Mother’s Day rarely shows a restaurant at its best. Usually there are simply too many people and too few staff. So kitchens, to meet demand, have to take short cuts - or simplify menus - with the food and service often indifferent.
I’ve always thought it the third worst day to eat out after Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Day. But this year, what a surprise! Leaving it rather late, I secured a booking at a favourite casual eatery, Pintxada. The atmosphere in the funky tapas-style eatery was festive and fun, but not overcrowded. And the staff were superb, friendly, and efficient.
The restaurant offers a range of tasty, starter portion size plates to share, or mix and match, and making for very sociable dining. There are main course options for those who like their plates loaded, but we were happy to taste and try many different things. There’s even a three course set menu with a glass of wine for the staggering good value of R130 a head.
We started sharing a trio of snails, a generous portion based in garlic butter, a lemon sambuca cream and a spicy tomato sauce. All were good, but the traditional one hit the spot. Next we shared the line fish - beautifully cooked and served simply in a lemon butter on a sweet potato mash with a few plump prawns. Excellent.
The lamb loin with minted peas was exceptionally tasty and perfectly cooked. For “mains” we had a starter portion of surf and turf for mom, and pork belly for me. The surf and turf was a fillet medallion cooked a perfect medium rare with a crayfish tail, all served in a saffron sauce. Talk of spoiling mother! My pork belly was melt in the mouth, served with crisp crackling and a rich mustard cream sauce.
Desserts are fairly simple - churros, cheesecake and with winter here, a bread and butter pudding. We shared one of Durban’s better examples of creme brulee before enjoying excellent coffees.