-
Beyond disappointing
Submitted by Grant Richardson
-
Low key bistro fare and evening shows
Submitted by Morgan Trimble
-
Low key bistro fare and evening shows
Submitted by Morgan Trimble
-
Low key bistro fare and evening shows
Submitted by Morgan Trimble
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
-
Feel The Soul And Complexity Of Cape Town's History At This Dinner Theater
Submitted by Dana Sanchez
229 Main Road, Sea Point, Cape Town Central 8001, South Africa
Good for:
Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner, Entertaining Clients, Large Groups, Late Night, Reservations, Special Occasions
Rating Summary
Food3.0 rating based on 3 ratings Value3.7 rating based on 3 ratings Service4.3 rating based on 3 ratings Atmosphere3.3 rating based on 3 ratings
Expert Review
Richard’s Supper Stage and Bistro is located off main road in Cape Town’s Sea Point neighborhood. As the name implies,...
Richard’s Supper Stage and Bistro is located off main road in Cape Town’s Sea Point neighborhood. As the name implies, the two-story restaurant offers two different experiences. Upstairs is the supper stage. It’s a big room where diners can enjoy a three course buffet meal while watching a dinner theater performance. The menu offers traditional South African favorites like Cape Malay curry and oven-baked butternut. At the moment, the show is “Kaapse Stories from the Mother City”, which my waiter explained tells some of the history of Cape Town through a humorous musical revue with songs and storytelling.
Downstairs is the bistro, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I stopped by on a Sunday morning to give their breakfast a try. The menu is fairly traditional and offers all the usual breakfast favorites. I opted to try a cappuccino and the salmon benedict, two poached eggs served on top of smoked salmon, rocket, and a sliced and toasted baguette, all drenched in a béarnaise sauce. The cappuccino and food was pretty good. The breakfast was a huge portion and way too rich to finish it all. The cappuccino was also huge! Seating in the bistro is split between the inside dining room and the outside patio. The patio is nice and a good place to spend a relaxing morning people watching or reading the newspaper. The view isn’t great, but there is a tiny sliver of sea visible beyond the pharmacy across the street. The inside seating area looked a lot more drab and less inviting for a nice summer day, and it was completely empty.
The service was very friendly and helpful, but not exactly speedy. All in all, Richard’s Bistro is perfectly acceptable, but at the same time, nothing too spectacular. The supper stage might be nice for people looking for something a little different than the average dinner out on the town.
Expert Review
Having seen the menu beforehand, I was looking forward to enjoying the Mozambican-style Portuguese chicken at Richard's. I asked my...
Having seen the menu beforehand, I was looking forward to enjoying the Mozambican-style Portuguese chicken at Richard’s. I asked my waitress how long the meal would take to prepare. “About 30 minutes” I was told. I did not really feel like waiting half an hour for a meal, especially given it was only 6.30 pm and the place was still empty. My waitress suggested the Chicken Marsala, which I agreed to.
I was seated on the outside patio, my usual choice at a restaurant given the option. Fellow diners included another man in a corner, and a couple in their 60s just in front of me. I soon realized the couple were not talking to each other. Seemingly not as a result of some spat they may have had, but quite mutually content not to have to engage in conversation with each other. It was strangely fascinating. In hour I was there, perhaps five brief sentences were exchanged.
My meal arrived with something resembling a totally colorless piece of dough on top of some vegetables served with a side bowl of yellow rice. Curious as to what this may be, I took my first taste. Nothing, nothing at all! I added salt. Still nothing! Well, turns out this was the chicken on top.
Without doubt, it was one of the driest, toughest and most tasteless pieces of chicken I have probably ever had to endure. It was dreadful. Ever the optimist, I pushed the chicken aside and had a go at the vegetables. Equally tasteless, everything tasted the same, of nothing in particular.
The three halves of cherry tomatoes were the only items on the plate that had any taste at all, and even then I was not even sure of the flavor I was experiencing.
I abandoned my meal halfway through, simply no longer prepared to grind on. The meal described in one word: institutional.
This was a bizarre meal, almost impossible to describe. It was quite devoid of any flavor or fragrance, as though some strange neutralizing spice or condiment had been used to extract the various possible flavors.
Days later I remained perplexed.
I had read and heard mostly good things about Richards, so what could have gone so horribly wrong in the kitchen that evening to cause all the components on the plate to look different yet taste the same ?
Expert Review
A dinner theater experience, Richard's Supper Stage and Bistro puts on a show that captures the soul and complexity of Cape Town's history through storytelling, humor,...
A dinner theater experience, Richard’s Supper Stage and Bistro puts on a show that captures the soul and complexity of Cape Town’s history through storytelling, humor, music and food.
Located in Sea Point, the 200-seat supper stage uses local performers and food authentic to Cape Town and South Africa — such as smoor, Cape Malay briyani and prawn curry.
“Kaapse Stories from the Mother City” is produced by Richard Loring, an internationally acclaimed stage, TV and film personality known, among other things, for producing “African Footprint,” South Africa’s longest-running musical. Loring has more than 20 years experience as a producer. He founded Richard’s Supper Stage and Bistro with business partner, Roland Seidel, a tourism entrepreneur who owned and managed Seidelberg Wine Estate in Paarl. Kaapse Stories was written and directed by Basil Appollis.
Named after Loring, the venue celebrates, to a degree, his 50-year involvement in showbiz. On the ground floor of the building, there’s a 45-seat bistro for daytime diners that opens at 7:30 a.m. To get to Richard’s cabaret, you must climb a flight of stairs that force you into a somber mood. Each step bears the name of a street in District Six, an entire Cape Town community that was destroyed and its residents forcibly removed by the apartheid government in the 1970s.
Kaapse stories follows the Kleintjies family, who lived at the foot of Hoerikwaggo, aka Table Mountain, in District Six.
We arrived early for our evening show, and were offered Cape sparkling wine by a waitress who stayed with us for the rest of the evening. All the tables filled up fast. Advice: book in advance for this show. Tickets start at 420 rand ($36.25 USD) — a bargain considering they include a four-course meal.
For starters, we were served samoosas, snoek pâté and grilled vegetables, while pianists warmed up the crowd pre-show by playing Simon and Grafunkel’s “The Sound Of Silence” in an upbeat tempo. Then the lights started flashing and the pianists launched into Abba.
The buffet dinner included South African favorites such as Cape Malay curry, potato bake, briyani, and Cape hake. Smoor — tomato and onion relish with basmati rice — is typical Cape food that was offered. There were wonderful vegetable dishes including green beans, sweet potato and roasted butternut squash.
In this intimate setting, the audience got to know the Kleintjies family.
Grandpa Joe, or Pa Joe, acted as narrator, introducing other characters such as his adopted brother Bernie, uncle Charlie, precocious granddaughter Genevieve, and other characters such as the Richard’s security guard who displayed hidden talents that knocked our socks off.
Some of the songs they performed are classics by artists such as Shakira (the “World Cup” song); Miriam Makeba, and Freddy Mercury.
Richard’s Supper Stage and Bistro provides jobs for 60 to 70 people including local talent, and food and beverage industry workers.
When the show ended, maitre d’ Germandt Geldenhuys came to our table and asked how we liked the show.
Desert was three delicious South African favorites — melktert, koeksisters and Malva pudding. Along with the wine and the song, they lifted our spirits and our blood sugar level.