Looking Down on Monte Casino in Jo-Burg

Four score and twenty years ago… Actually it was about one and a half years ago I stayed in the “Four Ways City Lodge” most recently. Up on a hill looking down into the Monte Casino Entertainment and Shopping Complex across the street, the hotel is just far enough away from Monte Casino to make you decide to put out the effort to cross the road in the evening and have a supper outside the hotel that is still within the “per dium” limit provided, barely. Once again I sing hail to the number watchers & cost cutters that we so glibly hand the reigns to and allow them to dictate summarily & handily the direction of our profits and losses….

There are four restaurants in the next building as you walk out the doors of City Lodge. The First is Black Steer Rib Ranch and this is where I sat and ate one of the best sirloin steaks EVER. Next to that is a Japanese restaurant called Tataki. Referring the ever trustworthy source of Wikipedia, Tataki in Japanese is a method of cooking fish; surprise, surprise. “In the first "Tataki" method, the meat or fish is seared very briefly over a hot flame or in a pan, and can be briefly marinated in vinegar, sliced thinly and seasoned with ginger, (which is ground or pounded into a paste, hence the name). Food so prepared can also be served with soy sauce and garnishes like a sashimi.” I went for the Sushi combo because when it comes to Japanese eating, I like eating Sushi more than anything seared or in any way tainted by fire, even if the middle of it is still raw. But that’s just me, see.

Third in that proximal line of restaurants is a French named and themed restaurant called, rather raunchily, “Mon Petite Throbb”, Goodness! Until you translate it of course, and then you realize that it is harmlessly, “My Little Pea”. The French Bistro Aficionado in me throbbed with delight at the prospect of eating a French inspired light meal and mid-evening coffee. I don’t exactly remember what I ate but it probably was, as I review the online menu again now, the Macaroni and Cheese casserole, baked in a cheddar cheese sauce (a “Mornay” sauce in French cooking, which is mixed with the macaroni, sprinkled with Parmesan), and baked until bubbly and golden…. Yes I’m certain that is what I would have chosen, given the opportunity to go back and relive that ordering moment.

City Lodge is a good dependable standard four star. Everything is clean, the room is good for several nights. The front desk interaction is professional. The pool is not bad and is outdoors, the breakfast area has all very fresh food and a live omelet station. And still fits the budget I guess, for our number watchers and cost cutters, regionally so.
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