22 December 2006 FOOD FOR THOUGHT Why no Longer in Top 10? By JUSTICE MALALA

I have studiously avoided any restaurant that styles itself as providing "fine dining". The minute I hear or see this phrase I sprint, no, fly in the opposite direction. It is without doubt the domain of the fuddy-duddy, the signature line of those bent on never enjoying the many beautiful moments that the dining experience accords. They do not chat to their guests, they fiddle and twiddle their thumbs and spit their wine and take all enjoyment out of congregating around a table. Then they go home and bore their kids and friends about what a good time they had at this or that restaurant. Yet they did not talk to their dinner companions, they terrorised the waiting staff and made the sommelier want to drink all the wine in the house himself. I want atmosphere, I want fun, I want enjoyment. If you do not have these, my dear friends, then you can do all the "fine cuisine and fine dining" you want without me. Linger Longer 58 Wierda Road Wierda Valley Johannesburg Tel: (011) 884-0465 Out of this world Fantastic Good Awful Pass the sick bag Since the announcement of EatOut magazine's Top 10 Restaurants of the Year, there has been a gnashing of teeth from Jo'burgers about what they perceive to be inexplicable, narrow and unforgivable oversights on the judges' part. The Top 10, in alphabetical order, are Auberge Michel, Bread & Wine, Ginja, Haiku, Jardine, Lynton Hall, Ninth Avenue Bistro, Reuben's, The Showroom and Terroir. The gnashing of teeth arises from the fact that only one establishment (Auberge Michel) is in Johannesburg. The rest are in the Western Cape, with a disdainful nod to one restaurant in Durban. Foodies across Gauteng have been weeping into their soup about all this. They mutter dark words about how "fine dining" is plentiful in Gauteng, and how these provincial plebs at EatOut have got it all wrong. They become particularly excitable about Linger Longer, the 45-year-old Jo'burg stalwart now in Wierda Road, Sandton. They mutter the phrase "fine dining" and declare, on pain of death, that this may be the best restaurant in the land. So then, seeing as my mother-in-law Pat Lang is visiting and I am ready to dip a toe into this world of fine dining, we set off for Sandton. I have to declare I expected a dark, dour place where everyone from the maître d' to the waiters annoys you no end with 8m inquiries: "Everything OK here?" Linger Longer is not like that. Set in a huge property in Sandton, Linger Longer is adjacent to a bar called Turtle Creek. I won't talk about Turtle Creek here, save to say it looks a bit dodgy. I like a restaurant in a house, and the fact that one gets the option to enjoy our fine weather in a garden setting. The minute we arrive we are led to our table - outside - by the maître d', Mark, who turns out to be knowledgeable, professional and on the ball all evening. I am dying for a chilled glass of sauvignon blanc; Pat is keen on a red but suspects she might have fish and so switches to white; my lovely wife wants a sip of white but is happy with red. Mark solves the problem for us: he suggests the brilliant house white, the Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2004, for all three to start with. It is a true revelation, one of the best sauvignon blancs I have ever tasted. Before ordering we each receive an amuse bouche of foie gras that is so delicious we become a bit apprehensive that it will be downhill all the way after that. It isn't. Mark makes the specials sound fabulous. I opt for a prawn spring roll on calamari to start with, while my lovely wife goes for the beef teriyaki. "Divine," she says between mouthfuls. Pat goes for Luderitz oysters to start with and six are brought to the table. They are huge. She loves them, but complains about the size. My rock cod with a white sauce and vegetables is stunning. But it is my lovely wife and Pat who go into paroxysms. The maître d' has especially chilled a cheeky pinot noir and the combination of that and their veal in a Madeira sauce seems to go down beautifully. My wife quibbles about the boiled vegetables but that does not stop her from eating every morsel. So what's the verdict? Cape Town restaurants are trendy. Many are like glossy movie sets - and the food is good. But, yes, it does seem to be rather churlish to have left Linger Longer off the list. It is fabulous.