Delicious pasta goodness over at the Pasta Café in Green Point

When it comes to a good comfort meal, a tasty bowl of pasta really does hit the spot, doesn’t it?

There is however a big different between regular ol’ pre-made pasta and fresh, homemade pasta that’s been prepared from scratch.  But with crazy schedules, who’s got time for that?

Well luckily that’s where the Pasta Café in Green Point comes in…

I was recently invited to try out their pasta which is prepared fresh, daily and takes about 6 minutes to make, from flour to your plate.  So it really doesn’t get any fresher than that.

The man behind Pasta Café’s menu is chef Martin van der Walt.  Martin grew up cooking with his French grandmother.  She instilled a passion for real food, made from scratch, and with love and it formed the foundation for the chef he is today.  Initially, however, he didn’t actually set out to be a professional chef at all, but all that changed when he got the opportunity to work at Italiano in Johannesburg under the mentorship of Hugo and Maria from Bologne.  They spotted Martin’s passion for food and decided to teach him all the basics of authentic Italian cooking, and with this his love for cooking was ignited again.

After 3 years of studying and having to do his conscription in the army, Martin finally set out to begin his career as a chef.  His fascination with the Middle East and its cuisine drew him to Israel where he worked on various private yachts as a chef, before continuing on to work all over the world.  (Interesting side bar:  He was even invited to do a year apprenticeship in Belgium under Michelin Star chefs at The Bakadeer Restaurant)

A bit closer to home, Martin has also lent his vast experience to the likes of Spier, the Arabella Sheraton group, Blaauwklippen and even Kloof Street House, and after all his travels he decided to make Cape Town his home… (And I’m so glad he did, because let me tell you, his pastas are delicious)

But before we get to the eating part, let me give you a quick tour of the place:

Now let’s talk food:  On the menu you’ll find various meat, seafood and vegetarian pastas.  With most of the pastas you can also choose your type of pasta, or you can be completely creative by attempting to build your very own pasta.  For those who suffer from gluten issues, they also have gluten free options available, and portion wise you can choose between a single portion, a double portion or a family meal (which is designed to serve 2 adults & 2 kids) > Check out their full menu over here

With single portions starting from as little as R29.50, I think you’ll agree that their prices (especially when you consider that everything’s freshly made) are crazy-good.  It was really hard to decide on just one pasta, because there were so many great sounding options, but luckily I had brought my friend D along so we could at least do a mid-way dish swap.

We went for the following:

Now the dessert wasn’t really my thing (I should’ve guessed it wouldn’t be though, because I’m not the biggest ricotta fan), but I hear the chocolate version is very popular…  BUT those pastas were everything I had hoped they would be.  Fresh, tasty, and bursting with flavour.  Just the way a great pasta should be.  As I mentioned above, their prices are also very good, especially when you start looking at the double & family portions and the extra value you get.

If you’re wanting to score even more, you can also take advantage of their family meal specials on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays – check out their specials board or give them a call to confirm, but these were the specials when I popped in (just to give you an idea):

Important to note is that they’re still waiting for their liquor license BUT in the meantime you’re welcome to bring your own bottle of vino along (there’s no corkage to worry about).

For me, Pasta Café is the perfect spot for a quick, casual meal, or even for a mean takeaway order.  Their food is really good, their prices are really good, and for that reason I’m going to give them the following score on the Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale:

I’ve also been using their olive oil back at home (which is really lovely btw), AND I took a portion of Rigatoni home with me to try my hand at my own pasta masterpiece:

Pasta Café is open 7 days a week from 8am to 10pm, you’ll find them at Shop 1 – Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, Green Point, and you can contact them on 076 089 9174.

So go on, get your carb on people. 🙂

xxx