Comforting curries and views of the ocean
Salt Rock Hotel
Where: 59 Basil Hulett Drive, Salt Rock
Open: Daily breakfast lunch and dinner
Call: 032 525 5025
We arrived and the place was pumping. Sunday lunch is obviously a thing here, and it was such a glorious day, it’s not surprising whole families and big groups of friends were out in force. I hadn’t booked. That was a stupid move.
But our waitress found us a spot out on the lawn and the three of us were soon huddled in an envelope of shade provided by the large umbrella. She would get us a table when one became available. In the meantime we sipped gin and tonics and took in the sea, and the sprawling hubbub around us. It almost felt like you were at a local yacht club.
The Salt Rock Hotel is obviously popular because it has a simple a la carte menu that’s reasonably priced, plus plenty that the kids would like to eat. It’s nothing fancy, although they do offer fresh oysters. We ordered a dozen (R259) to share, which were lovely and, yes, fresh and came served simply on ice on a banana leaf with lemon wedges and Tabasco.
Light nibbles or starters could include calamari - fried grilled or cajun - snails, mussels, chicken wings or a couple of salads. There are sandwiches and wraps if you want a light lunch.
By the time the oysters arrived we were already sitting under the cool of the enclosed verandah, such was the efficiency of our waitress.
The hotel is famed for its curries. It boasts on its website that it was voted best in Ballito for some number of years. I wondered if they were as good as Cindy’s curries served from her Umhlali green grocer’s shop, but then I suppose that can’t be called a restaurant.
But if you don’t do curries, there is plenty to choose from. Some burgers, pizzas, pastas and grills taking in steaks, chicken and a range of seafood. Their seafood platter is very reasonable at R215, which includes grilled hake, three tiger prawns, mussels and calamari.
You could also have the Sunday roast special which was being served as a carvery in the main dining room. It looked generous and came complete with Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes that looked nice and crisp. Plus plenty of gravy. The neighbouring table was certainly enjoying it.
But we went for the curries - mutton (R195) for Trevor and the Advocate and prawn (R188) for me. They come with rice papadum and a range of sambals, the guys ordering extra papadums (R10). The curries were, well if not quite Cindy’s, decent and enjoyable. Trevor’s mutton curry perhaps benefitting from the extra heat level, but it was rich and rewarding and packed with whole spices. I enjoyed the prawn curry which was a generous portion and made with decent sized prawns that had actually had contact with that sauce in the cooking process. Here their medium was about right heat wise.
Trevor called it a good old fashioned, country club curry, which summed it up nicely. We were happy.
Desserts take in brownies, cheesecake or scones - none of which appealed - and of course an obligatory ice cream and chocolate sauce. But instead I went for a Dom Pedro, charged as a milkshake plus a tot of Jamiesons. It was a good one - and on a hot day, the perfect dessert.
Food: 3
Service: 3
Ambience: 3 ½
The Bill: R1415 for three