Tiger’s Milk
Where:
Suncoast Casino, Suncoast Boulevard, North Beach
Open:
Sunday to Thursday 8am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 8am to 2am
Call:
031 940 4276
“Dude Food” is how the menu describes it. Such are the offerings of the latest opening at Suncoast with the appearance of Cape Town-based pub chain Tiger’s Milk.
“Epitomising handcrafted goodness with a menu that takes pizza, grills and burgers to the next level, pair these with our locally made Tiger’s Milk Lager and you’re sure to leave satisfied,” so the advertising blurb goes.
It’s certainly a fun concept and the bar is stylish. The food is also suitably messy and designed to soak up a boozy evening out. Take the Mexican burger, for example - the chilli and coriander patty is topped with Mexican mince, guacamole, and spiked with cheese and bacon stuffed jalepenos. I suppose you could order a side of sour cream just to finish it off.
The restaurant is on two levels, upstairs is more the party area with bar and downstairs more the restaurant. As there was a quiz night on - and it seemed to go on and on - upstairs was packed, so we sat downstairs. Apparently, there’s live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
On a recent trip to Cape Town, I met a friend in one of the mother ships in Claremont, and while we were enjoying gins and tonics, I thought their grilled calamari in green sauce was a very good starter (R72) while we enjoyed the mac and cheese bombs with bacon bits and chipotle aioli dip (R48). These had a real cheese taste and the macaroni hadn’t gelled into glue.
The nachos (R85) “fully loaded with enchilada sauce, cheese, guacamole, jalapeños, sour cream” was no exaggeration - a perfect messy meal for when you have had one too many beers.
The Durban branch felt slightly more restaurant than a pub that sells food, but maybe that was because we were away from the action. I enjoyed their Tiger’s Milk lager, similar to Millers in my view, and a friend got his margarita as he wanted it.
Starters may include a variety of tacos, or southern fried chicken wings, or beer battered jalepenos stuffed with cream cheese, bacon and enchilada sauce. As you gathered, everything leans towards Tex Mex.
I tried the chicken livers in a chipotle sauce with toasted ciabatta (R78) which was an enormous portion. The livers were accurately cooked, although the sauce could have done with some work.
My vegetarian friend had the Amazeballs - three cheeses and chives in crispy pastry with a chipotle aioli dip (R62), which
while not perhaps amazing, were certainly pleasant.
There are a few salads and some pizza options, two being vegetarian, although you could also build your own. The basic Margherita pizza (R98) with cheese, tomato and basil was a good thin base offering. I liked the fact that it wasn’t smothered in cheese although it could have had more basil and salt in the dough, and could perhaps have been longer in the pizza oven.
Burgers are obviously the focus and include a number of options for the patty - there’s chicken and southern fried chicken, beef and then Mexican beef or cheese-stuffed beef, in addition to a vegan lentil patty and a mac ‘* ’ cheese bacon patty. There’s even a tree hugger with a giant mushroom as the base with aubergine and feta.
Sauces can include baconnaise, or truffle infused mushroom.
I opted for the ribs. These were 300g or 600g cooked for three hours in their own sticky BBQ basting sauce. (R145/R230). They fell off the bone. Fortunately, the basting sauce wasn’t too sweet. I enjoyed them.
All mains come with a choice of sides, which are interesting. Apart from the usual butternut and feta and sweet potato chips, there’s also chargrilled corn on the cob and mac and cheese. I opted for the onion rings which were certainly crisp, but the fat cut onions could have spent more time in the fryer and the batter would have benefited from a pinch or two of salt.
We finished off with an excellent coffee. They have their own brand roasted for them. And it’s the same with the hot chocolate with a tot of rum. Desserts might take in a milkshake with nutty caramel or outrageous oreo. There’s even a Jack Daniel’s sundae.
Food:
3
Service:
3½
Ambience:
3½