Ask anyone which the best seafood restaurant is and invariably the answer is Baia Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Capetonians and tourists alike rave about it. I decided to go see what all the fuss is about:
My husband and I had looked forward to a special dinner treat for a few weeks and were ready for an exciting night out with great flavours and views. Baia is situated at the V&A Waterfront and most of the tables look out over the harbour and have magnificent views of Table Mountain. You just can’t pay for this kind of view and we enjoyed it over a glass of sparkling wine!
Our waiter was efficient and knew his menu. He was pleasant and was always around at the right time. Top marks for the waiter. It wasn’t his fault that my top three wine choices were out of stock and that a new wine list hadn’t been printed. Considering that the wine list is printed on paper and put into plastic folders in a menu book, it would be pretty easy to update it.
We had decided to go the whole hog, and have starters and mains, so I ordered the garlic seared prawns and my husband had the rock lobster special
The prawns themselves were succulent and tasty. The chinese salad they were served on was pretty tasteless and I wondered if something less overpowering wouldn’t have complimented the prawns better.
The lobster was cut into small slices in a delicious sauce. The starter was small, but considering the price of R85, it was good value and the best food we had at Baia.
Our main course arrived swifly and this is where we started to get disappointed! I had ordered the grilled calamari and my husband the line fish of the day which was kabeljou. Oddly enough, both meals came with exactly the same condiments; tomato rice and steamed vegetables.
There was nothing in particular wrong with the meals, but they had a feel of a production line. I expect a bit more when I am paying R95 - in my opinion it wasn’t much better presented than I can get in a fast food fish shop for less than half the price.
I got the feeling that Baia is riding on its good name but isn’t really living up to its potential. Interestingly, I met up with American clients yesterday and they mentioned how they had not enjoyed Baia, for the same reasons as us.
Desserts were pretty standard. I had the homemade icecream and my husband the duo of white and dark chocolate. Let it suffice to say that the vanilla icecream at least was not home made.
All in all, we were disappointed. When we pay R900 for an evening meal for two (including 1 bottle of wine), we expect a lot more than we got. I hope that Baia rises to the challenge and ups its game. There are plenty of superb restaurants in Cape Town that out class Baia heavily.
