.: Lunch at The Black Sheep

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Lunch at The Black Sheep

We have had very good reports of this restaurant in Upper Kloof Street and decided to treat ourselves to lunch there this week. We know the chef and owner Jonathan Jaftha from his sojourn at Fork in Long Street and liked his food there very much, so we were curious to see what he is doing with free rein in his own restaurant. We were delighted to know that you don’t have to book for lunch (you absolutely do for dinner) and that means, in a cold and miserable winter, that they are obviously doing very well indeed and we believe that they deserve to. The front of the restaurant is open to the street on fine days and we were there on one of those wonderful clear, sparkling days that we enjoy so much in the winter - unlike today which is cold, wet and miserable!

We had a chat to Jonathan after lunch and he explained that the lunch menu – which is on a blackboard - is quite short and simple, while the dinner menu is much more detailed and complex. You can check out their menu on line. It is easy to find but parking, as is usual in that area, can be a challenge and you will have to sort out a parking person, often unofficial. We took a sample bottle of rosé wine from Lithos which the owner/winemaker Tim Hoek gave us to try at the Knysna Wine Festival. We were happy to pay the R50 corkage. Their wine list is fairly comprehensive, with nothing below R140, which is a little steep for some of the wines on offer. The restaurant was quite full and many of the people were talking business over lunch. Lynne ordered the pulled pork sandwich and John the beer battered Fish and Chips. Each of us ate half and then swapped plates, as we often do, so that we can taste both dishes.

It is easy to find as it has good signage.

The lunch menus

Cocktails and a good selection of craft beers, even bar snacks if you don’t want to sit at a table

Lithos Blanc de Noir. It's a Cape blend (43,5% Pinotage, 37% Shiraz and 19,5% Cabernet Sauvignon), went well with the food, tasted a bit of candy floss and cranberries and was bone dry. We would buy this (retail) if the price was lower than R45

The well stocked bar area

We really liked the wood wall, obviously put together from scraps of all sorts of different woods. A nice warm textured effect.

The girls at the table next to ours had ordered the lentil curry, topped with haloumi cheese and didn’t mind us taking a photograph. A great vegetarian option and quite a mound of food.

The pulled pork sandwich. It was on a very good crisp ciabatta style roll - we only ate the bottom half. The shredded pork was soft, but needed perhaps a touch more spice to stand up to the salad. It is topped with raw red onion, a mound of cucumber (both not favourites of Lynne's, but John liked) and tomato, salad leaves and a blob of sour cream. These were called licorice chips but were sprinkled with ground fennel seeds. Some were crisp, others less so.

The beer battered fish was very fresh and delicious. The batter was crispy crunchy on the top. It came with a home made, robust sauce tartare, and these chips were nice and crisp. The accompaniments on both plates are tomato ketchup and a good mayonnaise