Janelle P.
Google
My sister and I visited the famous Market Cafe for lunch. The restaurant is beautiful with stripped wooden flooring, matte charcoal black walls and tasteful yellow seating. The aesthetics of the restaurant aside, the food was appalling and I was shocked that such a celebrated restaurant could serve up such terrible offerings. I've looked at pictures posted by other reviewers and some of what we ordered did not even look the same, such as the baked camembert with thyme and honey starter. The "baked" camembert was runny and looked like the cheese had separated, with a spoonful of raspberry compote in the centre. It was not appetizing. The arrabiata pasta with prawn and chorizo tasted bitter, as if the tomato sauce was not cooked long enough to get rid of the harsh, acidic tomato flavour. For R130, don't expect more than 4 tiny prawns and a few slices of chorizo. The sage roasted butternut and bacon pasta was atleast palatable, except that the butternut tasted steamed, not roasted with none of the caramelization or sweetness expected from roasted butternut. The bacon was not rendered at all and had an unappetizing layer of cold fat that killed the flavour of the cream sauce. We declined dessert.
Response to the owner
After having the chef come and explain the flavour of the baked Camembert and raspberry, an appetizer that I have eaten and enjoyed many times, I was put off. I do not need the flavours of food explained to me. There was obviously something wrong with the dish and it was an insult to my intelligence for the chef to assume that I needed an explanation. There is a problem with consistency in your restaurant. I have attached pictures from another reviewer who ordered the same starter. Please compare for yourself and answer if those would have tasted the same. Our R89 starter was discounted to R44.
After such an off putting experience with your chef and the starter, we just wanted to pay the bill and leave, regardless of the subpar standard of the rest of our meal.
