The Alphen Boutique Hotel in Constantia has always been a gorgeous space, and their 5 Rooms restaurant used to be such a great option for a romantic dinner or group function… That’s why I was a little sad to hear that 5 Rooms had closed and in it’s place was a new modern, Italian restaurant by the name of Blanko…
Luckily that little bit of “but I don’t like change” worry melted away as soon as I saw how beautiful the Blanko transformation was. The garden setting is still there, the sexy bar is still there, but the 5 different rooms have been given a fresh, new look with the help of the team from the Goodman gallery who’s handpicked striking pieces of art to perfectly complement each room.
Let me show you around:
Told you right… just be-a-u-ti-ful…
Blanko (which just like the Alphen, is part of the Kove Collection of restaurants & hotels) is open Mon to Sun from 12h00 to 24hoo. They have a canape menu and a drinks menu if you’re perhaps just looking for something light paired with a cocktail (or two). But we (that’s me & my friend D) were there for the full dinner experience… And definitely very excited to be…
Their dinner menu is split into tapas style items (R50 – R125), soup (R65 – R75), salads (R75 – R85), antipasti aka starters (R65 – R120), seafood dishes (R165 – R205), meat dishes (R180 – R220), sides (R25 – R35), pasta (R75 – R135), pizza (R70 – R120) and dessert (R50 – R75). So price wise I thought it’s pretty standard for Cape Town.
For those who like to peruse the full menu before you visit a restaurant, you can have a look at all their dinner, drinks & canape menus over here.
We decided to kick things off with their selection of local Italian style cheeses (R125) which came highly recommended by our waiter:
Was delicious… even the very very stinky one up front… My only criticism would be that the bread sticks they serve it with aren’t great for scooping up cheese. We just asked them to bring some more of the bread they start you off with, which they were happy to do.
The verdict? Hands down the best calamari I’ve had in ages! This truly is a beautiful dish… didn’t want it to end…
Unfortunately this dish fell short… The one piece of veal was a bit tough and the other was quite oily (probably from being at the bottom). Our waiter handled the situation very well though. He took it to the chef to try without us even asking him to and then came back to confirm that the chef had tried it and agreed that it wasn’t up to par. They gave us the option of ordering something else, but I was already getting quite full, so didn’t think I’d manage another dish, and therefore we decided not to.
This was a lovely dish again. Loved the flavours and we polished the plate…
Lovely, but verrrrrry sweet. I’d definitely recommend sharing this baby…
Which was creamy and delicious. Definitely a lovely way to end off our meal…
Other notable mentions: The space is just gorgeous & inviting, especially the larger room where we were seated, and the service was impeccable in that we didn’t have to ask for anything, our waiter was always one step ahead.
For these reasons, I’m going to give Blanko a score of 
on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale & recommend that you pay them a visit.
To book a table you can contact them on:
Contact +27 (0) 21 795 6313 or
e-mail: manager@blanko.co.za
xxx