Fast facts

Average main course price: R150
Parking: street parking manned by trained security guards
Best for: tasting D’Angeli’s food the easy way; celebrating the city’s heritage in a new fashion; relishing the tasty life
Star ratings: Food 4, service 5, ambience 4

The Bar at The Cosmopolitan Hotel. Photo by Pawel Kot.

Chef Dario De Angeli has been at the forefront of the restaurant trade for nearly two decades. For a good many of those years, the Cube Tasting Kitchen in Parktown North has attracted the food-fascinated from far and near. Now, he’s taken charge of The Bar of the Cosmopolitan, another urban success story in Maboneneg. The first part of what will eventually become a two-restaurant venture within the Cosmopolitan, has seen main chef Calvin King installed in this large, open gastro-bar space, serving a menu with options for three courses.

The food

De Angeli seems to have had a lot of fun putting full courses together and the result is delightful. A large part of the menu will change seasonally, but at present there are five starter options, all tapas-sized (two people could easily share three dishes). There’s a not-vegetarian root vegetable and earth starter with a mound of tender snails on a soil of crumbled hazelnuts, plus potatoes and earthy roast beetroot.

The salmon and potato dish could be shared among three, given the way rolls of smoked salmon are arranged pertly on fresh green shoots with potato ‘air’. This comes served with an asparagus mousse that tastes of spring. The marrow and toast is an olfactory delight thanks to garlic and sweet cauliflower. It’s served with the rich marrow already out of the bone, ready for its deckle-edged toast on a glass plate. The simple monikers belie the complex composition and beauty of the dishes, positioned as low landscapes on flat plates or nestled into bowls.

The beautiful, lion-carved bar is a kind of centrepiece. Photo by Pawel Kot.

Out of six mains, a vegetarian main dish called curry textures is a must. The plate is a delight of colour and texture, featuring green curry, a divine dumpling, perfect dahl, a smooth panna cotta and a crunchily spiced chevro of mixed cereals and beans. The kataifi prawns are exquisite; the prawns wrapped in the crisp kataifi threads and served with fresh micro greens and a plate-bowl of dark, sweet, sour, salty and gingery sauce for satisfying dunking.

Of the five desserts it’s hard not to choose one simply called Chocolate – maybe along with the less puddingy Torta de Quesa. This is a spongey Spanish cheese served with toasted nuts and a deep oniony marmalade. The Chocolate is one that defies belief: three rounds (no, not quenelles) are arranged in a rich row of chocolate pistachio ice cream, dulce de leche and a salted milk chocolate mousse, bedded with gooey berries and coconut.

Drinks

The menu offers an inspired selection of fun, matching drinks, but it’s also fun to explore the original little downstairs cellar of wine treasures. You might come up with one of Dario De Angeli’s small-stock delights, like the unusual and delicious DMZ Maestro White or a Raka Select Barrel merlot. There are also more widely known options from Fairview and Newton Johnson on offer. There’s a great selection of after-dinner drinks too, including some good, unusual ports – from white port to Islay single malt. There are also gin-laced cocktails, excellent coffees, and all the other standard but good quality non-alcoholic options.

The glasses are fantastic, the cutlery excellent, the napery beautiful pale. Photo by Pawel Kot.

Service

It’s ideal; if only all restaurants could be run this way. The service is not down to one designated person – it may be the barman, one of the chefs or Calvin King himself who serves you. “It’s fun for us as well,” says Calvin. Everyone is so keen for you to have the best experience possible that it flows naturally. Every person is very well informed and the service feels real, not merely perfunctory. It’s integral to the enjoyment of the whole experience here.

A photo posted by M E Z K L A® (@mezkla) on Oct 2, 2016 at 3:03am PDT

Ambience

The wonderful old hotel building dates from the turn of the previous century and makes an appealing setting. Hazard Gallery supplies the great artworks on the wall. The relevant-to-the-period stock bonds are Dario’s idea. The beautiful, lion-carved bar is a kind of centrepiece and many people hang out on that side to relax, unrushed, with whiskeys and wines after meals.

A photo posted by Sebastian Czartoryski-Chatov (@hshpisscc) on Jul 24, 2016 at 2:34pm PDT

The glasses are fantastic, the cutlery excellent and the napery beautiful in pale grey and white. Different crockery has been specially chosen for the sake of each menu item. Not all the wooden tables are cloth-covered and it contributes to the warm, genial atmosphere.

The crowd is quite different during the week and over the weekend, though it’s always relaxed. During the week, those who work in the area and creative types hang out here. Over the weekend it becomes a destination place. A lovely barn-style room links the Bar with the inner garden gallery of the building. The space would lend itself to champagne quaffing.

The Bar at the Cosmopolitan gets booked out fast and gets hired out for many functions, so be sure to book.

A photo posted by Frances Bruwer (@francesbruwer) on Aug 28, 2016 at 12:44pm PDT

And…

In a further stretch of the building, a long room and another kitchen are being developed into a multi-mini-course restaurant by De Angeli. It looks set to be a few degrees advanced from how De Angeli’s Cube in Parktown North has been operating till now. It’ll be something else, named something else and De Angeli will be a busy chef.

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 Eat Out critics dine unannounced and pay their own way. Read our full editorial policy here.