Saint Restaurant

Monday, September 17th, 2018

Reviewed by Theron Moonsamy

Expecting Excellence. On one of Joburg's warmer nights, a party of 4 and myself were in attendance for supper at Saint on the 16/09/2018. After entering the Marc we were greeted with an unassuming Saints restaurant bathed in the dying light of a perfect spring day. The night was a little less perfect from there on out. Decor and Interior Design: A giant deconstructed resin based angelic figure? Bold and welcomed. The garish obtrusive projectors casting vistas on the angelic face is something evocative of early Versace runway backdrops or something out of a Beyonce and Jay-Z music video (looking at you APESH*T) but executed less "tastefully". If I need to physically shift my position by walking and pivoting around corners to enjoy what is less than 5 meters away from me you have a bad interior design. Garishness aside there was little of much else going on save for the ostrich feather lampshades that look stunning with a waft of breeze coming in the restaurant. The fake plastic vines squeezed at the top of the slanted pillars can be found in any backwater pseudo olive garden-esque Mediterranean restaurant. The slate tiling seated above the kitchen and darted along the leading wall was gorgeous and had that right tinge of salmon pink that did carry through with a palette that's all too familiar from the Press Club to Mink and Trout of green with rose gold and brushed metal. Speaking of brushed metal the border of the kitchen vista is covered in brushed brass which catches and reflects just the right amount of light from the very dimly lit restaurant which is not a bad thing. Each table had a nifty and very energy conscious LED light with an adjustable luminous setting, making for tailormade table ambience. They were so good we used them to adjust the quality of pictures taken of the food, which is welcomed by any foodie or blogger. The sunken ceiling with modern takes on renaissance piece paintings that were again blocked by garish projectors was ok. To have the kitchen in full view of the patrons is altogether way overdone especially if you're doing grills-we get it flames = wow. What's less "wow" is how that heat generated then accumulates in the dining area, which when in full-service swing gets so unbearable that escapes to the bar area for a breather is needed. Since this service took place in early spring I shudder to imagine what peak dinner service in summer would feel like. All in all the decor had a lot to be desired. Minimalist works though; especially if you want to put the focus on food. Just take a page out of La Tete in Cape Town. Service: Being familiar with David Higgs resounding restaurant career, I can safely say I know what he expects from the service he offers his patrons. I mean the guy has won service awards from Eat Out, back to back, in 2010 and 2011. Sundays service that we received was a definite far cry from home. The bar service where we first enjoyed some cocktails whilst awaiting my other guests was good as far as any bar keeps go average waiting time for 3 cocktails (5 minutes in total- this is important to keep tabs). When we went to our table for dinner service we were met with a waiter who didn't share his name or what was popular or recommended and when he was prompted for that info he sped through it so fast that in an already empty establishment we barely caught anything he said. The bread basket was brought to the table with a similar swift description of what was in front of us accompanied by any cutlery to enjoy the bread basket! I can excuse that if we were expected to go rustic and all dip in one olive oil + roasted tomato but for a table of 5 we would have to go around the table with everyone dipping in one pot... I'm sure it would have been delicious though but no one wanted to be the dispenser of crumbs into a shallow oil dish. At least we got to place 3 cocktail orders which arrived 10 minutes later (keep taking tabs). When starters arrived (more on this later) we were met with a distinct lack of cutlery for one party member. After waiting for about 5 minutes we grabbed the cutlery from the adjacent table (we were justified in doing so if the fritto misto went soggy had we waited longer). Then we got to place another cocktail order which altogether never materialized because the ingredients were out of stock or so we were told, I guess Tanqueray Number 10 is quite rare (for a cocktail that needs to be mixed and after just opening this is unacceptable). Luckily I changed my order only to receive my next order in the middle of mains a cool (30 minutes later- this time it was just one cocktail). The waiter never understood 80% of the drinks order resorting in pointing out almost every drink order from the lists provided. I hope there were chefs favourites when it came to mains we just never got to hear them. Food: Ahh the most important thing to me and most others too. Starters presented an okay range of antipasti and insalata with some unique flare using words like "charcoal" instead of grilled. The oysters are great if not daringly tiny and overpowered with citrus flavours aka one was great the second less so and the third had me reaching for anything to get that taste out my mouth. The fritto mistos was SUPERB, each individual seafood prepared to perfection. The arancini were missable entirely. The mains were good in portion size, excellent in texture but in the case of my Ossobuco, it was bland. The main aim of any ossobuco is to have the shank meat barely held together giving way to the slightest pressure of a blunt object like a spoon. In this case the sinew binding the meat was still intact. The risotto was the bland aspect having hit the mark only on texture. The gremolata should be refreshing and a reprieve from such a heavy dish instead it blended in and was hardly present on the dish in taste and texture. The pizza was made with probably the best base I had in a long while with the toppings offering the usual fare and some out of the blue. The pasta looked good and I'm sure was cooked to perfection. The grilled chicken that rested on top of the pasta, after being replaced with the beef fillet, was magnificent-crispy skin and soft tender breast. The sea bass was a highlight too again hitting the mark on texture and for a change the taste too. The sweeter side of things was slightly more impressive than the average mains. A signature sign of gelato is that rich sugary induced smoothness which none of the blood orange, chocolate or basic vanilla gelato's offered. The tiramisu was as expected but was definitely outshone by the mascarpone ice cream- the gelato should learn from its sister's texture. The chocolate mousse was chocolate mousse. The wine list was extensive and excellent, with the cocktails winning the day on the drinks front. Its almost summer people, a flashy colourful drink wins every time! Negroni 47, old-fashioned, cape to cognac, Pepe and Bianca need to be portrayed on a pedestal and the elusive "gelato" cocktail that read like a treat, I will find you and I will consume you as you have my every thought thus far. To summarize: Hype: Not worth it Aesthetic: Garish and bland Service: Far cry from award-winning Food: Average in flavour but full on most texture Pricing: Well above the quality of the food presented. Drinks were standard fare. Overall rating out of ten: A very tenuous 6 I'd go back only to be proven wrong.