There’s an old saying that love is the secret ingredient to a great dish. After recently dining at Pier Restaurant, and having subsequently watched the third season of the FX series ‘The Bear’, which chronicles the stark contrast between the beauty of fine dining and the brutal realities of kitchen life, this seems like a radical paradox. Are love and joy the secret ingredients that make a homely bowl of pasta exceptional, and does this extend to the dishes on a fine dining menu? Is there capacity for joy in such a pressured environment, where chefs constantly pursue perfection? And ultimately, does it affect the food you eat? This juxtaposition is poignant, and having never worked in this environment, I can only surmise.

Giving People More Than They Expect

Pier Restaurant is part of the La Colombe group, where delivering an exceptional experience is the fabric of their being – it is their essence. Our recent dinner delivered course after course of exceptional food, seamless service, considered drinks pairings, and some theatre along the way – all the necessary ingredients for an incredibly memorable fine dining experience.

“People will forget what you do; they’ll forget what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” William Guidara | Eleven Madison Park, NYC Author of Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect | Co-Producer of “The Bear”

When we arrived at our table, the only adornments were a crisp white tablecloth and an elegant white shell-shaped plate, an ode to the restaurant’s waterfront location. Initially, I thought this was a starkly simple choice, but the concept revealed itself as the first course was presented.

As if by magic, an array of exquisitely crafted pure white ceramic dishes arrived at the table, each an element of the sea that played host to a snack – a pumpkin shell with a straw containing a citrusy yuzu drink, a tentacle for a sublimely crisp battered piece of octopus, a piece of coral hosting a langoustine cracker, a conch shell holding a creamy whipped sour cream mousse with caviar, and a piece of barnacled coral with two cones filled with the kitchen’s take on a trout Caesar.

Once the table was cleared, the coral, lit from within with flickering candles, remained as table decor.

Cool, Calm and Not like Carmy

Head chef John Norris Rogers certainly seemed cool, calm and collected when he added the final touch of frosty basil and coconut snow to our freshly shucked oysters in their white ceramic shells. If he felt any level of Carmy-like angst, he certainly didn’t show it.

I am continually impressed by the impeccable service at this level; it’s consistently precise and virtually faultless. While ‘The Bear’ may depict kitchen chaos, the front-of-house staff remain unflappable, much like the duck analogy – paddling furiously beneath the surface, while appearing to glide effortlessly above.

We loved the new-ish takoyaki course, presented tableside, where the chef prepared this Japanese street food staple with a local twist of a smoked snoek filling.

I just love food. It was always about making something with my hands, making something amazing that I’m proud of and having somebody else enjoy it in a fleeting moment. Like music. Rosio Sanchez | Sanchez and Hija de Sanchez in Copenhagen, Denmark | Episode 10, The Bear Season 3

Thy Daily Bread

The bread course at all the restaurants within the La Colombe portfolio is always one of my favourites, and Pier did not disappoint. A warm, freshly baked sourdough with the crispiest crust imaginable, served with curried butter, kept in its wonderfully melted state by a candle underneath. This golden butter formed a confit for succulently poached pieces of hake, elegantly garnished with saffron strands. We tore the bread and used the crust to scoop up the gorgeously toasted spices at the bottom and mopped up every last drop.

Hands! And Claws

The langoustine chawanmushi with Korean chicken wing course sounded intriguing and, in short, it was a masterstroke. Lusciously silky set custard, every spoonful jammed with umami flavour, adorned with intricately shaped langoustine crackers. The dish was an absolute joy to eat and one of my favourites.

There’s nobility in this. We get to help people celebrate some of the most important moments of their lives. We can give them the grace, if only for a few hours, to forget about their most difficult moments. Like, we can make the world a nicer place. All of us in this room. We have this opportunity, perhaps even a responsibility, to create our own little magical worlds in a world that is increasingly in need of a little more magic. Anna Posey, Elske restaurant, Chicago | Episode 10, The Bear Season

Yes Chef

One of the hallmarks of a fine dining meal is the element of surprise and theatre, and the palate cleanser course is the perfect departure for a little fun. A shot glass formed from ice held a local agave spirit, Sango Reposado, served with special salt and lime sorbet. Without giving it all away, this interactive experience was a fun break mid-meal.

The meal continued with so many highlights, too many to mention, but an incredible course of wagyu and sweetbreads, a cheese trolley and charcuterie board stacking box, and an impeccable guava dessert followed (guava, what an underrated ingredient).

I think why I wanted to be a chef was… when I was in middle school, I was in this home economics course, and I made a dessert. And when I served everyone, just the feeling of how they connected to the food, it felt just, like, super magical. Like, no one in the classroom knew who I was, but they were connected to me through the food. And that was it, I was like, I think I wanna do this for the rest of my life. Malcolm Livingston II | Former head pastry chef at Noma | Episode 10, The Bear Season 3

This Is A Delicate F***ing Ecosystem!

It occurred to me that love doesn’t have to be a wrinkly nonna adding an extra pinch of something special to her bolognese, love can look different. Love can be fiery passion, fervent determination and the most ardent devotion. Excellence requires all these things and these talented chefs find a way to channel the frenetic chaos of a kitchen into absolute clarity on a plate. And I have to assume that they continue doing it because they love it, it’s as simple as that.

‘The Bear’ highlights the intensity of kitchen life, yet the exquisite dishes at Pier Restaurant affirm that such culinary excellence can only be achieved through a genuine love for cooking, regardless of how that love may manifest. It is a delicate ecosystem and keeping it in balance must take effort.

“Do you know why cooks cook? We cook to nurture people. I know people call me a chef, but our trade is cooking, and that, to me, is such a profound profession because we get to really be part of people’s lives in significant ways. You’re nurturing the team you’re cooking for. You’re gonna be nurturing our guests. We’re even nurturing our farmers, our fishermen, our foragers, our gardeners, who are bringing us all these wonderful ingredients. Thomas Keller, French Laundry, California | Episode 10, The Bear Season 3

Our meal at Pier was a showstopper and special dining experiences like this are reverent moments for me – the chefs who create these dishes have my deepest respect and admiration.

Book Pier Restaurant’s winter lunch special – available until 31 August 2024, R995 pp.

The Pierhead, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town

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