Ray’s Kitchen Emberton
Where:
90 Ashley Drive, Emberton Estate, Gillitts
Open:
Tuesday to Sunday 11am to 9pm
Call:
066 511 0252
Ray's Kitchen has opened a second venue, in the new Emberton Estate, just off the M13 in Gillitts, adding a much-needed bistro to the Upper Highway repertoire. On a recent bridge weekend in Hillcrest, we had to try it.
It is in the original farm house, which has been stylishly renovated. There’s a main dining room, bar area, casual eating area on the side verandah, and a private dining room, with views of the pizza oven in operation. It’s smart, yet comfortable and casual, and was buzzing on a Saturday night. Service was very friendly.
There is also a small but decent wine list that’s reasonably priced, with enough options by the glass to satisfy.
The menu is similar to what one would expect of the Salt Rock branch, great comfort food, cooked really well, with a few surprises on the specials board to keep things interesting. It’s a menu that’s Italian inspired.
Starters take in crispy calamari with spicy mayo, or peri-peri chicken livers with toasted sourdough. There’s an antipasto board, a fancy tomato risotto cake, spicy roasted chickpeas, and bitter ballen - that’s Dutch style meatballs with slaw and crispy onion rings.
The menu at Rays also takes in a number of interesting light meal options, for lunch or just in between, with salads, gourmet open sarmies and good old fashioned toasties. There’s even a range of home-made burgers - chicken or beef.
Most of the party didn’t want starters, but I tried a favourite from the North Coast, phyllo wrapped prawns with an Asian Mayo (R95). These were as good as ever, the prawns a decent size and juicy, the phyllo perfectly crisp. I passed them round the table and the bowl almost came back empty - I had to intervene in a hurry.
Mains offer a peppercorn fillet, or rump with wholegrain mustard sauce. There’s pork belly with tempura sweet potato or done Asian style. The deboned peri-peri chicken, cooked in the pizza oven, was superb when I had it at Salt Rock, while the mussel ravioli and the mushroom ravioli are both worth mentioning.
Two of our party went for the pork schnitzel, one with the tempura sweet potato fries, the other with mash (R129). Not a schnitzel fan, I had to admit these were good, with the crumb crisp and the whole light and tasty. They were served with a good mushroom sauce.
Another two had the roast quail (R189) cooked in the pizza oven, stuffed with a rich mushroom risotto and served with a selection of roasted veg. This really is a superb dish, all agreed.
I opted for the good old-fashioned sausage and mash (R89), which was two chunky and very garlicky Italian sausages, on a bed of silky mash, topped with a good onion gravy. The crispy onion rings on top were a nice touch. It was served with some perfectly cooked “squeaky” green beans.
But perhaps the pick of the evening was a special of langoustines on a home-made fettuccine (R195), creating a dish that was rich, tasty and generous.
We skipped dessert, which included a selection of ice-creams, brownies or waffles, in favour a very good coffee and yes, the Dom Pedro specialist was with us and he gave this the thumbs up.
Food:
4
Service:
3½
Ambience:
3½