Prawns at Eye Bar
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks on the go, sandwiches, tapas or leisurely à la carte, and maybe one day in the far-off future, cocktails even, brand new Eye Bar’s got you covered 24/7, 365 days of the year.
This hot new Cape Town foodie find opened on 21 December last year, bringing all of the goodness all day long. Until curfew, that is. Which may or may not start at 9am tomorrow, who knows? I’ve lost track.
It’s wild, it’s new, it’s exciting, it’s Fusion, Fiona.
Up-to-the-minute interiors designed by architect Robert Silke make Eye Bar sleek & stylish, with a snazzy modern menu to match.
Located on the ground floor of the new Vïb Hotel Cape Town, (which happens to be the first Vïb by Best Western in the Southern Hemisphere), Eye Bar has a cocktail bar, a grab ‘n go coffee station, indoor restaurant and open-air terrace.
The venue is open daily to both members of the public and guests of the hotel alike.
Grab the morning by the horns with a contemporary Continental deli offering or a trad hot breakfast.
‘Continental’ includes smoothie bowls brimming with power treats: chia seeds, rooibos-poached dates and berries. Mmmm…
Or go for a Yoghurt Parfait, drenched in mint syrup, maple syrup or honey, topped with seeds, muesli and fresh fruit.
All the usual baked goodies
are there too, of course – croissants, cinnamon rolls, Danish pasties, pan au
chocolat, assorted muffins, and 8 different types of breakfast loaf complete the carb hotlist.
Classics on the Hot Breakfast menu are Eggs Benedict or Eggs Florentine (with spinach) and yes, a good old-fashioned full English breakfast.
Your friendly Barrista uses Fairtrade coffee to put the caffeine zing into your morning run. If you’re hurrying en route to work, just grab one to go along with your take-out breakfast.
For lunch or dinner, order from a sit-down à la carte menu with a number of world cuisine influences. These lean towards fusion-style cooking, so flavour combinations are a-hoppin’ and a-poppin’!
Asian flavour notes get a look-in at light meals: ramen bowls, teriyaki beef or yakitori chicken burger, both with fries.
Mediterranean flavours step up in an Italian Panzanella salad (traditional cubed crispy bread, olives, tomatoes, bocconcini) but with a swanky Middle Eastern twist, by adding cucumber and a tahini dressing. Shavings of smoked springbok are an optional addition. You choose!
Eye Bar’s sandwich options change daily. Funky and unusual, such as curry tofu, sesame sweet potato, peanut sauce and coriander chimichurri, or spicy sweet & sour salmon with fennel, orange and cream cheese.
Mains could be crispy, crunchy fried buttermilk chicken with quinoa tabouleh and roast garlic shawarma sauce, or push the boat out for the pan-fried, herbed ribeye dusted with herb rub, mushroom ketchup and roast garlic cream. The steak is served with chips or panzanella salad.
Vegetarians and vegans, rejoice, for ye too shall have choice! Example: Charred Tandoori Cauliflower with vegan yoghurt, sambal balado, baby
pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, onion salad, peanut and miso vinaigrette. Sounds so good, I might even move over to the plant-based side…
Desserts will have you on your knees. Check: Chocolate and Matcha Cheesecake Brownie with Chocolate cream, Raspberry Coulis, Raspberry Gel and Marinated Raspberries, or White Chocolate Mousse, Honeycomb and Hazelnut praline, Baked White Chocolate Crumble, Candied Lemon, and Honey Lavash. Phew, that’s quite a mouthful, eh?
Ease into the evening with cocktails, Eye Bar’s Small Plates Menu for some tasty tidbits for that after-work or pre-dinner chilli.
Hot tip: order any of the Small Plates Tapas as a starter portion when dining too.
Tapas plates include grilled chorizo sausage, but witha deliciously unexpected peanut and miso dressing. (I call some Fusion on this!) Calamari is done tempura-style, with a suitably Spanish smoked paprika garlicky mayo aka aioli.
The finger sandwiches at Eye Bar banish forever all thoughts of ye olde conventional High Tea cream cheese-and- cucumber staple. Oh no no no. This is something entirely new and rather thrilling, I must say.
It’s not 2021 for nothing, you know!
Try sesame sweet potato Roosterkoek with anchovy and mushroom; stuffed Bao buns, or a Braaibroodjie with cured ham, blue cheese, soya and balsamic fig relish. Now that’s more like it for a new decade, ain’t it?
Snack on Goat’s Cheese and Candied Ginger Popperswith Miso Caramel, or Chicken Wonton Tacos (wot?) with Smoked Jalapeño Relish. That’s about as far as Fusion cooking can go, I’d say!
Small Plate Sweet Treats round it all off nicely with Dark Chocolate Salami; Red Velvet and White Chocolate Fudge; Baked Malva Pudding Doughnuts with Cardamon and Caramel.
Ooooh, delicious, Patricia!
Check out the full menus for Eye Bar here: www.vibcapetown.com.
For breakfast, no pre-booking is necessary. Eye Bar takes reservations for lunch and dinner. Opening hours are from 06h30 to 22h00 (or as per the latest Government curfew).
Outside of lockdown curfew, the regular closing time is 23h00.
Eye Bar is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including Public Holidays.
Eye Bar is open 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including Public Holidays.
