A little birthday gathering in the Midlands

Garlingtons Bistro

Where: Garlington Estate, Hilton

Open: Wednesday to Saturday 8am to 10pm, Sunday 8am to 4pm

Call: 033 329 5200

Ninety-one is still a major milestone and so a whole group of us trekked up to Hilton to celebrate mom’s special day. The Poet and Vivek came up. The Historian joined me. And then there was the rest of the family. The day before, her actual birthday, had been a flurry of activity with a special tea and elaborate snacks at the home’s regular Friday quiz night. And the 91-year-old was still very game for round two on Saturday.

We chose Garlingtons because it’s such a lovely setting and booked a large table on the verandah which was cooled by the breezes from the valley. It overlooks fields of green and you really do feel like you are out in the country. 

It’s a smart restaurant catering for everyday estate needs with an array of pizzas and burgers. But it also features an interesting bistro section of the menu - a collection of smarter dishes for special occasions like today.

We had phoned ahead to check they had non-alcholic bubbly - two of the party being on medication that should not mix and I was driving - and they said they did. Sadly when we came to order it, it had finished. There was an apology for a series of functions at the restaurant that week.

The Sister and the Nieces made do with some vino, the Brother-in-law was always going to guzzle beer anyway and the rest of us made do with an eclectic array of exotic cooldrinks. 

Pizzas are a thing here, both regularly recognisable versions and gourmet offerings. Some of our intrepid party of nine wanted to share a simple cheese pizza blanco (in other words no tomato sauce) while others passed starters around the table.

Mom enjoyed her tempura prawns, although I could see it was more conventional than a true light crisp tempura batter. But she enjoyed them and the sweet chilli dipping sauce and wasn’t going to be sharing - it’s her birthday afterall. 

The Nieces ordered what are best described as halloumi pops, bite size pieces of halloumi deep fried in a crisp batter on a base of thick ranch dressing. They were good - and I’m not a big fan of halloumi. They were supposed to be paired with artichokes although I didn’t really get any of the artichoke. 

The Brother-in-law went for the jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon. These were exceptional, and exceptionally hot too. In fact I'm not sure I’d come across jalapenos that quite blow your head like this before. But he’s a chilli king and that’s why he enjoyed them so much.

My duck livers were served on a massive piece of bread and piled high with a very good caramelized onion and tomato sauce, which while good overpowered them somewhat. It looked very much like a plate that they felt needed to be bulked up. In reality I would rather have had the duck livers with their pan juices and a couple of slices of toast on the side.

Three of our gang went for the pizzas. Mom loved her creation of white Spanish anchovies with olives and capers. It is a lovely pairing, and the bigger Spanish anchovies are less salty than the normal Italian variety. Vivek enjoyed his pizza topped with an array of seafood, and the younger Neice raved about her brie and cranberry pizza but to me it looked like something aimed at a five year old. All those concentric rings of cranberry sauce were way to sweet. It almost tasted like you were eating cheese and biscuits.

The Historian and I both had the trout which was enjoyable. It sat on a bed of zucchini ribbons covered in a light beurre blanc with crispy capers. The crispy capers were inspired, but I would have liked some lemon and caper flavours to give that sauce a bit more of a hit. It also came with an absurd number of smashed new potatoes on the plate. Even half of these would have been too much.

The Sister and the older Neice had a very posh fish and chips on a bed of pea puree rather than the traditional mushy peas. Both enjoyed. While the Brother-in-law munched his way through a massive home-made burger which he gave the thumbs up.

The Poet’s pork belly tasted good, it was soft and succulent, but just looked so odd. It was simply two giant slabs on the side of the plate. One pork belly and the other pommes Anna and a giant puddle of jus floating around this wide open plate. 

For desserts the older Neice and I scored the pick with one of the better Dom Pedros I had had in a while. Our waitress told us she made them herself. There was a creme brulee that came topped with honeycomb and nestled under a glass dome to the younger Niece’s amazement. It was a good one. Mother opted for the carrot cake which was moist and pleasantly spiced but way too heavy for this stage of the meal. Somehow she found a home for it. While the Historian tried the cookie dough ice-cream sandwich which was just odd. It was thick layers of cookie dough around ice-cream in a great big pond of chocolate sauce.

Food: 3

Service: 3 ½

Ambience: 4

The Bill: Lost in the sister’s labyrinthine accounting system (her handbag), but from memory it came to R410 ahead, the two of us spoiling mom of course.