If your love language involves falling in love with life through food — then you just may have found your next summer dining experience. You could follow in Julia Roberts’ Eat, Pray, Love footsteps and venture to Italy to savour the food capital’s delights, or you could book your next date at Casa Bella.
This summer, Casa Bella invites you to fall in love with summer alfresco dining by indulging in their curated Date Night menu offering, which brings an elevated Italian dining experience at an affordable price. With a mantra of “first we eat, then we do everything else”, food for the soul takes on a whole new meaning at Casa Bella. It’s a place where there’s a call to pause and nurture the soul through the stomach before tackling life head-on.
Saxophonist performing in Mall of Africa’s Town Square, outside Casa Bella (Blavk House)
Situated in the bustling Mall of Africa, Waterfall City, Casa Bella is an Italian restaurant that offers a luxurious yet welcoming dining experience. Known for its artisanal pizzas, authentic pasta dishes and premium drinks, the establishment blends modern sophistication with the rich traditions of Italian cuisine. Taking up a prime location in the mall’s Town Square, it provides the perfect environment to enjoy alfresco summer dining in Johannesburg.
With Mall of Africa having introduced their “Date Night On The Square” weekly experience designed to bring couples together to enjoy the mall’s top restaurants, the Town Square location not only provides a vibrant atmosphere but also adds to the dining experience with seasonal entertainment, such as a saxophonist performing in the square to create a romantic ambience for dining guests to enjoy.
As if entering an Italian family home, Casa Bella’s warm welcome is the first thing you notice as waiters guide you to your seats with an attentive demeanour, setting the tone for a leisurely three-course dining experience.
The Spaghetti Di Pollo Limone, one of Casa Bella’s authentic pasta dishes (Blavk House)
If you’re someone who usually passes on the complimentary bread service offered at restaurants for fear of feeling too full before your first course, we highly encourage you to neglect this school of thought when visiting Casa Bella. It’s rare that a restaurant’s bread service is anything to write home about, but Casa Bella’s is a favourite. Unlike other restaurants that serve bread rolls, you can expect a bread service that features their signature bread bites, made from pizza dough, served with an assortment of spreads that are the perfect moreish, bite-size snacks to whet your appetite.
Designed to highlight the restaurant’s signature flavours, the menu doesn’t save the best for last but rather gets the taste buds fired up with a first course that feels like platefuls of summer along the Mediterranean coast. With traditional, hearty starter options such as the peri-peri Napoletana chicken livers or a traditional Italian thick-crust Caprese focaccia to share, the Arancini Balls and Tomato Mussels are starter dishes worth coming back for.
A meal at Casa Bella’s Date Night experience (Blavk House)
A feast for the eyes, the Arancini Balls, deep-fried, creamy risotto balls, are packed with delicious flavour, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and served on a parmesan sauce topped with basil pesto and balsamic glaze. However, the Tomato Mussels, tossed in fresh tomato, chilli, garlic, butter and wine sauce with dill and lemon, really steal the show with their rich, creamy, slightly spicy quality, which pairs perfectly with the house Sauvignon Blanc’s refreshing, zesty notes of gooseberries, passion fruit and lemongrass.
The main course options really champion simple Italian-inspired dishes made exceptionally well, with the restaurant’s speciality in grills and pastas coming to the fore. Pasta lovers will enjoy the menu’s pasta options, such as the Spaghetti Di Pollo Limone, a creamy lemon-infused chicken pasta dish, or the Creamy Mushroom Pappardelle, a great vegetarian pasta option with pappardelle pasta and portabellini mushrooms in a rich Alfredo sauce drizzled with rosemary-infused truffle oil.
Guests enjoying Casa Bella’s selection of summer cocktails (Blavk House)
If you’re a fan of a good ol’ steak dinner, then the 200g Italian Rub Sirloin, a 28-day aged sirloin steak that provides the perfect palate break from the rich flavour punch of the starters, is right up your street. The quality of the meat is allowed to shine, as the sirloin isn’t overwhelmed by any accompanying sauces or excessive seasoning. Rubbed in extra virgin olive oil, Maldon salt and cracked black pepper, the sirloin is cooked to your desired temperature and served with a choice of side, such as creamed spinach, fries, potato mash or roasted veg. This course pairs well with house red wine that has a sun-dried, grassy note of fynbos and ripe tobacco leaves with intense fruitiness.
If you care to venture outside the set date night menu and linger longer for a nightcap, Casa Bella’s offering of classic and Italian-inspired cocktails is one to try. Savour a classic such as the Porn Star Martini, a sweet, passion fruit-forward vodka cocktail with lime juice and vanilla, served with a shot of MCC. The Limoncello Mule is the perfect, refreshing interpretation of the traditional Italian digestif, as limoncello is blended with vodka over crushed ice and topped with lemonade and ginger beer.
Casa Bella’ Date Night menu (Blavk House)
No matter how full you may be, there’s always time for dessert, and it would be a crime to leave without digging into any one of the decadent treats available, such as the Banoffee Pie, the Warm Chocolate Pudding, a rich, melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate cake or the signature, homemade baked Limoncello Cheesecake that’s just the right amount of creamy, zesty sweetness to end the night off with.
Casa Bella’s Date Night menu is available every Tuesday with the choice of a two-course menu at R495 per couple or a three-course menu for R595 per couple; both include a complimentary bottle of the house Sauvignon Blanc or Red Blend wine.
Dining and Cooking