hemingway's restaurant & wine cellar

18/07/2019 (1*)
friends invited us for an anniversary dinner at hemingways. i’ve been to the restaurant before (i had a good experience) and on a recommendation, they decided to visit the establishment for their anniversary. we were shown to our table and we started to have a look at the menu while placing our order for drinks. since they ran out of a few things on the menu, we decided not to order starters. after the drinks arrived, we ordered mains:
- pork belly served with honey & mustard sweet potato and butternut purée (7.5/10)
- men without women pizza (7/10)
- to have and not to have pizza (7/10)
after we enjoyed the mains, we placed our order for dessert.
after an hour, we tried to get hold of our waiter to find out what is happening. he tried explaining that there was an issue in the kitchen and the desserts will be out soon (not sure why there was no feedback in between). when the desserts arrived:
- the fondants were as dry as can be, ice cream melted
- the panacotta i ordered was more like a mousse, ice cream also melted.
- the creme brûlée was ok
the evening went down south very quickly and resulted in patrons who will not return to this restaurant.


30/06/2018 (4*)
on invitation, we went to hemingway’s for a session and lunch was served. firstly, the service is top notch. we ordered the lamb shank and pork belly. the food arrived in a reasonabletimewith the wine ordered. i was impressed with the taste of the shank - well cooked and not tough at all. the mash which accompanied the shank was good too! the red wine topped it off nicely. looking forward to my next visit.

came here firsttimefor restaurant week, and was very impressed. we live nearby but had never come. the ostrich carpaccio starter was below average (only reason it isn't getting a higher score!) and the beetroot jelly lacked flavour.the pork belly though - amazing! crispy crackling, wonderful sweet potato mash. the chocolate mousse is delicious too. service is probably the best i've received in years. attentive without being intrusive. they even remembered us when we came for our second meal a few months later!

23.05.2017 i was invited to a foodie meet up at this lovely restaurant. classy, elegant and stylish and yes it's in the pretoria area.

warmly welcomed on arrival by the staff and seated at our long table for dinner. to start we were given various breads to nibble on along with the usual chilli, butter, parmesan and olives. fantastic start.

then came the amuse buche of ostrich carpaccio with aoili. unusual yet delicious and it set the scene for the rest of the meals to come.

starters i decided to try something completely different that i haven't found on other menus. duck bitterballen. wow probably the best dish of the evening for me. it had the right crunch on the outside with the smooth texture on the inside and it paired absolutely brilliantly with the berry salad. it just oozed flavour.

for mains i ordered the rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes with carrots and green beans with a jus. my meat was slightly under cooked so i sent it back, and secondtimeround it was perfectly cooked, i just wish it had more seasoning.

lastly for dessert i opted for the amarula chocolate mousse. i was very disappointed with this even though the chocolate enrobing was superb. it was a let down interms of a chocolate mousse, let alone an amarula one. it was ridiculously small, there was probably just over a teaspoon of mousse inside. i could barely taste the amarula and for the price i don't think it was value for money at all. i felt like i was just given a thin slice of chocolate and you can see the size of it compared to my lego mascot.

regardless it was a lovely evening. that duck bitterballen did it for me and i'd happily go back for more. they also have a lot of events at their premises so check them out if you are a wine lover.

this restaurant is a gem, it's very classy and elegant and i must say it delivers all thetimewithout fail. the service and the quality of the food is exceptional.

this restaurant offers a truly french cuisine experience in the heart of centurion. a true gem. upon arrival at the establishment, my wife and i were greeted by a very friendly liya, who was also our waitron for the evening. the warm and cozy atmosphere was an ideal setting for our dining experience.

we were seated in a romantic corner where we were taken away by this gastronomy journey. it started with a complimentary amuse-bouche (tender ostrich on a potato dauphinoise). this was followed by our delicious starters, fresh oysters (flown in fresh daily from the western cape) and their smoor snoek ravioli. oh my, what a start. after the starters, we were spoilt with another complimentary dish, thistimea homemade peach sorbet.

our mains were the braised lamb shank and seared salmon. the lamb was tender and served on a smooth potato mash, with fresh vegetables and a brandy and mint jus. my wife prefers a slightly cooked through salmon, so her fish was ultra-juicy, served on peppadew risotto and julienne vegetables. this was paired with a wonderful guardian peak shiraz, which complimented the lamb especially well. we ended the evening with the dark chocolate fondant, served with cabernet and blueberry ice cream. this was a extremely decadent dessert, soft and moist cake with the homemade ice cream. simply delicious. when we finished the evening, i had to compliment the chef, who was sent to our table. what a delightful young man. even mentioned he is second in command and didn’t take the praise which was meant for the chef.

this restaurant deserves the positive rating it received thus far. everything was amazing and the dining experience was exquisite. i will have to say i have found by new favourite fine dining restaurant. i will most definitely recommend this restaurant. (just a pity i cannot score it 10 out of 5)

was wonderful service. the food was very disappointing. and the ambience bland. i have avoided this place for a longtimebecause the zomato reviews didn't match the word on the street. thistimethe word on the street was that.

hemingways... what can i say it pretty much lives up to its name! ernest hemingway what a legend and this place is legendary. from the moment you walk in service is beyond excellent. our waiter micheal who has been there since its opening in 2009 was such a great host and adviser. he knew what he was talking about. i ate the braised lamb shank with apple purée, ratatouille veg and brandy mint jus... soft to the bone, the meat literally falling off! vegetables lacking but none the less amazing ;))) my friend ate the seafood pasta - she was very impressed with the prawns,calamari & mussels cooked to perfection. spices being very complimentary to the dish, the dish being perfectly sized and just great flavors. we opted to share the dessert amarula chocolate mousse and almond cheesecake. the mousse was not very moussy to my liking as it was always one of my alltimefavorite desserts. all and all the service is impeccable, great food very happy customer! if you live nearby do yourself a favor and try it out !! ;)

service was impeccable. fantastic selection of wines and the food exceptional! very few restaurants still give palate cleansers between courses. guys, this is the place for a 1st date, anniversary or any othertimeyou want to impress the significant other.

had such a stunningtimeat hemingway's with friends for valentines dinner. the food was really amazing and the set up was thought through.. enjoyed it and will be back!

dinner at hemingway's last night. we were curious to find out ourselves what a fair rating for this restaurant might be as there are quite divergent views.
set in a hotel the decor etc is modern, perhaps unexpected for a venue with this name.
the staff still seemed to be in holiday mode and didn't really get into the rhythm the whole evening. management should really spend sometimeon refresher training.
wow, the chef certainly makes up for the slack waiters. the food was unexpectedly well presented and frankly delicious.
considering the prices, also for the wine, i will overlook the slack service and award a rare 5,0. i'll be back.

unpleasant experience overall. my filet steak was well done the firsttimearound and then the secondtimearound was medium, although both times i asked for it to be medium rare. the dish was missing components such as the mange tout and the red wine jus, but at that point i was not going to send it back a thirdtimeso i just ate it. had the "amarula chocolate moose" for desert. mistake. was completely frozen instead of set and as a result completely dense. i have the sense that they pre-make and plate up all the deserts and then freeze them and serve them as they are ordered, so who knows when my desert was made?! suffice to say that was the first and lasttimethey will ever see my face in that restaurant again.

had an awesome dining experience at hemingway's restaurant last night!i have been visiting them for quite sometimeand the service is always impeccable, the food fantastic and the wine even better!!!  now they are planning a festival!  definitely not missing out on this one!  1 - 3 may - the harvest festival, buying my tickets at computicket today!!