Nouveau Coffee and Grill, Century City
Call
Hours
07:00 - 22:00 Mon to Sun
Cuisine
Grills
Indian
South African
Steakhouse
Halaal
Muslim Owned
Price Range (p/p)
Medium | R100 - R300,Pricey | R300 and above
Updated: 17-03-2022
Conveniently located in the Century City precinct, this new spot on the Cape Town food scene is a welcome addition.
They opened about 2 weeks ago and have been very busy since due to a ravenous Cape Town patronage hungry for upscale halaal experiences. I visited on a Monday morning while in Cape Town before flying out to Joburg with just enough time for breakfast and a catch-up with a friend. I would have loved to try the main menu but it will have to wait for my next Mothercity trip.
The restaurant has a cosy but sophisticated ambiance with reasonably spaced tables and open ceilings. The glass wall at the back of the restaurant allows you to see into the kitchen while still maintaining a separation from the restaurant space. While there is comfy booth seating against some of the walls, the rest of the chairs are of a spare design, not really conducive to long-drawn-out meals. Some armchair style chairs interspersed among these may feel more inviting.
An outside seating area allows them to fit in more tables and offers hookah smokers a spot to puff away.
They serve bootlegger coffee which was very good and were able to accommodate me with almond milk for my cappuccino.
Service was ok. Our waiter was young and seemed inexperienced so small details were missed. Our empty cups were not cleared when our breakfast was served. He was pleasant and enthusiastic though which made up for the lack of knowledge.
We chose from a small breakfast menu which I found quite basic. Not much that was unusual. We both opted for the Sunriser breakfast which comes with 2 eggs, 2 lamb sausages, avocado, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomato and toast. I had requested fried eggs but was served scrambled eggs. Pressed for time I chose not to send it back. The lamb sausage was a spicy dhanya sausage and was very good. Better than most other breakfast sausages I have had. The avocado was hard. If they had known this when cutting it, it should not have been served. Our breakfast came with complimentary mango juice as the special on the day. I was hoping to have a pot of Earl Grey tea after, but while they have a range of coffee-based drinks they only serve ceylon tea.
The rest of the menu is not huge and comprises a small selection of starters, steaks, a small range of Indian curries, 3 seafood dishes and a small dessert menu. Prices are on the high side at R188 for a fillet steak to R232 for 4 lamb cutlets. Curries average R200 and seafood dishes R230 with their Brownies dessert at R73. There was no kids menu but I did not ask for one either.
They describe their menu as fine dining but I am more inclined to call it upscale and sophisticated rather than fine dining. Fine dining is more than just plating. It is innovation with food that is unusual and that offers diners more of an experience. The service also needs to live up to this label.
They have a lovely setting and ambiance and with more attention to service will make a great destination for celebrations as well as a casual coffee.
This is place is not for the steak lovers… They can’t grill a great steak to save their life… if you planning to come here, order everything else but the steak, its highly disappointing.
No attempt to remedy the situation.
Tonight we had a double birthday dinner at the restaurant, and a first for all, accept 2 of the patrons. Many raved about the place and the food, and I’m sure it must be good hence being so popular.
We all were seated by 7pm and took about 15 minutes to get our drinks order taken. More patrons arrived to a point where the the place was almost full. My disappointment (and that of everyone) was the food took very long to come. we had starters around 8pm only and our main meals only came at 9h20pm. The quality of food was not on par as it was clearly rushed. Most at our table took their food as takeaways as it was really late to be having a full meal. Our patrons who were there before stated when they previously were there, the place was also full and it took their food 20 – 30 minutes to prepare, both starters and main meals.
We were basically the last patrons to receive our food and by that must, most people already ate and left the restaurant. The manager have apologized and asked how to make it up to us, yet everyone was tired and just wanted to eat and go home, which completely put a damper in what was supposed to be a special evening. I certainly would not return as no matter how good your food is, one never should compromise on your customer service and quality of food. I wish them well.
Hi
I was recommended by few friends to try out the new restaurant called Nouveau coffee & grill and I’m pleased to say that u will be seeing more of me.
Thank u for the excellent service and even bigger thank u for the Food that was so Devine.
My second time going it was a buffet which was the Monday of the public holiday felt like I was on the movies making reservations.
After 5 years having to be at a buffet felt good thank u very much Nouveau and staff
Goodmorning
I was at the buffet on Monday night
And need I to say that the service was a given 11 out of 10. The food the vibe the service was absolutely amazing. And it was my first time there but I will definitely be coming back for more.
My newly favorite restaurant.
To the chefs keep up the good work.
The BEST restaurant by Far. We visited on the 04/06/2022 to celebrate my birthday, It was my first experience but it was absolutely incredible. Amazing, friendly staff and the food was beyond this world! Chef JP was so professional, friendly and an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for an amazing experience!!! Will definitely be visiting very soon
Great experience, tasty food, friendly staff.
Will definitely recommend it.
Visited the much talked about Nouveau for dinner. Our first attempt was on the 21st March (public holiday) and tried booking telephonically only to be met with no reply telephonically just ringing and no answering machine. We tried to book telephonically yesterday 29th March also with to an unanswered telephone during business hours. As hubby was in the area he decided to pop in a make a reservation. As we were only 2 we could be accommodated. When he enquired re the telephone booking system he was told by the Manager (young lady) that they do not answer the phone if they are full or if they have reached full booking quota. ??? In today’s day and age and with many businesses closing during and after Covid this does not make business sense. Our booking was for 6h30 and arrival and seating process was quite seamless. Restaurant was relatively full with big groups. Once seated waiter came to our table to ask if we ready to order. This was in 3 minutes if not less of being seated. We requested an additional 5 min to peruse the menu. Hubby ordered a cappuccino which was relatively weak considering they stock Bootleggers coffee which outlets we frequent quite often. I ordered a boring Cola Tonic as I needed something cold after a long day in office. I ordered the Lamb bunny chow and he ordered the Sirloin with side salad and onion rings. Drinks arrived fairly quickly and food not to long after that. The bunny chow was nicely presented and his onion rings was brought with my meal. There was about a 5 to seven minute wait for his steak to arrive which was a lonely piece of steak with literally a petty pan, string bean one julliene carrot. By this stage my meal was on the cold side and we all know curry you cannot eat cold… Not in our DNA. Our waitress was all over the place and her spread of tables which she had to service was not very well thought out or planned to deliver a service to the patrons. She was rushing from one table to the other throughout the restaurant with no real direction or plan. No salad was forthcoming and despite us trying to get her attention we started our meal. At first bite of the bunny chow it had a lovely taste but when eating further it literally consisted of 2 bones with about 2cm if meat covering in each bone and 2 halves of a medium size potatoes. The curry left a residue or after taste once eating about 3 mouthfuls. I then swopped with hubby as he said his meat was dry and by this stage still no salad had arrived. I tasted the steak which was literally probably made hours ahead, heated and basted. No taste of steak really as the meats taste was killed ages ago. Eventually salad arrives… Omw.. soggy lettuce drenched in olive oil. Must have also been made long in advance as no sign or taste of crispness or freshness. Hubby ate of my bunny chow and at the bottom a huge potatoe. We left about half of the bunny chow uneaten. Food overall was extremely disappointing in presentation, taste and execution. Table next to us we noticed the food was send back on 3 occasions. We waited a long time and actually never succeeded again to catch the waitress attention. Manager finally arrived after she noticed us chatting to the table next to us re the service. Bill was requested and she apologized with an explanation of we short staffed…. Came home and, that after taste and reflux of the curry was felt by both hubby and myself. Will not go back soon and will not recommend them either. Definitely not a fine dining and not even a pleasant dining experience.
Wow I thought I was the only one who had a bad experience here. I booked a table 5 days in advance. Got there on the day with a group of friends and was told at the door that there was no booking in my name after I even made a follow-up call the day before to confirm my booking. Different waitresses came to the door asking for my details and eventually called the manager who aggressively told us that there’s no booking in my name but they will give us a table, however, the tables are reserved so we might have to move when the other patrons arrive to be seated. At that point, I was ready to walk out but did not want to ruin our evening. We sat down, ordered, waited a very long time whilst having the weak coffee you mentioned as well. When our meals arrived it looked very tantalizing and I thought the wait was worthwhile. my steak was not medium as requested, it tasted like steamed meat basted with some sauce. My friend’s ribs were so tough she couldn’t get it off the bone, our sides came mid-meal. Our drinks came with errors and we waited what seemed like an eternity to get the waitress to bring the bill so we could get out. We didnt even bother with boxing anything.