Tony’s Spaghetti Grill, The Leaping Frog Garden Shopping Centre, Fourways, South Africa.
Ξ December 17th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ International Terroirs, Restaurant Reviews |
My hostess Caroline had told me Tony’s Spaghetti Grill was a regular haunt of hers and, even though it was a Wednesday night, the atmosphere was buzzing and the tables full. This may have had something to do to a second night of rolling power outages in the surrounding residential areas, something being seen more and more as the South African Power Grid doesn’t seem able to keep up with demand.
Pasta and Pizza dominated the menu, a good selection of Italian favourites. For wine we went for a dry Boschendal 2007 Blanc de Noir Rosé (32 % Merlot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon,21.5% Shiraz, 16.5% Ruby Cabernet, and 7% Pinot noir). This promised to be a good complement to the range of food we were browsing through.
I had a bowl of mussels to start with, as earlier in the week I’d passed up on something similar and ended up with a disappointing salad instead. Here the shellfish weren’t quite as good, but still tasty.
The surprise of the evening was the main course. I’d plumped for a baked Calzone Tradizionale - ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives and cheese. It arrived on the table and it was ENORMOUS! I cut into it and melted cheese oozed out revealing thick strata of the various ingredients. It was delicious, each mouthful giving a slightly different flavour combination, I especially enjoyed the ones where black olives dominated. The Rose did go remarkably well with this and we happily finished the bottle, but alas the Calzone defeated me – I had to request a doggy-bag and took it back to my hotel (where it provided a hearty snack the next evening!).
The meal came to about 300 Rand (£22.50, $45) and was well worth it. The restaurant is fun and lively, the staff are friendly and attentive and the food & wine was good. I envy Caroline as she lives nearby and can pop in here whenever she feels like.
Greybeard – November 2007.
