Primi's new menu sizzles
My HeraldLIVE's Holiday Fun Guide is here to help visitors and locals enjoy the best of the Bay this summer. To kick it off, Gillian McAinsh tested out the new summer menu at Primi in Port Elizabeth
I love Port Elizabeth’s beachfront and I love eating out – and a delicious work-inspired meal this week combined the two at Primi at Brookes Hill. The reason for the visit was an invite to test Primi’s new summer menu which we did while watching the palm trees whip in the wind and planes fly in over Kings Beach.
We hadn’t been for a few years and were blown away by the Mediterranean-inspired food – the pizza in particular was gorgeous with a yeasty, chewy base which tasted alive.
The prices, unfortunately, have risen since we last visited but they are not out of line for a quality beachfront restaurant and visitors from Johannesburg and Cape Town are not likely to complain. If you eat carefully, you can get a main meal for under R100 and a bottle of wine for R90, and on Thursday night there is live music which is a bonus.
As with several Bay restaurants this season, Primi now has a snacky tapas section which it calls “spuntini”. This new section on its menu offers nibbles that range from inexpensive (R35) to fairly substantial.
The Italian meatballs, ribs, onion “flower” and various flatbreads sounded great but we decided on the calamari (R79) which was a generous starter of baby calamari tubes served on rocket and with a lot of punch.
On to the pizza – although not everyone likes the traditional Napoletana style of pizza, it’s my favourite (apparently it’s the combo of high-protein premium 00-grade stoneground flour, filtered water, extra virgin olive oil, desert rock salt, natural yeast and malt which give it such a unique taste).
Primi also matures the dough for the base for 24 hours, then stretches it by hand and tops it with Italian tomatoes, Fior di Latte and mature mozzarella. Our pick of the California (R110) certainly was a winner, as the creamy feta and velvety avocado really worked with the chicken.
[caption id="attachment_185563" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Primi's Tomahawk is 600g of prime rib-eye[/caption]
The other main we couldn’t resist was the Tomahawk (R225) which looked like a giant chop but was in fact a really exceptional 600g piece of rib eye on the bone.
How often do you ask for your steak rare or medium-rare and when you slice into it, there are blood juices oozing out? Well, this hunk was so well-hung that despite an order of “rare” not one drop marred the plate.
There are several choices for side orders but we went for the chips, which were good and together with the simple topping of balsamic tomatoes and rocket really was all that was needed.
Primi tops its steaks with fresh herbs, desert rock salt, toum and olive oil and, oh my word, that toum sauce on the Tomahawk was sublime.
Carnivores can also go for the porcini steak, a prime cut of rump topped with a creamed garlic and porcini mushroom purée and if you are banting, the Mediterranean fillet is carb free.
The new menu also contains a lot of chicken dishes – the flame-grilled chicken Prego is one and, on the fish side, items like baked salmon trout on a bed of spinach with coriander, mint, caramelised lemon, capers and sautéed onions.
[caption id="attachment_185561" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Primi waitress Siyamthanda Williams recommended the Kahlua and Oreo Bamboozle shake Picture: Gillian McAinsh[/caption]
If you have room for dessert, I can recommend the Bamboozle Shakes which, as the name suggests, is a boozy milkshake. Our waitress Siyamthanda Williams helped tip the scales from the Hot Fudge and Bourbon Bamboozle to the Kahlua and Oreo – thanks Siya, it was also a winner!
Everything is still made from scratch (even the dippling sauces and condiments), it’s got an unpretentious vibe, there still is a kids play area and if the Windy City is not howling a gale then it’s great to sit outside. Highly recommended! WHERE IT IS Shop 4, Brookes Hills Shopping Centre, Marine Drive. Phone: (041) 584-0277. Hours: 9am to 10pm.
