Food & drink

Dalliance in the V&A Waterfront has done a little menu revamp

by Karisa
written by Karisa

Now I’m well aware that restaurants in the V&A Waterfront struggle a bit with that “it’s only for tourists” stigma, add to that the fear of it not being good because it’s inside a shopping centre and things get even trickier.  But with all that said, there are a few gems in the V&A that I personally really enjoy, one of those being Dalliance which is located on the upper level, in the same passage as Louis Vuitton, etc.

I first stumbled upon them back in February of last year and also did a blog feature (which you can have a look at over here).  When they opened their menu was tapas only, which I loved because I’m a huge tapas fan in general.  A year in and they’ve now decided to change things up a bit by switching over to a starters, mains & dessert style menu, and to test drive it, they invited a few media folks over for dinner.

Decor wise, if you haven’t yet popped your head in at Dalliance you’re seriously missing out.  It’s a very sexy space that even allows you to hide away around the corner and completely forget that you’re inside a shopping centre while enjoying a bit of a V&A Waterfront view.

Let me give you a quick tour:

Not too shabby hey?

So as I mentioned above, the menu has changed from plates to share to more sizeable meals.  Luckily my dining partner-in-crime, Tristan, was still willing to share to ensure we could still try a nice variety of things (well he didn’t really have a choice in the matter – I wanted to try everything!)… 😉

For starters we went for the calamari (R95) & the trinchado (R80):

This dish is actually a lucky carry over from their old menu. Served with pineapple, peppers & a lovely vinaigrette, this dish is beautifully fresh.

This is a completely new dish. It could have been slightly more spicy (I like it hot hot hot), but that meat was beautifully cooked and we used every bit of that bread to soak up that sauce…

Then for mains we opted for the sushi platter (not a standard menu item) and the sirloin (R160):

This platter was created specially for our media dinner by taking a selection from the new sushi section of their menu.  It consisted of:  2 prawn maki, 2 salmon roses, 2 yellowfin tuna rolls & 2 Dalliance rolls.  Everything was super fresh & very tasty.  No complaints at all…

Served with truffle butter & duck fat fries… Just a thing to note – the truffle butter cooks the meat slightly after they plate it.  We had to send ours back as it was a bit overdone, but they were very cool about it.  My advice would be to always go a bit more rare than you would normally go.  So medium rare instead of just medium for example.  Aside from that, this was a lovely dish.

Then for dessert we tried the pineapple cheesecake (R85) and the chocolate fondant (R75):

This dessert featured on their previous menu as well. Wasn’t really my thing…  But a nice, light option if you’re a cheesecake fan.

The fondant is a completely new menu item and was absolutely delicious! (it’s just quite rich though, so definitely a good sharing option)

To have a look at their full menu, hop on over here.  I do feel that with these menu changes they have lost their pricing edge a bit, thus blending more into the regular V&A pricing zone.  You’re getting larger portions, which obviously also come with higher prices, but if like me you like to taste a few different things, you may find it a bit limiting now.

That said, their food quality is still really good, the service is top-notch, and overall the team is super warm & welcoming, ensuring that you have a lovely time.

For these reasons I’m going to give them a kiss4 on my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter scale & the next time you’re in the V&A looking for a great spot to rest your feet after a manic shopping spree, you should definitely give them a try.

For reservations, you can also contact them on:

xxx

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