Bens On The Beach
Ben’s on the Beach.
142 Beach Road, Strand . Telephone: 021-853-7977 . Open Monday to Saturday from 5.30pm and Sunday from 11.30am.
Whilst this isn't exactly Gordons Bay, it gets a mention as it's a decent place to eat. Friendly, charming service, large portions and good value.
Saturday 6th August 2011. Another great meal at Ben's. Promptly shown to our table in the front section. Stephanie was soon over with our menus. She talked us through the menu options and took the drinks order. The dinner order was taken without notes (would she get it right we wondered). We went for the 'meal deal' at R135 - this is excellent value as it includes a good choice of starter, main course, dessert and small carafe of wine. The butternut soup was delicious, though perhaps a little 'creamy'. Steaks were all cooked to perfection, and the creamed spinach was enjoyed by all (except for the younger diner). Finshed off with coffee, rooibos tea and creme brulee. Bill came to R471 plus tip for three diners. And yes, Stephanie didn't miss a thing on the order! The only thing that marred the meal was a large noisy table of cabin crew right next to us as they cackled away and hassled the restaurant staff over their 'airline discount'. Could have done without it...
Update 21 Feb 2011. Booked a table for four on a Monday evening. We were shown to our table without fuss or delay. Our waitress for the evening was Alexandra - a new face at Ben's. The South Easter raged outside, but it was nice and cool inside with the airconditioning making it rather cool at our table.
A new innovation is the 'Real Dinner Deal' hidden in the back of the menu. A three course meal for two at R135pp served with a complimentary carafe of wine. Sounds like excellent value.
Asked Alexandra if I could have the Babotie Samoosa off this menu. No problem she said. A word about Babotie. If you are a visitor to this country, and you haven't bothered to try this excellent Afrikaans dish, you really are wasting your time coming here. Also ordered by way of starter was the Gazpacho. Both dishes were excellent. The gammon steak was also tempting (as our neighbours tucked into their gammons with glee).
Ben's is known for it's steaks, but don't forget they also do fish. Tonight's fish was Yellowtail. We went for two Ladies fillet steaks at 230g and the Fillet au Poivre plus the lasagne. Drinks were ordered plus a jug of iced tap water.
The starters and main courses all looked great, and the timing was good. The portions were generous and tasty, tonights veg was a creamed spinach served in a seperate bowl, together with chips and battered onion rings.
Dessert was a Dom Pedro and 'Pear Portofino' (pear poached in port with a cinnamon and chocolate crumble and marscapone cream sauce). Alexandra warned us that this dish was still 'work in progress' and was not as described in the menu. It's wonderful to be faced with such honesty. The 'Pear Portofino' may well stay as 'work in progress' for a while. It's wasn't to our liking and we weren't charged for it.
Two coffees finished off our evening meal. Bill for R538 was presented without delay. Despite being a Monday evening, the place was full by the time we left.
26 October 2010
A last minute booking for two on a Tuesday night. Seated in the cheery, colourful front section, which started off quietly with soft jazz music playing in the background, but tables with noisy large groups soon started piling in. Ecoustics aren't the best in the front section, so no more soft music! At least there's the sunset...
Served by Stephanie, we believe (no name badge) efficient though not overly friendly, dressed in black. No starters, straight for the main course. William chose the 250g Ladies sirloin with chips, onion rings and separate bowl of creamed spinach. He chose it medium rare. It came slightly too rare, so sent it back for more cooking, not a problem. Delicious though, he polished it off. Bens is pretty good for steaks and other grills, even producing a 'grilling guide' if you need a bit of reminding!
Catherine chose the fillet of fresh fish (yellowtail) on a minted pea puree, topped with a dollop of sundried tomato butter, served with scalloped potato and again, a seperate bowl of creamed spinach. Not sure why it's served apart! A busy dish with the usual combination of rich flavours, but very nice, so it should be for R98!
For dessert, thought I'd try the classic Crème brûlée to see if it has changed! Glad to see it's still creamy and yummy but served in a white teacup with a crunchy biscuit wafer. Rather quirky, thought my coffee had arrived early. William tried the 'chocolat' dessert, a dark rich mound of chocolate with a vanilla sauce on the side, served on a huge plate, with the same spoon shaped biscuit wafer. A must for chocolate lovers.
No travel lodge style coffee, just a nice hot cup of coffee with hot milk, and finally, the homemade chocolate truffles appeared. The car guard loves them! No waiting this time for long periods without service despite a busy restaurant.
The bottom line was R350, which included two soft drinks and two Niel Joubert Cabernet Sauvignon 250ml carafes at r30 each.
The menu is quite extensive, as is the wine list, with lunch specials from Monday to Saturday offering dishes such as fish, lasagne and turkish style chicken. Prices are around R60- R70 each. 10% discount for cash available to seniors.
Certainly no sign of a recession hitting Bens....
Finished off with Crème Brûlée which again was generous and good. They've toned down the Travel Lodge coffee, this time is was incredibly strong, hot coffee served on a dreadful plastic tray. We ordered cointreau which was served in warm shot glasses, pity as it would have been much better served in a nice glass with ice. No sign of the ghastly truffles! Ingrid was not to be outdone and brought two truffles in an old stainless steel ice cream bowl with the bill! R373 all in.
Update from Trevor and Karen 26/09/08. Decor has been updated, and the 'enclosed patio' is much improved. Service was again pitifully slow. They had a long wait for menus, for someone to take the order, for the food and the bill! It's a great pity, because the food tends to be of excellent quality. If you have hungry children, you could find the whole process stressful!
Update on 30th December 2007. Parking was an epic (no dedicated parking). Strand Beach Road was solid with day trippers from CY and CL. Normally parking is right outside the restaurant.
Nice and cool inside. We were looked after by Emily who was charming and efficient. Wine was their Annandale Cab Sav at R99. Started with the Gazpacho soup which was too thick, but quite tasty. Winston had steak, egg and chips (not on the menu, but prepared without any fuss) it was cooked to perfection. Tim had the New York steak, he asked for the sauce on the side, again no problem and also well presented and prepared. Chantelle ordered pepper fillet, which was very good. I ordered the chicken vol au vent, which wasn't available. Settled for the calamari steak topped with mussels and a rich curry sauce. No popodoms, so the chef plonked two dried tomato skins on top! Cooked to perfection, but very rich.
The boys had ice cream and chocolate sauce, Chantelle had an Irish Coffee which she didn't drink (I don't know why). I settled for the Travel Lodge coffee tray which was ok.
Don't touch the plastic chocolate truffles, they are DISGUSTING!
All came to R607, plus tip. Asked for bill when we ordered the dessert. This time it arrived promptly!
Update on 17/01/08. Place was very busy. Shown promptly to our table (a gritty table on the verandah, blown by the South Easter and the fans inside), but then waited and waited. A couple of waitresses milling around, but our waitress (Tammy the surfer) was rushed off her feet looking after a number of patrons. We skipped the starters and went straight for the mains as tonight would be steak night. Ordered the 280 gram 'Fillet au Poivre' (steak rolled in Dijon mustard, flambeed
Ben's offer our over 60's a 10% discount if the pay with cash. Seems like a fair offer. Speaking of discounts, they also offer the airline crews staying at the Lord Charles hotel a 10% discount, as they are keen to attract their business. Be warned therefore, if you don't want to be sat next to a large table of noisy 'trolly dollies', advise the restaurant when you make your booking!