Perth Food Review

A lways on the lookout for a new restaurant, the Pink Zulu had been recommended to us so we booked for Saturday night where we expected a pleasant meal with different tastes.

We arrived on time to be shunted along a narrow corridor past a bar which takes up a large chunk of the available space, into an outdoor area next to two large “party” tables where we were placed at a table in a corner with barely any room to move and where the staff were going to have a hard time getting into. (As an aside – why on earth would you seat people next to a dead “hedge”??)

After being handed the menus I quickly decided on a wine but our order was not taken for at least ten minutes – and that was only after we had called someone over. We had already decided on a starter (the Zambezi -crispy prawn and crocodile croquettes pink prickly ash and caper dressing) so we placed our order for this at the same time.

By this time, the large “party” tables had filled up and the noise level was deafening and we could barely hear each other talk – so much for a pleasant quiet evening meal.

Both my partner and I were struggling with choosing the main course – being South African we were struggling to see the African in the menu. The so called “potjies” did not resemble anything that I would have expected to come out of a 3 legged pot (bobotie is a baked dish!), and the other dishes resembled more Indian or Moroccan style cooking rather than southern African.

Our wine arrived, which was a nice pinotage, followed shortly after by our starter. These were four dumpling like objects, deep fried with a “african” wooden skewer through them sitting on a piece of pineapple and cucumber. Note in the description above the lack of pineapple – I loath pineapple in savoury food and would certainly not have ordered this – especially if it had stated “deep fried”!!. Not sure what the “prickly ash and caper dressing” was, but if it was the tasteless, squiggly lines on the plate – don’t bother. The croquettes themselves were tasteless apart from the herbs that had been put in the mix which completely overpowered all other tastes.

At this point, the noise and the terrible food was enough for us and we told the manager to cancel our main orders as we could not eat under these circumstances. Just for the record, we had both had one glass of the pinotage (a $68 bottle of wine)

Both of us have eaten around the world, and previously if we have complained at all about the food or drink, the management of the restaurant has taken some pains to compensate us for the inconvenience that we had experienced.

NOT at the Pink Zulu (what an awful name) – we were presented with a bill for $44 which covered the starter and TWO glasses of the wine.

For a restaurant that has been open for 5 or so weeks, this place makes no effort to look after their customers and, in my opinion, their menu leaves a lot to be desired – please, if you are considering going here – think twice, three times and then go elsewhere.

We left there and, after one call, had a table at Chez Pierre where we enjoyed immensely the fine dining experience that we had been seeking – at a lot less cost than we would have had at the Pink Zulu!

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