.: Rib eye special at Jinja in the V&A Hotel

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Rib eye special at Jinja in the V&A Hotel

Good friends phoned us to see if we wanted to join them at Ginja restaurant in the Victoria & Alfred Hotel on the dockside in the Waterfront for one of their restaurant specials. Because of the curfew, we arrived earlier than we would normally have done but had the benefit of seeing the Waterfront and the mountain as the sun went down

It is a large restaurant with well-spaced tables and, at this time, was not too busy

and we had a great window table with views

James enjoys beer more than wine so he had a draught of CBC Amber Weiss

The deal was a Florentine (T bone), a classic cut of steak, double thick in volume, fries, a warm table salad, a truffle risotto and a bottle of Niel Joubert 2017 Grenache Blanc for the very reasonable price of R550 for two people to share. Both couples decided to try this, instead of the Prawn special. The wine is familiar to us as something you find in Portugal or Spain, but not to our friends. It was enjoyed, but perhaps not a great choice with meat, being fully matured, with lots of vanilla, ginger and rich warm stone fruits. It is a Platter 4 star wine and a Michelangelo Double Gold. The steak did rather call out for a red wine but, sadly, there was none on offer. We were given bread and butter before the food arrived

This is the serving for two people. The warm mixed salad of roasted butternut,
sweet potato, corn and mushrooms topped with raw baby beetroot was enjoyable and necessary

The large Florentine was delicious, perfectly medium rare as requested, well seasoned and flamed over a grill. It was topped with a bone marrow butter but sadly, on such a chilly evening, it was not warm enough to melt. There was also an irresistible rich buttery brioche. The truffle risotto (in the top left corner) was exceptionally good, and the third starch of the French fries did challenged us. So some of the steak and risotto went home with us in a doggie bag. Our friends were delighted to take the bones home to their dogs

Our bill with service added for our super waitress Priscar who was nicely attentive and friendly
There was also another special (which is still running) of 16 chilli garlic queen prawns, fries, toasted ciabatta,
a table salad and a 750ml bottle of Iona Sauvignon Blanc