Lefty's Cape Town | Review

I'm normally quite far behind the trend of 'cool'. Anything starting in the word 'hip' often doesn't apply to me, or generally scares me. You should then know how much I wanted to visit Lefty's then, despite the fact that it has been described as a 'hipster drinking hole'. Almost to test this fact, we visited this past Saturday with my parents, for lunch.

The decor is true to the 'dive bar' image Lefty's aims for - formica chairs, cracked frames and tatty rugs. But, let's be honest, you aren't here for the decor. You are here for the ribs. For the chicken and waffles. For the burgers. For the pulled pork sammich. And, that's what we did (except for the pulled pork sammich, which had just sold out for the afternoon).

As there were four of us, we had to try each of the pillars of the menu - doubling up on the ribs, due to the lack of sammich. I was the brave soul who ordered the chicken and waffles.

The men chose ribs - 600g home-smoked ribs for R65 (the most expensive of all the items we ordered) - I heard grunts of pleasure escaping from their beards. Sticky, smoky and fall-off-the-bone tender, they were the winners of the inter-dish competition.

Next, the burger. On a toasted bun, served medium with cheese pickles, lettuce, a tomato thyme pesto and a bucket of chips, it was delicious and again, fantastic value for money.

Onto the chicken and waffles. I was a little hesitant - chewy Belgian waffles, fried chicken, maple syrup and bacon - it sounded like something out of a bad American TV show. I persevered - and it paid off. Not nearly as sickly sweet as I was expecting, the chicken tender, crispy and not oily - I honestly enjoyed it. The waffles are the chewy, doughy kind - not the light-and-crispy variety. Would I order it again? Nope, give me ribs.

As we were leaving we saw the pork shoulder coming out of their smoker - step one of preparation for the evening's pulled pork sammich. We'll be back for some of those.

With all items ordered under R65, Lefty's proved to be delicious and great value for money. The only downside? The service. We waited close on 40 minutes for our food to arrive - with tables who had arrived after us, being served first. Helpful hint - arrive and order long before you even start to get hungry.

PS nice little trip out with my Samsung NX300, no?

Note : We paid for our meal in full. Our visit was unannounced and no review was requested. All images are my own.