Does The Shortmarket Club live up to the hype?

Gillian Anstey taste tests the breakfast menu at award-winning chef Luke Dale-Roberts's newest Cape Town restaurant

A dramatically dark stairway leads to The Shortmarket Club, the newest addition to Luke Dale-Roberts's restaurants, this one in collaboration with his top chef, Wesley Randles, and manager Simon Widdison.

Dale-Roberts has a magic touch. The Test Kitchen consistently features in The World's Top 50 Restaurants (it's No22 this year) and The Pot Luck Club, with its tapas-style menu split into tastes and its panoramic views of Woodstock, unsurprisingly has two sold-out sittings a night, six nights a week, never mind the packed lunches and Sunday brunch.

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So it was surprising to sit down at The Shortmarket Club and stare at the six items on its breakfast menu and declare there was nothing I felt like eating.

I contemplated the boiled egg with soldiers - the couple at the adjacent table were enjoying theirs - and wondered if I dare ask for the cheese trolley from the dessert list.

I settled on the smoked-hake dish which I was told was an omelette with bechamel sauce. Titled an Arnold Bennett, I have subsequently learnt it is named after the British novelist who stayed for a while at the Savoy Hotel in London and insisted the special omelette he had there - and apparently still on its menu - be made for him wherever he travelled in the world. Despite not being fond of hake or bechamel sauce, the soft, sort of an open omelette was tasty.

My friend chose hot smoked trout, which was served salad-style in a bowl with a poached egg, marrow, avo, nasturtium and miso butter. It looked insubstantial. She said it was nice but she wouldn't order it again because it was "unbreakfasty".

The best part of the meal was the fennel-seeded thin toast served with homemade butter and delicious marmalade. Bravo! All guests' breakfasts on the morning we visited were preceded by a maizemeal porridge on the house. Mine was my first taste of the breakfast staple, and it was not bad.

I will return to The Shortmarket Club but not for breakfast. I loved the restaurant's flair - the sensational decor is conceptualised by Dale-Roberts's wife Sandalene - which, together with its superb service, makes guests feel like royalty.

sub_head_start THE LOWDOWN sub_head_end

Vibe: A wonderful combination of old plush and modern charm

Price: R60-R110 for breakfast, minus drinks

What to wear: Cape Town trendy, so it's anything goes

Who will like it: Anyone who enjoys good food and is happy with limited, offbeat breakfast options

Hot tip: Make sure you try the delights of the drinks trolley which include a Bloody Mary with a stick of bacon

sub_head_start SCORECARD: 18/20 sub_head_end

Food: 4

Ambience: 5

Service: 5

Value for money: 4