Primal Eatery

Great food. Excellent service. Johan Van Heerden and I had a fantastic dinner. The cheviche was stunning. Johan had the steak ribeye on the bone and I had the farmed cob served with perfectly seared cauliflower.

Primal<br/ <br/ Primal is situated on Gardens and has a lovely setting, with plenty of space for lounging on outside terrace on those scorching summer day when you don’t feel like braving the traffic, as well as cosy bar area where you can catch up with friends, enjoy a sundowner or grab something to eat. The venue is trendy but not overstated.<br/ <br/ I’d hear so much about this venue and couldn’t wait to take advantage of the fare on offer during restaurant week. There was a good array of choices to be made as the menu was both varied and interesting with a Greek twist.<br/ <br/ Starters consisted of:<br/ <br/ •Line fish Ceviche, smoked avocado, textures of corn, black beans and anchos tigers milk<br/ <br/ •Then there was the Greek inspired Flaming Saganaki which is basically pan fried kefalotiri cheese flambéed with brandy and served with roasted bread. What’s not to love about fried cheese was yummy.<br/ <br/ •My favourite was the duck livers cooked in Harissa, burnt onion labneh and fire toasted bread.<br/ <br/ The main course:<br/ <br/ •There was the option of line fish with cauliflower and coconut puree, curried cauliflower, cashews and lemon atchar.<br/ <br/ •Greek style lamb shoulder with aubergine and lentils. This was really nice, I’m not a lover of aubergines but I enjoyed how this dish was put together. The lamb was soft, tasty and meaty. The portion was generous so be prepared.<br/ <br/ •Next was the 35-day aged 300g Sirloin served with onion and truffle mustard and a choice of sides. If I’m honest this course was a let down for me, if only that it seemed somewhat pedestrian in comparison to the other dishes on offer. It was well prepared and seasoned but lacked some of the complexity and flare that the other dishes possessed.<br/ <br/ •Undoubtedly the star of the show was the 35 day aged Beef Fillet, the best I have had to date. It was soft, tender and buttery and quite literally melt in your mouth good. I would come back for this dish in a heartbeat. It is a must have when visiting. Also served with truffle mustard and a choice of sides.<br/ <br/ Desserts:<br/ <br/ •The first dessert on offer was the deep fried Oreos, braaied marshmallow ice cream, peanut butter and strawberry jelly. The Americans believe that everything tastes better deep fried, personally I’m not so sure about that. Our table was somewhat divided around the deep fried Oreo cookies.<br/ <br/ I really enjoyed Primal as there was something for everyone and the quality of the meat was really outstanding. And if you are anything like me, you will relish the fact that there were no kiddies seats, crayons or sparklers to be seen anywhere.

Mixed feelings about Primal Eatery as it has so much going for it:<br/ <br/ Exceptional, friendly and inviting service from making the reservation to seating us (online efficiency is always a plus for me)<br/ <br/ The waitress...what a breath of fresh air that made you just want to order more and more<br/ <br/ Great funky yet cosy and warm environment. Just luuuuurve their little box corner for the house DJ<br/ <br/ Cocktails are exceptional. A real work of art visually and flavourful creativity <br/ <br/ And now this is where I get a bit blurred....food started off with a bang and ended off in a bleh that we couldn't even attempt dessert. <br/ <br/ Complimentary bread with an array of beautiful butters....great start<br/ <br/ Starters of Fire Roasted Butternut Soup with pork hock bitterballen and charred Kalk Bay Octopus....absolutely sublime with great complimentary flavours. Those bitterballen was so sublime that I could easily leave with a big brown bag full and eat it like popcorn.<br/ <br/ Mains of Butcher's Cut of the Day and the Lamb Shoulder. It was so charred that every mouth full was a bitter and unpleasant aftertaste. We did tell management but all they did was smile apologetically and a token mention on training a new chef. Needless to say it just left a bad taste in our mouths. <br/ <br/ Would I go again...sure but just for drinks and a starter but could easily move on to better eating establishments.

Service: excellent. The Hostess was welcoming and warm. The Waitress was friendly and attentive. The Manager checked on us twice to ensue that we were happy enjoying ourselves. The restaurant itself is modern, clean and comfortable. There is an inside section and you can also dine outside. We chose to eat outside because there was no wind and it was a relatively warm evening. Ambiance... very quite. It was a Friday night and the restaurant was basically empty. Location is great, it is in the center of the city. <br FOOD you receive a complimentary board of breads (toasted pita breads and freshly cut ciabatta). The bread comes with 3 'spreads ' (a buttery mousse, a red pepper paste and a chickpea paste). All were delicious. A friend of mine had the smoked tomato, avocado and feta mousse starter and absolutely loved it. <br STEAK: Two of us decided to have red meat as mains (one ribeye and the other fillet). The meat is chargrilled and tastes very smokey. The char is quite potent overpowering. My friend felt that her fillet tasted burnt and wasn 't as tender as she would 've liked it to be. I must agree the char was too harsh almost ruined the flavour of the meat. My ribeye was cooked to perfection but the blackened taste on the outside made it far less enjoyable. Some people might like this potent smokey char grilled flavour but to us the meat tasted borderline burnt. <br The pepper sauce was good. The mushroom and marrow sauce was ok (my expectation was that it would be a creamy and decedent sauce, but it was quite strange tasting if I 'm honest. There was no cream. It was alcohol based. And I couldn 't taste any marrow unfortunately). The meat is accompanied by crispy onions (delicious) and an onion and truffle mustard paste (the onion mustard sauce was quite intense tasted too much like onion it wasn 't subtle enough). We had two side dishes (chips and macaroni). Both were good. This place has serious potential. <br Great location. Great service. Nice food (they just need to work on the meat). In our view the char taste was too bold overpowering. Not sure whether we will be repeat diners as meat is their primary specialty. Maybe we will go again, but it is unlikely. We prefer Nelsons eye, The Butchershop and Grill and Balthazar for steak.

Incredible dining experience!<br/ <br/ I recently had the pleasure of dining at Primal Eatery. Nothing about this restaurant disappointed! It is evident that Brinn and Kristina have made it their mission to ensure that every detail meets their high standards, which has left them with a very sophisticated and classy establishment. The service was flawless, the ambience was fantastic and every dish served was absolutely delicious and beautifully presented including the cocktails. Thank you Brinn for welcoming us so warmly, we will undoubtedly be back!