One of the first tapas restaurants in Cape Town, Fork turns 10 years old today.
After a decade it was time for subtle nipping and tucking; some decor changes were made, but none so obvious that if you have been a long-time customer you’d find jarring and the menu has some tweaks and additions courtesy of new head chef Aristotle Ragavelas.
The theme is now “contemporary pinchos”; traditionally eaten in bars in northern Spain and especially popular in Basque country, a pincho literally translates to “thorn” or “spike” and a toothpick or skewer is used to spear the food, often to a piece of bread, and thus transported to the waiting mouth. At Fork you still get, well, a fork, and all dishes can be eaten with just the one implement.
I’ve eaten many great meals there one of my regulars is the raviolione (R50), which is pasta filled with a soft poached egg and ricotta and served with sage butter and chilli. A meat option involving beef, rosemary butter and pancetta is available.
I had the former during our most recent visit and while that golden yolk still satisfyingly spilled out, I found the pasta to be a little tough and the plate upon which it was served chipped.
Diva began with the aubergine, sweet potato and chickpea coconut curry from the R45 segment of the menu, which is divided according to price, ranging up to R65. It was served in four separate little bowls; most of the dishes are in portions of this number to facilitate the sharing concept. It was a fairly dry dish and not our favourite of the night.
After that we shared three things: smoked salmon rolls with cream cheese, dill and salmon caviar (usually served on crostini but we asked for this to be left off, R55); seared salmon with Asian greens and wasabi mayonnaise (R65); and seared tuna with tatsoi salad, Asian sun-dried tomato dressing and guacamole (R65).
Although the salmon rolls came without the crostini as requested, they did have an additional ingredient in the form of a lone French fry. We mentioned this to the manager who apologised and explained it had probably fallen on the plate by accident. Even so, food coming off the pass should be checked before being sent to the table.
The wine was a bit of an issue. The list is presented by region, with the house wines at the top. They are printed thus: “Vondeling, Petit Blanc, Chenin/Chardonnay/ Viognier, Paardeberg” and “Vondeling, Petit Rouge, Merlot/Cabernet, Paardeberg”.
From this I assumed they were white and red blends (they are not, which I discovered when I looked them up on the farm’s website later). We ordered a bottle of the red which turned out to be Petit Rouge merlot. No cab sav in that bottle. I queried it with the waitress but she didn’t seem to know much about it, and couldn’t explain. The vintage was 2015 and I have become just enough of a wine snob to believe that is far too early for any red. We tasted it and it was, shall we say, sharp.
We agreed we didn’t want it, which caused the waitress some concern and she said she’d have to speak to her manager. Since the wine is being sold by the glass, I didn’t think it was a problem that the bottle had been opened. The manager agreed. We played it safe after that, ordering a bottle of Warwick First Lady cabernet sauvignon (R180) which we know and trust, and is delicious. No, it didn’t pair with any of our food, but so what?
Ten years on and Fork looks like it’s doing well; it was full that night. But there were those niggly little things that need some attention. The bill came to R460 without a tip.
FORK
Where:84 Long Street, Cape Town
Telephone: 021 424 6334 / 021 424 6098
When: Mondays to Saturdays noon to 11pm