5 ½ months!! That’s how long it has been since us bru’s have been out on a review night. This year, however, we will come back strong. While most people have New Year’s resolutions of eating better and drinking less, we at Burger Brews have committed ourselves to eating more burgers, drinking more craft beer, and telling you all about it.
Our first review of 2020 took us to Fat Harry’s, in Kenilworth. Situated in well-known 2nd Avenue (where the road is littered with restaurants on either side – many of which have become Cape Town institutions), they have been around since 2015.
Fat Harry’s is known for their live music and, on this night, we arrived with the act in full swing. We were seated at a table at the front of the restaurant, just in front of the stage. Soon realising that we would need to converse in sign language the whole night, we asked to move tables and took up a spot at the back. Now, we are anything but fogies and are definitely not averse to sound and music and vibe and partying and…you get the drift, but the music was just so damn loud! This is definitely not a knock on the act (who was pretty talented), but I cannot believe that any management or staff working there could not tell that the music was way too loud?! There were no more than a few tables occupied on the night (inside, at least – there was a fairly busy outside area) so there really was no need to have the sound turned up so high. In case you’re asking why we didn’t just ask them to turn the sound down, our policy when reviewing is to allow the restaurants to take it upon themselves to run things as they normally would, and we can give OUR OPINIONS as to what we feel works, or not.
Right, gripe over! We were greeted by our super-friendly waitress, Juliet, who started by taking our drinks orders. Their list of beers was decent, with enough variety to cater for all tastes. We each ordered a Jack Black Lager to start off with, which we had while we pondered what to have for our starters. The starters all sounded incredible! It was one of those lists where we could easily have ordered any of them. In the end, we opted to order the bacon-wrapped poppers (which was grilled), as well as a portion of croquettes to share.
The croquettes arrived served with a small portion of fries, which we weren’t expecting but – most definitely – we welcomed. The croquettes came four in a portion, which again necessitated us to whip out our calculators to work out how best to divide this between the three of us.
The poppers were three in a portion, but came served with TWO onion rings – we’ll never win…
The starters were awesome! We could not fault them at all. They certainly hit the spot and had us gagging for more. With our first round of beers done and dusted, we ordered our next round. One of the bru’s went for a berry cider (it has just taken me 5 minutes to bring myself to write that on my keyboard, such is my embarrassment), while the other bru and I went for their in-house Wendy Lager (brewed by Devils Peak). I feel that I need to explain that the reason for the one bru’s choice of cider was that he had spent the entire day drinking copious amounts of beer, as one does when watching cricket at Newlands.
Much like their list of starters, Fat Harry’s has a list of incredible sounding burgers. The thing that I was most impressed about, and can honestly say that I have NEVER seen it offered elsewhere, is the fact that they offer a choice of two thicknesses of chips/fries. I am most definitely not being facetious when I say that this is a masterstroke, particularly for a chip connoisseur like me. Kudo’s to them for offering this choice!
Once I had gotten over my excitement, I decided to order the Camembert & Caramelized Onion & Bacon burger, which was a beef patty topped with caramelized onions, bacon, Camembert, and a Portobello mushroom. Sides are ordered separately, so I ordered 10mm chips to go with it (the other option is 7mm thin-cut fries which, in my opinion, should only ever belong and be served at a drive-thru).
Another bru ordered the Hoola burger, which was a beef patty (chicken could also be ordered) topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, and a grilled pineapple ring. This he also chose with 10mm chips.
The final choice made was for a Three Cheese burger, which was a beef patty stuffed with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, and topped with a light creamy blue cheese dressing. This bru chose coleslaw as his side.
All the beef patties are 200g in size, so it is a substantial meal. They soon arrived and, once the obligatory pics were taken, we tucked in. Man, oh man! The burgers were cooked to absolute perfection and the flavour was mind-blowing! I can’t remember if anything was said by any of us as we tore through the burgers, apart from quite a few grunts of enjoyment.
I need to also add, before ending the review, that the décor and design of the restaurant is great. Fat Harry’s has all the elements necessary to become one of Cape Town’s great burger spots – awesome décor, great menu, friendly service, incredible food – I just feel that they need to tone it down a bit (by this I mean the volume of the music).
If this standard can be maintained by other places we visit from hereon, then bring on 2020!
Ratings
Beginnings – Great selection, backed up by terrific execution. 5
Burgers – Wow, just wow! If that is how they always do them, then do yourselves a favour and go and have one. 5
Beers – Decent selection, with something to cater for all tastes. 3.5
Bringers – Juliet was friendly throughout, and the food and drinks were brought out speedily enough. 4
Background – The live act was very good, but the volume of the music was just way too high. The décor was impressive and the general feel of the place was vibey. 3