Last month my husband, Garith & I were invited to go, experience and dine at a restaurant I didn’t even realise existed – Balata Restaurant . It is in the Fairway Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort on the Randpark Golf Course. It really is a hidden gem within the Randpark Ridge suburb.

The Food & Wine

They have a very impressive and extensive wine list, which made it difficult to choose what we wanted to drink. However, after a lot of deliberating, we chose the Bayerskloof Pinotage. Which was so smooth and delicious. Well worth a try if you enjoy a Pinotage.

The food menu, is also pretty comprehensive. It has just the right amount of choices and I was sold as soon as I saw there was pork belly! After going through the menu a few time, Garith & I decided to totally splurged and have a 3 course meal.

Starters
I started with the cauliflower & truffle soup…If you are a truffle lover, like I am then you will find that this soup is earthy and super delicious. It is very smooth and creamy with just the perfect amount of truffle. Garith had the chicken livers, which are one of his favourites and he never gets them at home, so will often have them when we go out. He loved the curry flavour of the chicken livers and that they were accompanied by poppadoms.

Mains

It seems that both Garith and myself are just so predictable, after looking at the mains, we knew exactly what we would each choose and we were not wrong.

I obviously had and thoroughly enjoyed the braised pork belly. It was a little different to what I am used to, as there was no crackling but to be totally honest, I didn’t really notice, as it was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing! If you are a fan of pork belly, then definitely give it a try, you will not be disappointed.
And, Garith had the duck, which was very tender, perfectly cooked and so delectable! I managed to steal a little piece of duck off his plate…I’m not normally a fan of duck…but I was blown away by how good it was!

Dessert

Finally, my favourite part of every meal – dessert! They have a small but good choice of desserts. I decided to try their dessert special of the week, it was a Royal Blue Velvet Cake. Normally cake is not my first choice but it sounded so delicious, I just had to try it. Let me just say, it was incredible! The perfect amount of sweet and was layered with coconut buttercream…so heavenly! It was not a combination I expected but was amazed by how well it went together. Garith, loves a baked cheesecake so was sold on the ginger cheesecake. It looked as pretty as a picture and tasted as good as it looked. It was divine, soft, buttery and yummy!

Selection of photos from dinner at Balata Restaurant (taken with my iPhone)

Service & Decor 
I really liked the decor, it was simple and elegant. You definitely felt like you were walking into a restaurant that serves good and beautifully presented food. The service is something that I actually cannot comment on enough. It is not often that I feel that a waiter actually deserves their tip but at Balata, that was not the case. Our waiter was fantastic and the service in general was incredible. Our waiter was so attentive and helpful when choosing our meals.

Overall Impression 
We had a fantastic evening of great food, wine and service. I am glad that I am now aware of Balata, as I will definitely be going back, as I would like to try their Sunday lunch as it sounds like a lovely experience. I would highly recommend going there if you enjoy good food and service.

Contact Details
The Fairway Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort
Setperk Street, Randpark (Randpark Golf Club)
Randburg
Johannesburg
South Africa

Tel : +27 (0)11 478 8000