quills restaurant & bar - intercontinental hotel

had the most wonderful experience at the restaurant making our own meals together with the chef. not only was that fun but it tasted amazing. our meals were also paired with exquisite wines. it was an afternoon of entertainment, good food & wine and insightful. looking forward to going back.

randomly dropped in because i was starving and meeting a friend we had a great time, it was rather late and we were amazed that the kitchen was still open... the waiter was rather pleasant and did all he could for us to be comfortable. the food portions are really sizable and there was no way we were going to finish our food. the warm drinks we has were prepared with lots of love and at the end of it all we had forgotten we were at the airport.

quills
or tambo intercontinental

my boyfriend had decided to surprise me for our first date with a fine dining experience at quills.

upon our arrival we were politely greeted by a staff member. as we stepped in,my boyfriend whispered " surprise" , my heart was filled with excitement as i looked around. the ambiance was very modern and cosy. i felt very special, fine dining on a first date, he sure did score a big point for that. i was impressed.

as it was pretty late into the night, we decided to skip the starter and go straight for the main course.

i ordered spinach and ricotta pasta ( spicy napolitina sauce, ricotta cheese,baby spinach,sundried tomato)
my boyfriend had ordered lamb shank ( slow braised lamb shank ,sweet potato mash,oven roasted mirepoix,merlot jus).

sounds good huh? especially when you are hungry and looking forward to the meal. there were few people enjoying their own experience, the restaurant was not very busy that night. yet, our meal only arrived after 1 hour 30 min and no one came to check on us or to inform us that it would take longer than we hoped for. that was a very long wait for a place thats not fully booked.

my boyfriend was starting to loose his cool. finally our meal was served and we were ready to dig in. i took my first bite of the pasta and i knew it was going to be difficult to finish the dish that i had ordered. something about the pasta did not taste fresh and the sauce was nothing like i had ever tasted before. i am a big pasta fan so i know exactly how spinach and ricotta should taste like.

as my boyfriend had worked so hard to make this night perfect,i decided not to ruin it by complaining.
my boyfriends comment to the lamb shank also did not sound too impressive. i took a bite from him and it was average i guess,the lamb shank was not as tender as it should have been and the sweet potato mash tasted like, i don't know what mash but i was not going to put that in my mouth again.

we both were unhappy and disappointed with our meal. my boyfriend was very upset as he wanted to make this first date a perfect one for me. i did not want to end our date with a bad vibe so i stopped him from complaining that night and decided to head somewhere else for dessert.

it was indeed a very disappointing experience at the quills. my first date with my boyfriend then was ruined. quills might have failed to impress me but my boyfriend made such an impression that he ended up being my husband 😉

pros: cosy. great ambiance.

con: bad food

i attended a lunch with a group of fellow foodies to attend a chefs table lunch, hosted by chef yoshan.

we were served canapés and sparkling wine on the balcony, but soon retired in to the main room, due to the heat outside.

the tables were beautifully set, with an edible centerpiece, delicious rolls of different varieties, including a charcoal one (great for the digestion!) homemade butters, including garlic and herb - very yummy.

after an introduction and welcome from the hotel, the wine sommelier took us through the wine choices made to pair with each dish.

we were then served an amuse bouche of a prawn and baby marrow roulade with a mango salsa, which hit the spot perfectly.

we then got our chefs hats on and made our own starter following a demonstration by chef yoshan. we made our own salmon roulade in teams of two, which was loads of fun.

we then plated these, perfectly paired with a fish cake and a salmon spring roll, on the tastiest curry sauce.

unfortunately i had to leave after that, as i had to get back to a clients offices - but the rest of the group prepared and enjoyed their chicken ballotine and pork belly lardons greatly (so i am told ;) )

very enjoyable day out with friends, and always great to get hands on with my food. i would certainly recommend, and visit quills again.

* my meal was complimentary

we where invited to a chefs table event, with the executive chef yoshan.

the afternoon started off with tasty canapés, champagne.

we were served with a refreshing starter, the theme for the lunch being peaches.

we where in for a real treat as we had the opportunity to cook, we made our very own salmon roulade, this was so interactive and fun to partner up, and plate our dishes.

our wine was paired well with each dish.

the kingklip fish was prepared perfectly, paired well with my chardonnay.

we went onto making our very own pomme william, this is a mashed potato, dipped in flour, egg and bread crumbs, then deep fried. with a sprig of rosemary.

the dessert was cooling, a perfect accompaniment to the menu.

the chocolate truffles, were mouthwatering this was something special to take home.

food is mediocre and cold, didn't get what i ordered, management no where to be seen. highly over priced for such a dull experience. did not enjoy it.

it's with great pleasure that i give this a 5 star rating. i attended the launch of the new summer menu at the chef's table and had an absolutely fantastic evening. a lot of people don't know this, but you don't have to be staying at the hotel to use the restaurant. everything was excellent, the food, the atmosphere and the service.
i can't wait to go there again!

very very good. beautiful cosy but elegant setting. food is good. parking is a problem and getting in and out is a bit complicated. parking ticket is an additional. still worth it

definitely worth a trip to the airport for this gem of a restaurant, chef yoshan is amazing and the restaurant is the perfect place for a business meeting with someone in transit. classy with an african chic flair, one of my favourite spoil spots. the black bread rolls are amazing and the secret ingredient is apparently not squid ink

inside the intercon at or tambo, apart from the chain restaurants at the airport, this is the best option for a quality meal. spacious dinning room, good food and efficient service. more for the quality rather than quantity and expensive for sa standards. still a good option if you are around.

this restaurant is trying hard to get that exclusive & 1980s-style service culture. we dealt with a door man, maitre de, hostess, head waiter & manager - whatever their titles, all in all, 5 supervisory people who were constantly in mild panic & only disrupted things. none knew what the others were doing resulting in continuous interruptions with the same questions put to us in brown-nosing style. hardly authentic service.

i'm sure the guys doing the real graft & trying to make it all work (the waiters!!) were just as annoyed as we were.

the food was above average - very good in fact (thankfully the head chef stayed in the kitchen).

but watch out for the prices. unnecessarily expensive for the whole experience - even for an airport venue. when the bill comes you'll be disappointed at what you're paying for.

i was extremely disappointed with this restaurant. i brought my girlfriend here on our first dinner date and it never meet our expectations. we came here because it's open 24 hours and we came at about midnight. the scenery is nice, ambience is nice but the food was terrible. she ordered a pasta and it was bad, i even tried it. we ended up wasting it. she wasn't interested in taking anything else from the menu either. my rack of lamb was bland, the rice that came with it was even worse. the service was also extremely slow, there was only one other table that was occupied besides ours. so i couldn't understand why it was taking so long for us to be served. i was going to complain and take it up further, but my girlfriend pleaded with me not to. overall bad experience and definitely not worth the money. bill was about r700 and we weren't even drinking. terrible place. will never come back again or recommend anyone to either.

went for the launch of the new menu and i was absolutely blown away by executive chef trevor boyd and his team's masterpieces.

we were served a 6 course meal with wine pairings for 3 of the courses.

the amuse-bouche (single, bite-sized hors d’œuvre) was butternut bobotie open ravioli. very flavoursome vegetarian dish. the portion was bigger than anticipated. pleasant surprise for a amuse-bouche.

the starter was a chilled spicy tomato soup with marinated avocado, dressed prawns and sundried tomato pesto oil. this dish was a beautiful surprise. perfect for spring/ summer, with its cool, subtle, tangy flavours.

the entrée was norwegian salmon, study of peas and beurre noisette. this dish disappointed and let the overall standard of dishes down. the salmon was cooked to perfection but very bland. salmon is often best when you experience is rich flavour.

in between the entrée and main course we had a gin and tonic sorbet to cleanse and ready the pallet.

the main course was a beef fillet encrusted with biltong powder, poddadom, potato cake, wild mushrooms and thyme jus. exceptional!!! biltong seasoning worked well; it was my first time tasting the poddadom and it was extraordinary; the potato cake had delicate flavours to it and has changed the way i look at mash potatoes; and the mushrooms added a great twist to the meal.

lastly, the dessert was chocolate mousse, chocolate malva pudding, hazelnut ice cream and white chocolate powder. very different, well presented. i wasn't fond of the chocolate malva, traditional malva tastes better. however, the ice cream-chocolate mousse combination was amazing.

the next morning, we had a 5 course breakfast to choose from. besides the continental and pastry options, the hot breakfast was done in true 5 star fashion. we had the "boerewores wheels" and the "african breakfast", both unique to quills restaurant and both delicious.

overall, sublime food by trevor and the team. the only downfall for the restaurant is you have to be close to or at the airport to experience it, unless you are willing to travel. if you are, it is worth your time and effort.