We heard that Bistro Sixteen82 in Steenberg serves a killer eggs benedict. As huge eggs benny fans we were stoked to start off our food blog with a visit to Bistro Sixteen82.
The Place – is absolutely gorgeous. Bistro Sixteen82 in situated at the foothills of Steenberg Mountain, surrounded by vineyards, offering some stunning views. The bistro is spacious, modern, yet warm, and has a great vibe to it. There's a lovely outdoor sitting area right next to a glass pond construct overflowing with water. The perfect spot for a perfect Friday morning breakfast, tempered a little though by the rather underwhelming service we got... not that we need to be the centre of attention, but it’s never comfortable feeling you are a drag, keeping your waitron from whatever else he/she would rather be doing. We never had to wait long and were attended to regularly enough, but just didn’t feel the love. We also checked out the toilets, yes we are thorough, and they've definitely seen better days. While the ladies' was clean, the men's was rather unpleasant and had no hand towels or a dryer, so the pants had to do.
The Menu – was small and basic, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They had something for every taste, from 'berries, vanilla pana cotta' and 'chef's omelette' to 'eggs benedict.' Unfortunately, the menu wasn't very descriptive, so that we had to ask about all the dishes we were interested in. The eggs benedict came with a pork belly, which was clearly the selling point for one of us. We asked if we could have one of the eggs benedict as a vegetarian variation and substitute the pork with some mushrooms, which were also on the menu. 'Not a problem, but we charge extra for the mushrooms, because they are wild and expensive.' Fine then.
The Meal – As an amuse bouche we got some lovely brioche with honey. The coffees came quickly and fitted the bill in terms of a convincing morning wake-up. The breakfast arrived shortly after. Seeing as there were only about four tables occupied we didn't expect to wait much anyways. The first impression was great, both meals looked very appetising. The eggs benny were served on a hash brown, with a few leaves of spinach for the veggie version and some cherry tomatoes. The mushrooms came on a separate plate. The poached eggs turned out to be too watery, which diluted the flavours on the plate. The sauce Hollandaise was lacking any zing so didn't help to remedy that. The hash brown was nothing special. On the other hand, the pork belly bacon was as good as it looked: awesome. Overall impression for both dishes: a bit bland and not quite the food quality we expected to get at the bistro. Bistro Sixteen82 will definitely not enter our list of recommendations for good eggs benedict. There are plenty of superior options in the area to tempt us.
The Wallet – Value for money isn't too bad. The eggs benny sell for R58. What came as a great disappointment though was that we were charged the full R58 for the veggie option (obviously, without getting the pork belly bacon) AND were charged an extra R18 for the mushrooms, that were not the promised wild mushrooms, but regular champignons (Swiss mushrooms). R80 for a watery eggs benedict – a little hard to swallow. The indifference of the service staff – not consistent with good customer service.
The Rating – 5.5
We just expected that much more from a place like Bistro Sixteen82.
Would we go back? Probably not for breakfast. However, we might give it another chance for lunch, maybe combine it with a wine tasting. The saving grace for Bistro Sixteen82 is it's beautiful location and our hope that they just had a bad day. The fact that we hung around for a good half hour after paying the bill is testimony to its great surroundings.
About the place: http://www.steenberg-vineyards.co.za/
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