Cape Town Food

I've been very bad, and not said much on this blog for a while. I'm going to do my very best to rectify the situation, and get blogging in a much bigger way about food.

I've still got lots of great photos and stories to upload about the box of goodies from Eat-In, as well as some of the adventures I've been having around the WC checking out great places for food and foodies.

But I just wanted to quickly recommend a really cheap, quick and enjoyable restaurant that I've noticed is struggling, when it really shouldn't be, and I thought I'd just encourage anyone reading the blog, or ultimately searching on the net for a great Chinese buffet in Cape Town.

I generally don't like buffets. I find them strangely intimidating, whilst at the same time disappointing because often the food is not at its best, not really hot and fresh, and often a general let down.

Not so at Chopsticks in Durban Road in Little Mowbray in Cape Town. This road is blessed with a cornucopia of great restaurants, and you can see why the spoilt-for-choice residents of this little corner of the city would struggle to decide what to each.

In the general area are such greats (and not-so-greats) as Sakura, Greek, Fat Cactus, Chai Yo, Curry Quest, Bruegels, etc. A very competitive little street to do business in.

Chopsticks has an excellent Chinese buffet, offering spring rolls, two choices of soup, prawn chips for starters. You just help yourself. The starters are freshly prepared, and constantly replenished through the night; not much gets to stand around and the kitchen staff keep a careful eye on what's there to be eaten so that things are always ready for table.

The mains offer a lot of options for meat lovers and vegetarians alike. All the classics of sweet and sour chicken and pork, as well as various chop suey, vegetable and tofu options about. The sticky ribs are awesome as well. Several types of rice and noodles are available as well.

Bowties are on offer for dessert, which last night we enjoyed over a large pot of green tea (only R10 for four cups, a classic way to end a meal).

The waiters are friendly, a lot seem to be students, and the drinks are very reasonably priced, and they have a fairly decent budget wine list. I'd say that you can also bring a bottle of your own along, they do charge R20 corkage though.

Which is fair considering the entire buffet costs R58, a real steal for a three course meal. You can also order off the menu, and apparently they have a buffet over the weekends which costs more which includes sushi on offer (sushi is of course available through the week as well).

The R58 buffet is available Monday to Friday. The restaurant can feel a bit empty, which is one of the reasons I want to promote this restaurant because based on the friendliness of the staff and owners, the wonderful food and the good service, I'd expect this place to be packed, especially in such trying financial times as many people are experiencing.

As Sian pointed out to me, Chinese food goes through fashions, and at the moment its in a dip. Probably true considering the myriad of Chinese restaurants offering sushi. This is unfortunate, since traditional Chinese food, well prepared such as at Chopsticks is a wonderful taste sensation. The food is fresh, not fatty and really filling.

They have a bar and smoking area if you so require.

Full details available at dining-out.co.za

Chopsticks

97 Durban Road
Mowbray
7700

Tel: 021 685 0876

Labels: Buffet, Cape Town, Chinese, Mowbray, specials, sushi

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