Radish At Ons Genot, Stellenbosch

I will always respond to reasonable requests I receive as a blogger and a few months ago I was asked by Simone, the restaurant manager at Radish At Ons Genot, to please come and review the restaurant. I was not offered any compensation for doing this, and the opinions in this post are based on the experience I had when I went for lunch in November. I did not tell Simone when I was coming in order for me to ensure that the treatment I received was exactly the same as what the normal customer would get. I turned into Ons Genot from Bottelary Road and followed the first and only sign to Radish. I parked where there were cars and approached what looked like a house. There was no signage to indicate I was heading down the correct path and the door was closed when I arrived.

Wine and Alcohol

Craft beer is on offer as well as wines per the glass. The wine list is small and concise and reasonably priced. As I was there for a lunch time meal, and alone, I had an appletizer to drink (R18).

Food

Breakfast is served until 12pm and light lunches from 12pm to 5pm. Weekday specials are on offer from 4pm to 9pm. The menu is vast with 24 main course options which are orientated to burgers and steaks. There is 1 vegetarian dish on the menu. I chose to have beer battered fish and chips (R60) off the light lunch menu. My meal took 30 minutes from when I ordered it to getting to the table. The batter was oily and the fish was watery and bland. I suspect that it was defrosted to order and not seasoned. Neither was it pin boned and I found several bones in the fish. The batter had no hint of beer in it and was very basic. I had to get up to get salt and pepper grinders off another table and added a lot of salt to my fish. The tartar sauce was commercial and nothing special. The fish was perfectly cooked and the shoestring fries really nice. The side salad had a lot of lettuce, some thinly sliced pieces of carrot, a few cucumber slices, 2 tomatoes and overripe peppers. It did not come with salad dressing and neither was I offered any. Desserts sound good when described on the menu and include an espresso brûlée with white choc-crumble and chocolate ice cream (R40) and a cheese platter for two (R75).

Service

There was one waitress on duty and no sign of management when I arrived. The waitress already had one table when I got there and I waited for her to be done serving them drinks before she came over to seat me. The waitress was attentive to start off with but as soon as I queried the length of time my meal was taking she all but disappeared. When she did come back to the table she chose to speak to me in Afrikaans which I found strange considering the first part of our conversation had all been in English. By the end of my meal I was one of 4 tables. Do not expect speedy kitchen service or the chef to comment on complaints.

Ambiance

I chose to sit outside as the inside is not as warm and inviting and was quite dark. The bird life nearly drowns out the sound of the traffic from the road which is something to consider if you are noise sensitive. Music is played inside. The decor is basic and very bistro like. The door to the outside is not latched and was banging the entire time I was there.

And …

While I was waiting for my plate to be cleared I went to get the dessert menu and noticed the manager / chef / owner sitting on the phone talking. At this time the door was open and the walkway to the restaurant from the parking area was splattered with wet dog do! Not the nicest thing to see!

Telephone Number: 021-865-2456

Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday, breakfast and lunch Sundays

Average main course: R96

Corkage: not listed

Food type: Bistro

What I blogged:

• • three years ago – Oyster Mushroom Cannelloni

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