Although the Jewel of India is a restaurant within the “Cape Royale Hotel”:http://www.caperoyale.co.za/restaurants/, it has its own entrance off the street making it appear totally independent to the uniformed.
At 7.45pm we were the first diners and were immediately presented with spicy poppadoms and three equally spicy dips: chutney, mint and chilli sauces. I ordered my favourite Indian dish, Chicken Tikka, with Roy opting for the chef’s speciality of Kadhai Prawns with ‘peppers, Indian spices and a cashew based gravy’. We noted from the menu that ‘All meals are freshly prepared on your order. This takes about 25 minutes. Thank you for your patience.’
Whilst there was no wine list, we were offered the house white to try. It was perfectly acceptable (we were in South Africa after all) and although we asked for two glasses, the wine arrived in a two small individual small carafes along with a glass of ice and bottle of sparkling water.
The food came up within 10 minutes which was good news as we were hungry but then, bearing in mind what we’d read, we started to wonder how freshly prepared it was. However, it was tasty and spicy (as befitting the one chilli symbol on the menu) and the portions were of a good size and one order of vegetable rice and a really thin garlic naan were more than enough for two.
With a tip the bill came to SAR440 (£22). Only three other customers came in that night which was a shame as we thoroughly enjoyed our meal.
