Johannesburg

Review: The Troyeville Restaurant

10 Apr 2024
Opened in the 1930s, The Troyeville is an iconic landmark east of Joburg. It may well be a popular watering hole come game time (if you listen carefully on match days you can hear the rugby cheers rising from the nearby Emirates Airline Park), but it’s the tasty Portuguese food served in its signature restaurant that has cemented its reputation as a destination always worth visiting.

In 2021, The Troyeville entered a phase of regeneration when new owners embarked on a major building upgrade and added some fantastic changes. These include a facelift of the main restaurant – a positive addition – and we’re happy to report that some things haven't changed. The tasty food regulars have come to love remains as delicious as ever.
 
Starters of halloumi, calamari, and rissoles kick things off on the right note at The Troyeville. Photo: Sanet Oberhozler.

On a recent lunch visit (March 2024) as part of our Roaming Office, we couldn’t wait to tuck into the enticing menu. Luckily, our group was large, so we settled on the fine idea of ordering a few menu items to share.

For starters, you’re faced with classic Portuguese options such as oysters, grilled calamari, Cape mussels, prawns, snails, trinchado, chicken livers, halloumi cheese, and chicken and prawn rissoles. The selection makes for a difficult decision.

We settled on chicken and cheese rissoles (you cannot not order these tasty pockets), grilled halloumi, and calamari. Each was cooked to perfection and the rissoles are some of the best we’ve tasted in Joburg, filled with flavour and generous bites of prawn and chicken.
 
The Troyeville's main restaurant area underwent a major revamp in 2021. Photo: Sanet Oberholzer.

Mains is the real deal around here: generous servings dripping with goodness that will make you want to lick your fingers one by one. A winning recipe for a restaurant. Our eyes grew wide as we were presented with peri-peri baby chicken, beef espetada, prawns, and a prawn curry served with rice that we were already planning on returning for.

We threw in a fresh garden salad and crispy chips for some good measure. The prawn dishes were polished off first though. Sending a single bite back would’ve been a cardinal sin.

For those who don’t enjoy seafood and poultry as much as we do, the burgers and pregos on the menu looked no less enticing. If you leave room for dessert, you can look forward to classic menu items like chocolate mousse, sticky toffee pudding, bread and butter pudding, peppermint crisp tart, and crème caramel.
 
The view from The Troyeville's Glass House. Photo: Sanet Oberholzer.

In the spirit of full transparency, we’ll come clean and admit that we had our dessert before lunch, tempted as we were by the pasteis de nata baked fresh every day in the Casa Das Natas Bakery and Café downstairs. If you still have a sweet spot to fill, stop by on your way out. These custard tarts are mouth-wateringly good and with flavours like apple cinnamon, happy berry, and decadent chocolate, you’ll want to take a few dozen home.

The best part of all? The Troyeville’s best-kept secret is its layers of venues. We enjoyed our lunch on their upstairs deck with fresh views of Joburg that you just don’t find in many places. For a special, more intimate occasion, ask about their Glass House which will make any event the talk of the town. You're welcome and can thank us later. For larger events, their rooftop is available to book for 20 people or more.
 

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