NV-80

4/2/2014

NV-80 is the slick new restaurant of legendary Gonçalves brothers, Naldo and Victor - of the highly successful, long-standing fine dining restaurant Pigalle. And it’s quite obvious that this duo have a knack for producing top restaurants.

The high ceilings and sophisticated, yet understated interior design mean that NV-80 offers a relaxed atmosphere. Almost has that Miami /South beach vibe to it. The staff is friendly, attentive and bloody good. And they serve some of the best steaks we have ever tasted.

The beef on offer is the award winning Chalmar beef - known for superior quality and tenderness. The cattle are free of artificial growth hormones or antibiotics, and stress free and harvested on the farm. Their diets are an exact science, fed a balanced diet consisting of two rations per day – all to ensure healthy and tasty beasts.

Before our main course, we were served fresh bread, and starter portions of prawns and rump. All top drawer, and a taste of things to come. Moving on to steak orders, many of the lads were initially disappointed to see fillet being offered at only 200g and 250g. But then we were told we could order bespoke sizes – that has to be a first! Now these guys are just showing off. They also offer a cut we haven’t seen before in Cape Town, a Sirloin-On-The-Bone, which looked about 800g in size when served!

The kitchen continued to impress, serving our 17 steaks within a couple of minutes (did I mention the chef has been with the brothers for 33 years?). Service and presentation was excellent; in fact we had waitrons, chefs, and hosts waiting on us hand and foot. And from the first bite, the responses from the punters were very, very good.

It’s an early call, but we may just have a serious contender for the Steak Night of the Year. The food is sublime and the service above and beyond. The décor is not exactly cutting-edge trendy; but don’t let that put you down - the food does the talking here.

Overall:   8.6 (average of scores)
Steak:      9.1
Sides:      7.5
Service:    9.3
Value:       8.0

nv-80.co.za
The Point,
76 Regent Road,
First Floor,
Sea Point,
Cape Town
021 439 7112/4

6 Comments

4/2/2014 07:24:33

Thanks for an awesome steak night, was awesome to be included and get a whiff of what goes down. I hope to join in again in the not too distant future!

Steak - 5/5 I had the Rib EYE – my favourite cut and was done superbly
Sides - 4/5 Sauce – Mushroom was great, the prawns were awesome - I did not know we were having starters so a nice aperitif – chips OK but I was concentrating on the steak and the conversation to really take notice beyond my sauce.
Service - 5/5 – So nice to go to a place where we were so looked after (maybe the steak night is pulling that now days?) if not, the service was fantastic and I felt completely looked after.
Ambiance - 4.5/5 – nice interior, I love a place with high ceilings and it felt a bit New Yorkish.
Value - 5/5

Shizam, will be back there again!

Son

4/2/2014 07:24:54

Steak - 9/10 One of, if not the best piece of meat I have eaten
Sides - 4/5 I everything was great, they even did potato bake, chips let them down, which is why it is not perfect
Service - 5/5 Not quite the Cheryl cockyness, but a different style that worked. Special marks for the Chef/owner personal attention.
Ambiance - 4/5 great, we for some reason did not overtake the place, and what more can be said about the balcony :-)

Gonna be a hard overall to beat. Nice work.

Son

4/2/2014 07:25:20

One of the best steaks I have ever had at SN and (probably anywhere) – 9/10
Sides – 3/5 chips could have been better
Service – 5/5 deserves as high as Cyril – I’ve never seen so much management involvement at a dinner table!
Ambiance – 4/5
Value 3/5

As always, a night I hate to miss, thanks guys, great to see everyone.

4/2/2014 07:27:34

Steak: 8.5/10 - Excellent tasting fillet cooked perfectly and for once I didn't over endulge in the grammage although have to say the 250g looked half the size of the 300g. Would have scored a 9 but I've had better basting before so I'm deducting 1/2 point for that.

Sides: 3/5 - the only bit that didn't match up to the rest of the restaurant experience and brings the overall score down. Salad and steak just ain't my thing and the chip and spinach portions were quite low. Onion rings were good though. Starters were excellent, particularly those prawns but they don't count as sides.

Service: 4/5 - Valentine was excellent, always asking me if I wanted a new beer before I finished, friendly, enthustiastic and keen to make our night special. Was a great touch to come out at the end of the night to find out how our steaknight worked, how the steaks had compared and so forth.

Ambience: 4/5 - Although a shopping centre restaurant it didn't feel like it. We were placed quite central to the restaurant and I must admit when we arrived I thought, let's hope there aren't any Germans around and CP isn't planning on arriving with another big Magnum. But for some reason the venue seemed to absorb our usual rowdyness and I don't think anyone even noticed we were there...umm maybe not. Busy and lively restaurant with great smoking balcony too. Nice.

Top night okes!

4/2/2014 07:28:07

Steak – 8/10 Perhaps a little overcooked for a medium rare order, but considering being full when a set of possibly the largest steak’s we’ve ever seen on steak night arrive, it’s always going to be hard to judge. We’re talking quality & quantity here, and boy did they look good. A steak night first here for me – I doggie bagged a steak on steak night! The night will deliver once again at lunch for me today!

Sides – Hmmm. The chups were few, and nothing too special, so scored alone they would get a 1, or 2, but the onion rings were off the charts, so alone they would be a full 5. There was plenty of other sides-malarkey, which although doesn’t rock my world, does still count. 4/5

Service - 3/5 – This might have been an issue if I was in the slightest bit hungry, and we are a big crew these days (was it 17 last night ?) so I can understand it taking a while to get the steaks prepped and cooked (almost) to perfection.

After Dinner kak-praat – 4/5, and I know I only made it as far as the smoking deck (+1), but when you get to a place at 19h30(ish), and leave at midnight having not felt rushed in any way at any point, you’re dealing with a keeper.

Value – 4/5 R355 all In seems very reasonable

4/2/2014 07:28:47

Some solid ground work laid the foundation for a superb Steak & Wine Club function.

Maybe because they are fairly new and keen to get their name out, but NV-80 were the first restaurant to "get" the potential of steakboyz.com as Cape Town's premier steak restaurant rating service. From the owner-chef, to the mini-Blackdog manager to our Valentine, the service was off the charts. We had all three buzzing round he whole night, doing whatever they needed to do to ensure that the night was a success.
I was initially disappointed to see fillet being offered at only 200g and 250g - what's the bloody point? But then word came from the kitchen that we could order bespoke sizes - a first!

The steaks were delivered to the full table of 17 at around about the same time. (Take note, Nelson's Eye.) The Sirloin-On-The-Bone (another first) and the T-Bone were immense. From the first bite, the responses from almost all the punters were very, very good.
Steak 9/10 - the 300g fillet was tender and tasty. Not a Nadia but close enough. I had the wild mushroom sauce which was a bit meh and tasted like Denny mushroom soup.
Sides 4/5 - I liked that steak starter and those prawns seemed decent enough (to someone who doesn't normally eat prawns), the chips were disappointing in cut and quantity but the onion rings were crispy and light.
Service 5/5 - Perfect. Valentine wasn't quite Cyril, but together with the chef and manager they achieved service nirvana.
Ambiance 3/5 - Vibrant and full. But those shiny tiles made it look cheap. The Smoke Deck will get a bonus point below, but don't think ambiance deserves 4/5.
Value 3.5/5 - R355 for a 300g fillet, starter steak and prawns, taster SOTB, couple of beers, couple of bottles of wine (thanks Tommy), Dom Pedros & tip - not too bad.

An early but serious contender for the Steak & Wine Club function™ Tough Crowd™ Steakhouse of the Year™.

NV-80

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