PRICE:
Frommer's Exceptional

A wonderful rags-to-riches story, Reuben, who grew up in Franschhoek, was working as a barman in Chamonix when a staff shortage sent him to the kitchen, where he met Richard Carstens, one of the most respected chefs in South Africa. Six months later he followed Carstens to Monneaux, and then left for Cambridge, where he opened Bruno's, before returning to his hometown in 2004 to open his own restaurant. By the end of the year, Reuben's sensibly priced, experimental comfort food was the talk of the town, and in 2005 he was voted Chef of the Year (and Reuben's Restaurant of the Year) by the Eat Out team. The menu changes regularly, but expect innovative use of local ingredients, like salmon trout fish cakes served with a poached organic egg, watercress, and lime butter, or the divine mascarpone and bleu cheese tart with tomato jam. Recommended mains include the smoked paprika Indian prawn risotto, served with avocado ice cream, and the grilled quail with grapes, tarragon, mascarpone, beetroot, and orzo. End with lemon and passion-fruit curd tart with moskonfyt ice cream.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's South Africa, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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