Eat Out critic Hennie Fisher heads to Chefs 566 in Garsfontein, Pretoria, to taste the cuisine of Nelson Mandela’s former personal chef, Brett Ladds.

Fast facts

Serves: Comfort food with a Mediterranean influence
Cost: R160 for average main course
Best for: Elegant meals when you have time to linger
Star rating: Food 4, ambience 3, service 3

The beef Wellington at Chefs 566. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Food

The food is excellently prepared and delicious, but as familiar and comforting as Sunday lunch at your mom’s house. The daytime menu includes breakfast items such as a freshly baked chignon dome, a German-style rösti with cheese, mushrooms and Norwegian smoked salmon; Greek phyllo pies with side salad; fillet à la crème; the burger of the week; and a number of delicious desserts and cakes. They also have a take-away menu promising delights such as lamb korma, Coke chicken and a banting chicken meal.

The mushroom and marrow bones starter. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

The dinner menu is not large but it is well compiled and dishes are superbly prepared. The starter of brown mushrooms with a large marrow bone and toast is ideal to share, but they also have brie and cream baked in phyllo; pan-seared duck served with crushed sweet potato; French onion soup; and kingklip served in a phyllo bowl. Other notable mains include tender flanc de boeuf with shallots and potato purée; Greek lamb kleftiko with potato bake; beef wellington; pepper pot pie; and fish cakes with prawns, mussels and scallops.

Finish off your meal with a delicious deconstructed toffee apple terrine with a perfectly baked puff pastry disk, excellent quality dark chocolate, apple purée and toffee cream. This dish is sophisticated, not overly sweet, and a wonderful surprise. The other treats on offer include Death by Chocolate, peanut-butter fondant and espresso panna cotta.

The panna cotta. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Drinks

Chefs 566 do not have a liquor licence yet; it should be in place from the beginning of October. For the time-being everyone seems happy enough to bring along their own wine, and enjoy soft drinks and great coffees.

The interior would be wonderful on sunny afternoons. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Service

Since the restaurant is fairly new, the service staff still need to find their feet and settle into a comfortable, polished rhythm. However, Chefs 566 cannot be faulted on friendliness, food and ambience, and this is most definitely a place worthy of a return visit. The menu is simply listed on a blackboard, and the floor manager is on hand to give more information and take orders. Owner and head chef Brett Ladds is a friendly man who easily strikes up conversation from behind the service counter and makes you feel right at home, and there are enough staff members to attend to your needs.

Ambience

Chefs 566 is located in one of those small neighbourhood centres with floor-to-ceiling glass shopfronts that open up onto a broad, sunny veranda. The venue would be great in summer and on seasonable winter days. A glass-panelled kiosk houses the bakery and pastry kitchen, from which you can buy fresh breads and other goodies to take home.

Another option for mains. Photo by Hennie Fisher.

Although fairly minimalist, the interior is inviting and fresh, with apple-green chairs, soaring ceilings with exposed wooden roof trusses, a few chandeliers, mirrors and polished concrete floors to round off the look. The restaurant has an open service counter where most of the cooking is done and plates are assembled before being whisked off to the tables.

And…

There is a photo of chef Brett and Madiba (for whom he was a private chef) on the wall, and it’s clear that he knows how to run a great à la carte restaurant. My only recommendation is that they consider offering patrons some bread at the beginning of the meal – since they have a bakery on the premises – to accompany the delicious spreads of sundried tomato, chicken, and jalapeño-and-feta that were presented as an amuse bouche.

Have you tried Chefs 566 yet? Tell us about it in a review and you could win R1 000. Also, for every review posted on eatout.co.za, we will pledge a meal for a hungry child through Stop Hunger Now SA.

Eat Out critics dine anonymously and pay for their meals in full. Read our editorial policy here.