Hotel food is making a comeback, says Eat Out critic Hennie Fisher. He visits the buffet at Yizani at the Southern Sun near the Waterfront in Cape Town.

The dining area at Yizani Restaurant. Photo supplied.

Food

Yizani’s primary offering is a buffet, but with various permutations. Guests can either eat the full buffet, which includes a starter, main course and dessert, or opt to select a starter (R50) from the buffet, order the main course from a small à la carte menu, and then return to the buffet for dessert (also R50).

Apart from a very hearty oxtail soup on offer, there is a comprehensive starter buffet of Mediterranean fare, with a selection of cold meats (coppa, parma, carpaccio); crostini with tomato, basil and pesto; sweet potato wedges; and lovely grilled zucchini with parmesan and roasted baby beetroot. The carefully prepared and quite delicious salads included broccoli salad; roasted butternut salad with mushrooms; and a colourful and tasty bulgur salad.

Hot buffet main courses included roast leg of lamb, chicken à la king, seafood stew, springbok casserole, beef curry, rice and roast vegetables. The main course choices from the à la carte menu represent superb value for money. For R160 you could opt for beef rump served with compound butter, charred eggplant, lemon thyme onion purée, hand-cut potato chips and a peppercorn sauce. The meat is expertly grilled and an all-round respectable plate of food.

Lounge seating. Photo supplied.

Other main course options include lamb rump, sirloin, chicken breast and fish of the day. On the occasion of my visit, those who order the lamb and the fish enjoy their choices immensely. The dessert buffet includes not only an extensive array of cheese and biscuits, but also a few individual desserts such as panna cotta, lemon squares, nut clusters, pineapple cake and traditional malva pudding.

Drinks

The wine list is perfectly adequate and offers a range of wines that should satisfy most tastes, plus some interesting options like 2008 Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented Chardonnay and 2014 De Grendel CWG Wooded Sauvignon Blanc Ceres Plateau. There’s a small glass-enclosed wine cellar to view more illustrious wines. Bubblies are neatly divided into Champagnes and MCCs/sparkling wines, and there is a whole page devoted to wines by the glass.

The dining room at Yizani. Photo supplied.

Service

All staff are competent, friendly and helpful, and remain calm and professional at all times. Small touches such as the extensive ‘degree of doneness’ explanation in the menu do not go unnoticed.

Ambience

The restaurant, lobby, reception area, concierge, bar and another much larger breakfast-room are all located on the ground floor of the hotel. Although there is no view of which to speak, it’s still interesting to look out onto Heerengracht Street and see the cars whizz by outside the windows. The restaurant does not offer anything out of the ordinary in terms of décor or art, but it is an adequate, functional space that provides people with a welcome respite from the hurly burly any tourist to Cape Town must experience.

And…

In the 70s and early 80s, eating at a hotel was something special and offered many possibilities: a set menu that included an entrée, soup and a fish course, two roasts, dessert, and finally a cheese board. It’s doubtful if there are too many of those left in South Africa, but hotel food is making a comeback – many of our top eateries these days are part of larger hotels. Yizani (the isiZulu word for ‘come in’) does not aim to compete with some of its more stellar counterparts, but still manages to offer great value for money.

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The entrance to Yizani. Photo supplied.