Cape Town Food

There are many great places to eat and drink that stare you in the face day after day, and unless you are a little adventurous you'll never get to enjoy.

One such place is the fantastic Munich Brauhaus at the V&A Waterfront, Paulaner. But be warned, the service is consistently bad to be completely honest. Every time I go to Paulaner I discover a new way to be surprised at how bad service can be (the latest one: a waiter grabbing the bill and my credit card out of the hand of a waitress who was ringing up our bill so he could "use the FNB Speedpoint", i.e. get the tip. This is consistent of the crap service you must just come to expect at Paulaner).

That said, the beer and the food is amazing, and makes up for the crap service.

The beer garden is a perfect quite spot to enjoy a Lager or a Weiss (recommended) beer to enjoy, and a bretzel (YUM!).

Go there when you are next at the Waterfront, if you like beer its a wonderful slice of Germany, despite the service which one would never expect to find in Munich.

You can order a keg (various sizes), from Paulaner. I've had them at several parties, and I can recommend them thoroughly, just order a little in advance, don't leave it till Thursday if you need it on Saturday, because otherwise the barreled beer can be a little low on alcohol, and a bit high in sugar; otherwise its a fantastic way to bring the Paulaner product into your home!

Labels: beer, german, waterfront

If you like sushi, you'll know its an expensive addiction; sometimes when I'm sitting at a sushi bar I feel more like a drug addict in an opium den than a paying customer at a restaurant. The very fact people want to be close to the preparation of the food (i.e. to minimise the time from creation to mouth) says something of the addictive nature of this food.

So when an offer for a sushi buffet or all you can eat offer is discovered, its not hard to get a group of sushi lovers to come over and enjoy it with you.

John Dory's in Canal Walk has a great sushi bar, which is reasonably priced, does take-aways and numerous specials. One of these specials is on Wednesday nights where for R129 you can get all the sushi you could want, and as much Graca as you might like.

Perfect you say! And it is, its reasonable, but you'll quickly find that you won't be able to have that much sushi, not because its not good (its excellent, more in the Californian style [read: mayo] than some of the more traditional sushi restaurants such as Qing, which has been previously commented on), but because you physically can't have that much sushi (damn RICE!)

That said, the sushi is excellent. The platters that come through include four fashion sandwiches, two pieces of fish maki, four california rolls, two salmon roses, and two rainbow rolls. They don't skimp on what they normally prepare; this is the real deal, no different from any other night.

The service is excellent, the Graca flows (which at R16 a the bottle store isn't unbelievable that they serve it up like water), and a great evening is easily had by all.

SO to summarise, just remember to not eat before coming through, otherwise one plate will fill you up, and then its probably cheaper buying off the menu. Other than that, the best advice is to take it really slow with your friends, and you'll have an amazing time at the John Dory's all you can eat sushi special.

Note: JD's also does half price sushi on weekday lunch times, and Sunday evenings. The staff is very friendly, and you'll no doubt find yourself, family and friends becoming regulars!

There non-sushi food is great too b.t.w.

Labels: canal walk, fish, specials, sushi

Generally I don't like restaurants in malls. There is something unsatisfying about them, that said there are some really good resaturants outside of the big chain restaurants that dominate the malls.

One such place is Qing Sushi, next to the Primi Lounge at Canal Walk's La Piazza Italiano-Style food court (Can you say... VEGAS!). It's simple, small, VERY clean, the waiters are friendly (although last night we had one who seemed terrified of speaking to myself, Sian and PK) , the food is decently priced and the menu is vast.

For such a small restaurant, the variety of food is breath taking. There is the usual sort of sushi menu, and then a collection of Chef specials that last several pages; these range from innovative fish sushi, to a variety of vegetarian specials (good for Sian: recommended is Sushi on the Green).

The chef is very creative, with things like pancake handrolls, sushi rice balls, and literally pages of stuff you'd never see anywhere else, Qing sushi has an insane variety. They also have Thai curries, chinese food, japanese traditional food (udon noodles), tepanyaki and a range of other food. Their dessert menu is also pretty creative (deep fried frozen coconut milk?)

I had the assorted sushi platter, as well as some Inari Tofu Nigiri (if you've never had sweet Inari, I really recommend it to anyone; it is AMAZING sushi, when you can find it), Sian had some veg sushi rice balls (massive, very good value for money if you are feeling hungry) as well as Sushi on the Green. PK had the seafood soup, some scallop sushi rice balls, some veg spring rolls and some calamari california rolls (his came to less than R100 to give you a sense of value).

We enjoyed a bottle of Simonsvlei Chardonnay 2007, which was lightly wooded, quite enjoyable really.

To finish off we shared some of a R20 dessert, namely the previously mentioned deep fried frozen coconut milk balls, which really have to be tasted to be believed. It was served with a cream soda ice-cream (yes it exists), and a strawberry bubble gum ice cream.

All in all Qing Sushi is very good, the tastes are amazing, the variety stunning, and you are sure to experience some dishes you simply won't find anywhere else; if you are stuck in Canal Walk and you are looking for somewhere quick and enjoyable to eat, pop in and see what is on offer. I'm sure you won't be dissapointed.

One thing... Qing Sushi's sushi is more "classic" than "californian". What do I mean by this? Well for one thing the sashimi, the best test of the quality of the ingredients, melts like butter in the mouth and is EXCELLENT quality. But unlike many discount sushi restaurants, Qing don't use a lot of mayonaise to cover up the rest of ingredients. If you are new to sushi, this is a GOOD thing b.t.w., but may be different from some of the sushi bars you might have become accustomed to at the chain fish restaurants (CTFM, John Dory's, etc.). See if you can taste the difference.

Labels: canal walk, experience, qing, sushi

Welcome to Cape Town Food (a sub-blog? of AndrewLaGrange.com)!

It's an opportunity for me to write about one of my great loves, namely the food, restaurants and stores of Cape Town, South Africa.

As a child sitting at my mother's feet as she baked pies for the tuisbedryfe of the Peninsula (the first word out of my flour dusted head was 'pie'), I learnt to be an unashamed foodie, and this blog is going to explore some of the fantastic places and personalities that have made up the Cape Town catering and restaurant scene.

The web is full of great recipe sites, I'll be linking to the ones I and my friends use, and I'll probably also be occasionally throwing in a recipe or two of mine (I apologise in advance).

Food for me is a great creative and social outlet, and I hope this site is as fun for you to read as it will be for me to write.