The Savant
Where: 237 Florida Road, Morningside.
Open: Monday 12.30pm-9.30pm, Tuesday to Thursday 9am-9.30pm, Friday-Sunday 9am-11pm.
Call: 081 479 6289
The Poet had spotted a new restaurant in Florida Road that boasted of being Indo fusion. It has followed a string of restaurants in the space that once housed Taco Zulu, from the pre covid era.
Called The Savant, the restaurant is also Halaal certified.
it’s an odd name for a restaurant. I looked it up. A savant is a person who is absolutely brilliant in one field, often maths or music, but completely ordinary or possibly even challenged in others. I think of the kid that can crunch the rocket science but can barely do up his own shoe laces. It’s also a beauty parlour in London, a lake in Alberta that was the site of an early Canadian gold rush, and an actor in the States, who appeared in season 2 of Desperate Housewives. And now a restaurant in Durban.
I tell The Poet that the world fusion always rings alarm bells. It could be like Spice where the Indian use of spicing is adapted to classic dishes creating whole new flavour experiences, but it could also be trying to be all things to all people, taking in an array of contradictory cuisines, often none done exceptionally well. Or producing bizarre results. Con-fusion as fellow food writer Ingrid Shevlin calls it.
But on a cold Tuesday night we decided to try it. Arjun is happy to join us.
It’s a large restaurant with a deck out front, and a deck at the back. Upstairs is a family dining room, a function room and even a prayer room. We sit downstairs in what feels like a glorified takeaway. Arjun even commented that when “that expensive Mexican restaurant was here it was so much smarter”. Maybe it was the shade of yellow on the walls, or the large bar counter that was no longer a bar.
But it did host a coffee machine and the weather called for one.
My cappuccino was a bizarre creation. It was a giant latte overfilling an equally giant mug that came to the table slopping into a salad plate used as a saucer. I must admit it actually tasted better than it looked, but a cappuccino it was not.
One look at the menu told me we were on the con-fusion side of fusion. Taking in everything from China to Italy, India to Portugal, and a bit of Mexico and Mozambique thrown in for good measure. And it was the first time I had seen Nothing on the menu.
Starters included buffalo wings, either barbecue or spicy, phyllo cups with either prawn, chicken or spinach and feta, nachos either chicken, steak or veg, and aloo paratha, plain or with cheese. Calamari and spring rolls also feature, the latter including an option called “polony style”. I shuddered.
We decided to share panko crumbed mushrooms (R45) which were the pick of the offerings. These were hot, fresh and crispy and came with a tangy yoghurt based dipping sauce. The mince samoosas (R30) were enjoyable, with options including chicken or corn, while the prawn rissoles (R50) tasted as if they had come straight out of a catering packet with very little flavour, and very little prawn.
Mains takes in a vast array of dishes and cuisines from classic curries to pastas, burgers, grills and even a kiddies menu. There’s a small selection of Chinese items including chow mein, fried rice and sizzlers. The first two were available in chicken, steak, prawn or “nothing”. The Poet and I had a good chuckle over this - imaging ordering a plate of “nothing”. At least the Chinese call it veg, or you could use the word plain, I suppose.
We tried the chilli steak sizzler with rice (R179) which was odd in that it was sweet, although it did have chillies in it. We wondered if the kitchen had mixed it up with the sweet and spicy steak sizzler, but were assured the order was correct. It was just nothing like the classic Cantonese dish with its spicy, peppery black bean sauce.
Then there’s a selection of pastas including mother-in-law’s pasta, which our waitress assures us is predictably fiery. And a selection of pizzas (small and large) including one with five cheeses and another with butter chicken. Burgers naturally feature - these are smash burger style - along with toasted sandwiches. And then there’s the curries - which can also be had as a bunny.
We tried the lamb angara (R139), a yoghurt based curry cooked with Indian spices.which was most enjoyable and a generous portion. It had a lot more flavour and spice than I thought it would have. I enjoyed the sesame crusted naan bread that we mopped it up with too.
And then there are some grills, a cheddar melt steak, kingklip in lemon butter sauce, prawns and peri peri chicken. There was a special on the latter (R100) for half a chicken. Arjun wanted to try it. This was disappointing. While the chicken was tender it certainly wasn’t peri peri but was instead seasoned with some sort of rub that had way too much cumin in it. It almost tasted woody and gave it a feeling of being dry even though it wasn’t. If you had stuck to chicken tikka it would have been better. The chips were like so many in Durban - in need of a second frying.
Desserts were beyond limited. A chocolate brownie and San Sebastian cheesecake - which were both not available - and a botanical banana. I assumed this had some similarity to a banana split. But fried bananas have never been my thing. But they did have Mississippi mud pie and a chocolate volcano (both R80). We ordered. Both Arjun and I like chocolate. Both were probably bought in, but we enjoyed them, swapping half way.
Food: 2 ½
Service: 2
Ambience: 2
The Bill: R698 for three.