Interiors at The Dining Room. Photo courtesy of the restaurant

Karen Dudley of Woodstock darling The Kitchen is the diva behind The Dining Room, its more formal night-time incarnation.

Food

The Dining Room is only open for its signature three-course dinners (R290 per person) on Tuesday and Thursday nights, although the other nights and breakfasts are available by reservation only for private parties. The menu changes frequently, according to the kitchen’s whims and what’s fresh.

Myriad starters appear for the table, running the gamut of Middle Eastern, Turkish, Greek, French and occasionally Asian cuisine. There might be tom yum soup or aubergine with walnuts and date labneh, or layers of phyllo pastry sandwiched with cheese and rabbit – or was the rabbit in something else? It’s almost too much to keep track of.

For mains, I try the quail, which comes with a slightly too bitter marmalade-like sauce. For vegetarians, there’s a cheesy, hearty stack of roast aubergines, but the lamb, in all its melting, glossy, unctuous glory, steals the show. The selection of inventive sides is also a triumph – Karen certainly knows how to make vegetables delicious.

A comforting dish at The Dining Room. Photo courtesy of the restaurant

For pudding, we’re again inundated with a selection of plates, including a hot-cross bun bread-and-butter pudding and a not-so-popular guava sorbet. The undisputed winner is a moist, flourless orange almond cake.

This is ambitious food in its breadth and technical execution. It is, for the most part, delicious, and even when it doesn’t quite work, the dishes are so generous and the atmosphere so warm that you can’t help but love this place.

Drinks

There’s no licence, so bring your own drinks at no charge.

Ambience

A well-to-do grandmother’s dining room is recreated in the heart of gritty Woodstock. Dark grey walls form a hip canvas for a whimsical selection of clutter: gilt-edged paintings, heirloom dining tables and a glorious selection of vintage crockery. Wallpaper inspired by an old ornithological painting adds interest to the end of the long room. It does get a little loud and echoey on busy nights.

A table setting at The Dining Room. Photo courtesy of the restaurant

Service

Karen herself might be the best part about the restaurant: a genuinely warm presence, she does a little jig on the spot when she recognises one of our party from daytime exploits at The Kitchen. Her team follows her lead.

And…

Night time on Victoria Road might be a threatening prospect to some, but a car guard employed by the restaurant will escort you from your car to the restaurant, and The Dining Room is a beacon of light and warmth on an otherwise quiet stretch of the road.

Have you visited The Dining Room in Woodstock yet? Tell us what you thought in a quick review.

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