Bobotie - Köln

Although this restaurant advertises itself as a South-African lounge and dining room, there is little typical South-African food left on the menu. Instead a lot of typical Maghreb-food, like harira, couscous, merguez, tajine etcetera. There were no South African appetisers at all (the only one left on the menu was not available) and they had also ran out of the South-African fruit distillates. There was a zebra-curry on the menu but frankly it tasted also like Moroccan tajine. I like Maghreb cuisine, but when I visit a South-African restaurant I expect something different. The quality of the food was not bad but not exceptional either. The staff (I expect from the Maghreb) was not unfriendly but not very helpful either. All this may explain why I was the only customer in the rather large restaurant on a Wednesday evening. On the positive side: I liked the decoration.

A friend booked a table for a group of us. There was not many South African dishes on the menu. I went for the chicken curry in the end. It had ZERO taste. I don't think they used any spices whatsoever. I don't even think it had salt and pepper in it. It was a sweet...milky mess. The potjiekos was bland and the meat as tough as old leather. Other friends moaned about their food being tasteless and bland but no one sent anything back as we were all starving by the time we eventually got our food as we waited ages. The service was so slow. Turns out, the Bobotie was actually the tastiest meal on the menu but also nothing to write home about. The manager also leaves the restaurant every few minutes to smoke right at the door. He may as well smoke inside as the smoke wafts right in through the door The waitress was friendly but not all there as she kept forgetting our drinks order. Anyhoo, the general consensus was that once was once too many.

I had a voucher for this restaurant. Starter was soup and was delicious. I ordered sea food and my bf chicken. There were ok, sauce was a little bit sweet. Drinks were too expensive. Generally, it was good and suggest to try.

We ate here years ago and I had vague memories of enjoying the meal, so we decided to return. The restaurant is atmospheric and the staff are friendly, but unfortunately the food was a big disappointment. The meat was dry and the dishes were presented in an uninspiring way. A real letdown, as we always assumed meat in an African restaurant would be good quality.

We came here with a groupon voucher with a set menu.Some if the food was very nice but the main course, a type of stew, I could have cooked better at home.You go out to eat, particularly to an African restaurant, to try something different and whilst the decor is nice and the staff friendly the food didn't excite me I'm afraid.