African Specials at the Quarterdeck

Quarterdeck at the Portswood Hotel offers family Sunday spitbraai

The Portswood Hotel’s Quarterdeck Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront is a great place to unwind with friends and family after a long hard week. The Maritime-themed restaurant offers delicious Cape Malay-style food to satisfy the most curious of taste buds.

The once Cape Colony petty-crimes prison was declared a national monument and transformed into a restaurant in 1994. The Quarterdeck Restaurant occupies a section of the Original Breakwater Prison was known as the Good Conduct Ward. Amongst the crisp white table clothes, colour speckled dining chairs and beautiful dark wood furniture in the cosy restaurant lie stark remainders of the polar opposite world that existed in the building in 1860. Prison bars still line the windows of the restaurant and cut-out sections of exposed wall juxtapose harsh brick walls with elegant white-wash walls.

Now, many years on, no prison was ever this comfortable, or served such delicious food! Voted “Best Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront” in 2008 and Diners Wine List Platinum Award Winner in 2002/2003, this beautifully resorted National Monument with its rich history, is the perfect setting in which to savour a fantastic selection of Cape Malay cuisine.

Patrons can sample a wide selection of mouth watering local dishes from Executive Chef Craig Paulse at lunch or dinner. The Waterfront restaurant also offers tantalising weekend specials for Capetonians and guests wanting to spend a few lazy hours laughing, eating, and being merry with family and friends.

Indulge in the Quarterdeck’s traditional South African Spit Braai lunch every second Sunday from 12:30 – 16:00. For just R79 a person, the Sunday lunch brings guests succulent melt-in-your mouth lamb on the spit, roasted vegetables, a selection of breads and salads, and even traditional Cape Malay vetkoek.

The special runs until March 2010, so make sure you take family and friends along for a Sunday afternoon of great food, fine wine and attentive service. The Quarterdeck is a perfect way to have a relaxing Sunday lunch without any of the fuss of hosting at your home.

For those looking for a Saturday evening treat, the Quarterdeck restaurant also offers a Cape Malay Potjiekos treat on the last Saturday of every month. Potjiekos - literally meaning pot food - has been part of South Africa’s culture for many centuries. Today, cooking up a potjie has evolved into a unique South African social happening, a tradition almost as popular as the legendary braai.

Family and friends are all invited and can settle around the fire with the softly bubbling potjie, chatting, enjoying a drink and having a great time, while the aroma escaping from the potjie does its work.

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