“Are we having starters?” copy editor Linda whispers to me at our team’s Christmas lunch. “Of course!” exclaims content director Anelde, when I wonder the same thing, slightly louder. “This is Eat Out, not Look Out!”

We’re at Bizerca Bistro, winner of the Best Bistro Award at the 2011 Eat Out DStv Food Network Restaurant Awards and – needless to say – we’re all quite excited.

Owned by husband and wife team Cyrillia and Laurent Deslandes, the restaurant opened in the November 2007 in Jetty Street in Cape Town’s foreshore. Dwarfed by skyscrapers of some of the country’s biggest law and investment firms, it must’ve seemed like a fairly unusual location at the time.

“It took them time to stop eating sandwiches, but now they have hot meals for lunch,” says Cyrilla, gleefully, of her business clientele.

Soon after we’ve decided to order starters, French manager Raphael arrives to give us a compelling rendition of the day’s specials on the chalkboard menu.

Down our end of the table (since no individual’s plate is sacred with this lot around) we plump for hake à la minute – a sliver of the freshest hake, seared for one minute – and a simply spectacular trio of tomatoes for starters. A grownup take on a traditional Caprese salad, the latter comprises blanched cherry tomatoes, fresh mini tomatoes and slices of the crimson fruit, along with light balls of Mozzarella that shred beautifully and fresh greens, all drizzled with a tangy basil dressing.

For mains, the most popular choices are the succulently rich beef cheek, stewed with root vegetables and served with spätzle, and a superb roasted sirloin with an incredibly creamy mash and a fragrant and spicy roasted mushroom. It’s easy to see now why the lawyers and actuaries of the foreshore have abandoned their sarmies. The food is just oozing flavour, without being fussy or pretentious. The ingredients are allowed to shine.

“We have the Magic Man for vegetables,” Cyrillia tells me, “and Iceland for fish – they’re incredible.” The light, chewy mozzarella in the Caprese comes via fellow restaurateur Giorgio Nava of the Mozzarella Bar. As for the homemade jam, which has become famous, the ingredients for that involve a little more legwork. “I go up to my father’s farm outside Pretoria with an empty suitcase for the kid’s school holidays, and come back with 18 kilograms of frozen apricots,” Cyrillia tells me, laughing.

Nobody needs to ask whether the Eat Out team is having dessert, and somehow (probably thanks to greed) we wind up with more than one apiece. There’s a boozy Granny Smith apple sorbet with Calvados, an apple tart fine with crème fraîche ice cream and honey syrup, and a beautiful berry panna cotta trifle layered in a Martini glass. The star of the show, however, is the soft-centre Valrhona chocolate pudding, whose oozing chocolatey aromas make it the victim of several raids from across the table. Unbelievably, it’s also served with crème brûlée, and a scoop of sweet, tart raspberry sorbet. “Technically, it’s three desserts,” I muse. “Shhhh! Don’t tell them!” says Linda, looking stricken.

So what’s on the cards for 2012 at the country’s best bistro? The space, which can be a little cold and sparse, is set for a revamp at the end of April, with plans to expand and take out the cellar and increase seating from 50 to 80. The toilets (“those awful toilets,” says Cyrillia with a shudder), which the restaurant shares with the hotel, are due for renovations at the end of this month.
 
Though I’m sure these changes will make the experience even better, we’re happy to hear there won’t be any drastic changes to the food. There will, of course, be the daily blackboard menu. “Laurent always comes up with something fabulous,” says Cyrillia, but she admits, “We have a fantastic formula; people love what we do”.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Looking for a great bistro in your city? Check out our guide to the best bistros around the country.

By Katharine Jacobs