally not a fan of restaurants within hotels or complexes, I was pleasantly surprised by the service and quality of the ingredients. Good job RUA, I’ll have your street food anytime.
PS. They also deliver in the area and are open during load shedding! Don’t miss out on these amazing specials!
