REVIEW: Café La Plage – the quintessential Durban high life
For those who enjoy fine dining, expensive bottles, the sun and the sea, Café La Plage in uMhlanga Rocks is certainly worth checking out.
DURBAN, May 12 (ANA) – For those who enjoy fine dining, expensive bottles, the sun and the sea, Café La Plage in uMhlanga Rocks is certainly worth checking out.
Nestled in the heart of Durban’s most exclusive commercial district, in the foothills of Vivian Reddy’s architectural masterpiece, the Capital Pearls, Café La Plage offers a Mediterranean-inspired menu.
Jordanian-born chef and owner David “Chef Raw“ Manal brings a plethora of experience from his two decades spent in the hospitality industry.
The restaurant oozes panache, with a private Glenfiddich room and a gold colour scheme, with the walls, chairs, cutlery, and even the restrooms, all in gold.
The warm sea breeze sweeping west from the Indian Ocean permeates the restaurant, giving it a refreshing island-like feel 24/7.
The smooth jazz reverberating off the walls of Café La Plage adds a relaxed atmosphere to your dining experience. And for those nights when things get more active, Manal has a DJ booth to keep the crowd going.
As part of the visit, the kitchen had prepared a complimentary signature three-course meal, cooked and presented to perfection.
For starters, the team prepared tortillas with an avocado, feta, corn and olive paste dip with a salsa to finish.
The main dish was the fish of the day, grilled to perfection with a blend of local spices fused by Manal himself. Freshly grilled vegetables finished off the dish. The grilled green beans topped the list of most tasty vegetable.
Each vegetable was meticulously cooked, yet still had enough crunch to make you feel as though you’d made a healthy decision.
Dessert required the kitchen staff at Café La Plage to fire up their fondant maker. It was precisely cooked to give you a thin, crusty layer on the outside with a warm sponge underneath, which both covered the lava of chocolate waiting to erupt. It was finished with a drizzle of castor sugar, vanilla sorbet and a caramel.
Like most businesses in the food and entertainment industry, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown Café La Plage no mercy. During the first 18 months of the pandemic, Manal said that his business did take a financial knock, but he was mentally prepared to fight back.
“It’s not the business, it’s your mindset. If you have a strong mind then nothing will affect you. But how can you have a strong mind without an equally strong body? So I always try to get my body on that correct level; then I am able to function at 100 percent,” Manal said in an interview with African News Agency (ANA) on Tuesday.
Unlike many businesses in the sector that were forced to close their doors or let staff go, Manal said that taking care of his employees during the pandemic was a priority.
Manal is a firm believer in the phrase “practise what you preach”.
Hard work, dedication and loyalty to one another are some of the qualities that Manal has instilled in himself, his businesses and his staff.
“I will make sure that every single employee will get paid right to the end, UIF or no UIF. I did it because I wanted to keep the loyal people close to me because they are going to help me grow.
“Covid-19 has shown me who is real and who is not. I did not fire or let go of any staff; in fact, I hired new staff during the pandemic,” Manal explained.
Furthermore, what helped Café La Plage not only survive but thrive during the pandemic was the energy adopted by the staff and partners.
“Every single person that I have around me in my company, from partners to employees, they all have a different energy. They all add something specific to my businesses. They are not just people. They each bring something to the table,” Manal said.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
