Almondbury Restaurant
– Lakeside, 1987.
This extract from the Muizenberg News
–January 1987 (supplied by Dave and Cynthia Privett) is about a
little Restaurant that made way for the building on the corner of Main Road and
Boyes Drive, Lakeside.
Gill Lord reviewed the menu and gives
us an insight of what a special little business thrived in our area.
There is a little cottage on the corner
of Main Road and Boyes Drive called Almondbury. You can see a lady busy in her
kitchen of an evening and her cooking is in a quiet class of its own. Ming cooks
with the easy grace of a master and the mysterious grace of an artist. Going
there is being party to a subtle display of excellence.
It is a small place holding only a few tables comfortably. There are two
sittings for an evening and they are open for lunch as well. It is advisable to
book. It is unlicensed. Compared with the latter day concept of a restaurant,
Almondbury is unique. Ming cooks because she enjoys it; she has no
interest in becoming busier, bigger and more commercial.
The menu is tempting and changes every 3 weeks. While studying it you are
brought a loaf of crusty brown bread baked with honey and nuts for company. As
an hors-d' oeuvre I chose flowering courgettes in a mushroom and champagne
sauce. Soft and delicate it rolled over the palate in a delight of subtle taste.
Ming grows the flowering courgettes herself and anything else she cant get
fresh. My companion chose the chevere (goatsmilk cheese) and shallot
timbale and pronounced it good but preferred my choice.
Then came soup. The chilled cucumber and leek soup was crisp and hypnotic. The
broad bean and hazelnut soup was serve hot, was deep and luxurious. For our main
course we chose ostrich fillet with port and cranberry sauce and fillet flambe
with duck foie gras and two portions of truffle sauce. The duck was
magnificent – a tender and dark taste nestling against real truffles from
Botswana.
As regards the ostrich, game has a rich and exotic taste that no penned product
can hope to match. The oyster of the bird was used and the flesh was gentle and
soft.
Dessert took the form of either coffee and bon – bons or a choice from the
trolley. All are homemade with butter and cream and are delicious.
Almondbury's prices are upmarket; it is a "special occasion" place.
Ming tells me that many couples go there on the eve of their wedding. When to go
to Almondbury? Go there to propose or to celebrate the birth of a grandchild. Go
there for romance or quiet celebration, but go there. 
