Strap yourself in, because today I bring to you a tale of two plates, a story of two kitchens, a conversation about two dining rooms.
It is the story of where the joy of flavour meets the taste of disappointment, where one environment provides a feast for the senses, while the other is a flop for the palate, where one left me satisfied, the other left me chewing on regret.
THE FEAST
A lot has been said and written about the relatively new kid on the block, Bossa, in Windhoek.
Now I rarely go to a restaurant within the first three months of opening. I want to visit and rate you after the teething problems are done.
Bossa sees itself as the premier dining spot at Mareua Mall and has had most patrons calling it the next best thing.
Others, however, feel perhaps it is offering the same dining experience that others are. But here is where it differs: You are greeted by staff who feel like they want to be at work, you sit in an environment that is #instaworthy and not cramped, and the bar is stocked to the teeth – and the food …
Oh the food! It’s a full house with nothing lacking!
I usually use a simple metric: Order the ‘easiest’ meal and see if it is done well. The ‘Bad-A** Bacon Bomb Burger’ was a hit!
Two 100g patties, merged with succulent streaky bacon and melted cheddar, all embraced by a lightly toasted and crunchy bun.
That’s it. I saw stars and heard angels sing!
The food is better, the vibe top tier, and the staff dedicated. Malan and his team are on to something, and, as he says, their idea of food is “to bring Namibia what they love eating and just ensuring it is prepared differently but brilliantly” – a simple and effective philosophy.
And boy have they delivered!
THE FIASCO
For my second escapade. I went to one of Namibia’s ‘popular’ steakhouses. The visit left a bitter aftertaste that was not worth the receipt. The place? Butcher’s Block.
I was craving a good, honest, unpretentious steak, and boy did I walk into the wrong place. Glad I had my buddy pick the bill for this one on some “I will owe you one!”.
The fact that the Tripadvisor rating has since gone down from an impressive 4.4 at one point to a current 3.9, while pushing the narrative of being Windhoek’s and by extension Namibia’s premier steakhouse and grill, is rather sad.
From being ignored by wait staff, to being treated as an inconvenience and annoyance by senior members, who do not seem to have a grasp of the basics of running a steak house …
I mean, it’s simple, know your meats! As one patron, ‘Bassem Henry F’, said a month ago: “It used to be an excellent steak restaurant, but their standards started deteriorating after a few months. A few days ago I went with my wife for lunch, and both our orders of ribeye steak came rotten and smelly!”
I ordered a ribeye steak as well, lol. On the menu they tell you it comes as 350g, but mine looked smaller than two shrunken grapefruits.
The other thing I took issue with was that my ribeye came off the bone, and when I asked why this was so, I was told I should have ordered the tomahawk steak, which was of no interest to me as I was not prepared to have a huge frenched bone waved in my face.
I tried to explain to the supervisor that if you have a separate ribeye option, you need to provide a bone-in/boneless option, away from the tomahawk. I wasn’t trying to make a meal out of it, but the response left me feeling like perhaps I should’ve.
The extent of commercialism and money chasing has removed the thrill and excitement of wanting to go sink my teeth into a filling steak that left me addressing my life choices from how good and filling it was.
This was not the case. This was a flop for the palate.
In conclusion, others are flying while some need to re-evaluate their food choices!
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