Lovely food to go with a unique ambiance

Lemongrass Restaurant, which is located on Russell Street, in Western Extension, is equipped with the ambiance and food for which every food lover and their taste buds yearn.

The décor is unique to anything I have seen in a Benoni restaurant and it feels like you are sitting in your home, rather than a busy eatery where you feel rushed to finish your food to make way for the next client.

On a warm day, it would be perfect to have your meal at one of the outside tables.

The eatery serves Dutch Indonesian cuisine – and is operating again following a fire that gutted a section of it late last year.

The establishment now boasts a wider breakfast menu and serves Belgian waffles.

There is also a massive wine selection, which was selected by a Cape wine master and the manager of Lemongrass, Cornell Kruger.

To show off this selection, Lemongrass has a wine-pairing evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

The eatery still serves the divine food its patrons have come to enjoy.

I visited the restaurant last week, for a two-course meal.

For starters, a friend and I opted for the Chicken Satays.

This consists of two chicken skewers which are laced with a creamy, tasty, peanut sauce.

I was pleased to find the chicken perfectly cooked and the peanut sauce not too rich.

For someone who generally does not enjoy peanuts, the flavour of the chicken came through the sauce.

My friend had a go at the Indonesian chicken curry, which is prepared with lemongrass, ginger and cinnamon, and served with rice and topped with fresh banana, coconut and raisins,

He said the dish was not hot, but had a magnificent flavour – a meal he will definitely order again.

For my main course, the Babi Rumbatan attracted my attention.

The dish compromised grilled pork loin, filled with spiced apple, wrapped in smoked bacon and complimented by a thyme and wine sauce, served with rice or mashed potato.

I was advised to have my food with mash, which was a good decision.

The mash had no lumps and paired well with the excess creamy sauce that was dripped over the pork.

The meat was cooked perfectly, although I felt the portion could have have been slightly bigger.

All in all, Lemongrass serves delicious food with a friendly service.

The restaurant is open from Mondays to Saturdays, from 10am till 10pm, and on Sundays, from 10am till 4pm.

KvdL