A few days ago a group of us at Dining-OUT were invited to enjoy a meal at the African Pride Crystal Towers’ in-house restaurant, Towers. Given the hotel’s exceptional reputation among business and leisure travellers and its stated commitment to providing guests with the opportunity to experience ‘the Crystal life’, we were expecting nothing short of spectacular.
 
The hotel’s foyer, through which the Towers Restaurant is accessed, certainly met this expectation. The high-ceilinged hall is slick and modern, complete with water feature and a chic take on the traditional chandelier idea. Passing through the reception area and deli we were able to ogle some of the desserts in their glass casing before being lead to our table in the main restaurant.
 
After brief indecision over who would be seated where, 2 of us found ourselves in what one member of our group termed the’ Alice-in-Wonderland’ chairs – high backed armchairs which gave their tenants a regal air. A delicious red wine (Warlord from Cavalli Cellars in Stellenbosch) was ordered and served quickly, giving us a chance to take in the restaurant with its red and white colour scheme, lush carpet and thick white table linen.
 

Between us we sampled many of the options from the dinner menu, experiencing not only the textures and flavours of each dish but the presentation too. Our gourmet evening began with a rich mushroom soup served in espresso cups, followed by our starters – Pork Belly, Goats Cheese and Tuna & Avocado Tartare respectively. As you can imagine, the goat’s cheese option was especially rich, served with crushed walnuts, smoked aubergine, apricot, a balsamic reduction and tomato reduction.
 

The mains we settled on included the Beef Fillet with fondant potato, baby spinach, wild mushrooms, garlic and truffle jus, as well as sweet breads (cow pancreas to the uninformed, which was tasted in the spirit of the evening, but ultimately left to the side of the plate); Linefish with herbes de provence crust, cauliflower, shallot confit, patagonia squid, champagne cream & salsa verde; Lamb Rack with lamb coriander ravioli, smoked chilli glaze, butternut, corn, tomato and tierra coffee jus; and the Salmon with asparagus, pea purée, yuzu and grapefruit chutney, edamame beans & orange gastrique. The general consensus was good, very good!
 

The desserts were equally droolicious and again we sampled nearly the full spread – 3 interpretations of traditional milk tart, chocolate mud pie, lemon meringue and the butternut pistachio cheesecake, served with pear ice cream and berry jelly. Those of us who opted for coffee were treated even more with bite-sized chocolate brownies, while the whole experience was topped off by friendly attentive service from our waiter, who not only cracked a few jokes but made sure we thoroughly understood the gourmet vocabulary on the menu.
 
In short, a tasty experience in a sophisticated environment – a worthwhile novelty experience to perk up a cold and rainy Thursday night.