It isn’t often that a restaurant seems to have the perfect amount of staff. They normally succumb to the following problems:
- Too few: you wait 45 minutes to get your drink, “the” waiter is a sweaty, panicky mess and when your chicken arrives at your table, it’s beef.
- Too many: they stare at you from every angle, hovering just out of your eyeline. Waiting. Just waiting. The minute you move your head upwards, they pounce. All of them, at once.
But then you get wonderful places like Café Manhattan.
At this point, I would like to point out that they had no idea that I was coming and therefore had no reason to be nice to me – but nice, organised and on-the-ball they were.
We started off the evening with a few sundowners. My friend had the exceptionally strong Long Island Iced Tea and I had the orange and cranberry Sea Breeze – which to be honest, was more of a juice than a cocktail. (Although that may have been because I singed off my tastebuds with the former.)
We shared the Skyline (R119) perfect starter for two: crispy golden chicken strips, soft and tender calamari, sticky and sweet BBQ chicken wings, a portion of chips and tartar sauce. Not a “light” starter, but really delicious. They don’t really do small portions at Café Manhattan, so go there with an appetite.
My friend had the Hudson Double Burger (R99) made up of two 220g beef patty’s, each topped with a sauce and chips. Out of the 12 choices, including Mexican, Jalapeno chilli, Pepper, Mustard, Garlic, Tzatziki, Garlic butter, Cheese, Pepper and BBQ, he picked Monkeygland (which wasn’t my favourite) and Garlic Aioli (which was divine). The portion was ENORMOUS and was definitely a man-sized meal – at first I thought that R99 was a bit excessive, but I was impressed.
I had the Brooklyn Burger (R83) although I swapped out the beef patty, for a chicken breast. It was topped with smooth and creamy avo and crispy macon, and boy, does this Jewish gal love macon. Instead of chips, I opted for veg and had amazing creamed spinach and butternut. So old school, but everything that I really wanted
The plan was to follow this up with Manhattan’s Waffles (R29) served with ice cream, but we were so full that another mouthful was just not an option.
Café Manhattan is quite a surprize. It is a strange, maze-like restaurant with rooms leading off to other rooms, to balconies, to bars and to a stage. There are quiet, more romantic spots as well as the vibey main areas. They also have a full dinner menu if you aren’t in the mood for a burger, I am just going to have to go back to try it (and the waffles) out.
PS. At lunch from Monday – Wednesday you can grab ANY burger and a drink off the menu for only R60. BARGAIN.
PPS. Every Sunday there is FREE live music, the highlight being their superstars, 3 Tons of Fun. These ladies know how to entertain a crowd, so be sure to book in advance!
