OUT TO LUNCH
A TASTE OF SPAIN
VICKY CHRISTINA
extensive Tapas menu.
VickyCristina’s & Conquistabar - Tapas
& Bar
011 3251263 or 082 3554554
The Colony Shopping Centre
345 Jan Smuts Avenue
Craighall Park
[email protected]
We chose the Paella, Moorish Lamb,
Grilled Chicken Skewers, Chorizo Prawn
Skewers, Pork Belly with Apple, Fillet
Steak Stack, Crispy Calamari and a
Drunken Waldorf Salad. After a short
wait the dishes started to arrive, filling
the table with a feast of food and mouthwatering aromas.
VickyCristina’s is inspired by the
flavours of Spain. Their passion for food
encompassing many aspects of Spanish
cuisine, as well as traditions and dishes
created by their Hispanic cousins in Latin
America. So whilst they indulge their
love of tapas, they have also embraced
Catalonia’s coca - a flatbread that
predates pizza - and added the grilled
beef beloved by the Basque people to
Spain’s obsession with pork and seafood.
Traditional dishes share the table with
reinterpretations of Spanish flavours, and
you’ll find some familiar favourites in a
different guise.
There are VickyCristina’s restaurants
in Camps Bay in Cape Town, Craighall
Park in Johannesburg, and Hillcrest
in Durban. We sampled the one at The
Colony shopping centre in Craighall ….
We arrived at the restaurant for lunch
on an day when Johannesburg was
experiencing a heat wave and were
welcomed in to the cool dark interior of
the restaurant a refreshing respite from
the extreme heat outside. The waiter
immediately took our drinks order and
whilst we perused the menu, we gulped
down glasses of sparkling water and
sipped our drinks.
There were four of us in the party and
we decided to order a variety of dishes
for the table – which we chose from their
We sampled all everything – my favourite
has to be the Moorish Lamb and the
Chorizo Prawn Skewers were to die
for. – skewered prawn tails wrapped in
shaved Spanish choriza, succulent and
delicious. The fillet a favourite of one
of our party was cooked to perfection,
slightly underdone but not bleeding. I
always find chicken a bit dry but these
were deliciously spiced with cumin and
paprika and left my taste buds screaming
for more. The Moorish Lamb is cubed
and slow cooked with cumin, cinamin,
raisins, sultanas and almonds. Paella
is not always cooked right, but Vicky
Christina’s Paella was gorgeous. I could
have eaten the whole dish but we were
sharing… What a feast!
Having skipped house specialities we
found space to sample the deserts. I
chose my all-time fave – Crème Brulee
the sugar crust was perfect and the baked
custard was sensational. My partner had
the Cherry Cheesecake, whilst the others
in the group selected a Chocolate Lava
( Chilli Chocolate Lava ckae with ice
cream) and the Sangria Poached Pear and
judging by the fact that nothing was left
behind, were also a tasty as mine.
What a triumph! Fortunately they have
opened a restaurant in Camps Bay so I
don’t have to wait till I’m back in Jo’burg
to have another awesome meal.
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