ASH Restaurant serves a mean burger along with some other gems

My foodie friend Dax (he from Relax with Dax) and I recently tried out ASH Restaurant, the newest addition to the 81 Church Street space which also houses Publik Wine & Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants.

The restaurant is actually a collaboration between Publik, Frankie Fenner and a chef by the name of Ash Heeger who’s previous experience includes The Test Kitchen & La Colombe (pretty impressive no?).

ASH all about “charcoal cooking”, ethically-sourced meat (sourced by Frankie Fenner of course), a great wine list (curated by Publik) and then you can even browse the butcher counter and add some items for home to your bill.  #HighFiveToThat

Their website simply states:

ASH is what happens when you focus on flavour, instead of all the other unnecessary frills. The menu is concise, considered and seasonal. Meat, vegetables and even some seafood is cooked over open flames. There is a strong emphasis on nose-to-tail eating, with sustainability being a driving force behind every dish. Every component on every plate has been conceptualised with this in mind.

The space is found down a set of stairs off Church Street.  It’s a little moody and even a little dark, so photography is a bit tough, but I did like the overall feel.  Let me show you around:

Their menu is divided into “Snackles” (all priced at R75), “Colds” (R90 – R95), “Hots” (R90 – R115), Sides (R55) and dessert (R75 – R120 for their cheese board).

We decided to try the Lamb Breast / Ribs with hot sauce & mayo as well as the Pig Head Scrumpet with apple, Hanepoot, Szechuan Sauce and pickled onions  from the “Snackles” section, followed by the Burger with mustard mayo, Emmental cheese, fermented ketchup, red onion, pickles and a sweet butter bun (R95) as well as the 30 Day Dry Aged Beef Rump with smoked bone marrow & gravy (R115) with a side of their bone marrow mash (R55)…  We did not have space for dessert unfortunately, but there’s always next time, that’s for sure!

This is what it all looked like:

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed everything we sampled… well everything except the bone marrow mash, it wasn’t for me.  But out of all the yummy things we gobbled down, the burger definitely stole the show.  It was burger perrrrrrfection in my book. 😉

I’ve since recommended Ash to a few Air BnB guests who have thoroughly enjoyed it as well, which has definitely made me keen for a return visit soon.

Just something to note – they do two dinner sittings:  One at 6:30 and the other at 8:30.  I’m not a huge fan of set dinner sittings – the one always feels a bit too early and the other a bit too late, but it is what it is, so just keep that in mind.

Overall we had a really lovely evening at Ash and I’m therefore going to give them a score of  on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale.

To book a table (bookings are highly recommended as they get quite busy), you can contact them on: 021 4247204 or reservations@ashrestaurant.co.za.

They are open Mon – Sat from 10am to 10pm (Closed on Sundays)

xxx