ROBYN SASSEN
Restaurateur and co-owner of The Grillhouse, Saul Mervis, was flummoxed to hear this month that his Rosebank branch was considered among the top restaurants in the world.
“We knew nothing about it,” he told the Jewish Report. “One of our regular international customers sent me the article which appeared in the Condé Nast Traveller.
“It’s not really an award,” he added. “Condé Nast is your iconic travel magazine, internationally. It advises a critical and affluent readership what to do, where to eat, and so on. This month, it ran a supplement under the rubric: ‘It’s a man’s world’, and the idea of a steak restaurant fits that description.
“We were named among the 15 best in the world,” he confirmed, adding that he was not aware when Condé Nast critic, Jeremy Wayne had eaten in his establishment.
Referring to the bouquet of steak restaurants selected, from Spain to Sydney, Tuscany to Tokyo, as “smoking hot”, Wayne described The Grillhouse as “a slick operation with a soul”.
He aligned The Grillhouse with the likes of CUT in London, Gibsons in Chicago, La Maison L’Aubrac in Paris and Peter Luger in New York City, at which, he adds, a dinner for two can compete with the GDP of a small country!
“This acknowledgement is good for our restaurant, which, 19 years old, in November remains one of the few white-tablecloth steak restaurants in Johannesburg; it also puts South Africa on the map,” Mervis said.
“The secret is complicated. You have to really concentrate on maintaining that position, and to get your staff to believe you deserve the status. The biggest challenge for anyone in this industry is consistency. You want to meet and exceed people’s expectations, but you are only ever as good as your last meal served.”
