Stella Action Sports Restaurant
175 Helen Joseph (Davenport) Road, Glenwood
Call: 031 201 7717
Hours: Daily lunch and dinner. Kitchen closes at 7.30pm on Sundays
My wife wanted something simple and uncomplicated. We had been to this restaurant once before, a few years ago, and had enjoyed our meals.
Finding a way to the restaurant is the first challenge. The club grounds also house Julio’s, a favourite Mozambican Portuguese restaurant, so it can get confusing. We parked on the edge of Bulwer Park and went into the grounds, finding a metal staircase that led up to a wooden deck, where people were smoking and eating.
Inside we passed through the noisy bar, music at full volume, into the adjoining restaurant, where we were one of two couples. Every time the door from the pub swung open, the music crashed into the room.
This is not a fancy food venue. The customers are most likely the users of the sports facilities: soccer players, runners, snooker players, quiz entrants, and their respective families. Like us, in search of comfort food.
The venue is known for good burgers, pizzas and ribs. Our waitron was quick to take our drinks order, lime and soda (R16) and Amstel (R18). The bottle of beer plonked down. No glass. I was pleased. I was being treated like a regular bloke.
Aside from the normal menu there was a Wednesday night specials menu offering Panko chicken egg noodles (R89); Hashtag Gourmet burger (R92); Dunked roast lamb baguette (R95); Dijon rump (R135); Red Thai chicken curry (R98); a meat feast pizza (R125) and veggie Popeye pizza (R98).
We shared a portion of spicy chicken and jalepeno springrolls (R30) as a starter and loved them. There were four in total, with a sweet chilli dip. They were crunchy on the outside and the filling was delicious, just a tad spicy.
For our mains my wife chose the Porra burger (R75) of chourizo and chicken strips, covered in a tasty, creamy sauce. She chose an excellent salad for her accompanying side dish.
I went for the lamb baguette with chips. The meat was tender and juicy. The gravy was slightly salty and full of flavour. It was a big portion and I polished off the meat, sauce, bottom half of the roll and the chips, which were passable.
From the dessert menu we chose to share a chocolate brownie and ice cream (R38). The brownie was gooey with chocolate sauce, moist and not too heavy. One of the better ones we have had. We finished with two decent cappuccinos (R16).
Navigating the metal staircase again, we found the gates locked. We stumbled around the side of the building in the dark, up a flight of stairs and squeezed along a narrow fence next to the Astro Turf fields before finding an open gate. Not the most dignified exit, but it did not dampen our good humour after a fun evening of good food at a good value.
Food: 3 1/2
Service: 3 1/2
Ambience: 3