Moveable Feast
Humphrey Tyler
IT makes you weep to see so many people turned away — solicitously, even tenderly, but firmly — from Cabrito’s Bistro in Botha’s Hill, Natal, especially at lunchtime on Sundays, because the little kitchen in the back cannot cope yet with too many guests.
Some of the would-be diners settle down in the mottled sunshine outside under palms and other subtropical growth, beside a pond with a tinkling stream and a huge Polynesian idol, and sip Pancho’s sangria (served chilled with chunks of in-season fruit), hoping that there may be, a little later, a gap in the line-up in front of the stove which could fit them in.
Botha’s Hill is a village on the increasingly popular inland tripper’s route out of Durban, past Pinetown on the Old Main Road (to Johannesburg), past Kloof and Gillitts, up to Hillcrest, down a valley and up the next hill to Cabrito’s on your left, about 30km from Durban and well out of any smog and heavy humidity. In winter it can get really cold and visitors are grateful for an open fire.
The little bistro is the charming heart of an extraordinary conglomeration of often very curious small shops in a centre called the Fainting Goat. There are two “fainting goats” made of fibreglass on the roof. One of the shops has a vast collection of vividly painted birds that look as if they belong in a Brazilian rainforest. The man who designs them built Cabrito’s, too — quite a bit of it with his own hands.
He is Lindsay Moller, born in Shanghai, a long-time resident in California, where he studied architecture, got involved in theatre and TV, then came to South Africa via New York. Sitting in the sun drinking white wine, wearing a red shirt and regarding you casually from behind dark glasses, he seems to typify the South African idea of a laid-back Californian. But he says he likes South Africa more.
He describes his food as Californian-style, emphasises freshness and lack of oiliness. Piping-hot cornbread rolls come in little painted baskets, wrapped in quality serviettes. The salads are crisp and a treat to look at.
One of the specialities is Mexican baby chicken. It’s char-grilled, covered with salsa sauce — a wonderful spicy blend of tomatoes, chillies and so on (“We make all our own sauces,” says Moller) — and served on spicy rice.
In fact, all the dishes have delightful aromas and a delicious tang.
Salads on the side can be avocado and apple, chicken and mushroom, spinach and warm bacon, or Cabrito’s salad platter: a mix of summer fruits, pecan nuts, avocado and chunky cheese.
If you want more solid fare, order a rack of lamb or the Louisiana blackened fillet steak. There are delightfully flavoured, quickly tossed green and red peppers on the side.
Moller harps on “freshness”. It’s his theme. Omelettes are made from jumbo eggs picked up the same morning and laid by free-range hens; his managers drive to the Durban fish market daily to buy freshly caught fish.
And the ambience of the place is increasingly delightful the bigger the lush young plants grow. From the rafters or peering out of painted baskets hung from the roof, painted birds regard you quizzically.
* Cabrito’s is at the corner of Old Main and Botha roads in Botha’s Hill. Tel: (0325) 75-3619
940715B.TXT
THE WEEKLY e-MAIL INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE Issue dated July 15 1994
NEWS AND OPINION SECTION
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