Eating sushi in Cape Town - My places

Unfortunately, I can't tell you that I went home last night and whipped up some tasty, beautiful sushi. I don't cook rice, on a matter of principle, unless it's the microwave kind (I have issues, of this I am well aware, and will be getting treatment - probably sometime around my mid-life crisis), but I CAN tell you that I had some tasty sushi, and I'll even tell you where I had it. Now how's that for a trade-off?!

{Image source: Alexandre Chang}

Now, there are those people that say nothing beats certain sushi restaurants, and blah blah blah, there's nothing quite like that sushi plate that's R90 for 4 pieces. And I say that my enjoyment of a dish is quite directly related to the value I perceive that I'm getting, and to pay R90 for 4 pieces of sushi, while seated in a crowded thoroughfare of a busy mall - well, that isn't my idea of value. Sorry to say, I found the whole experience underwhelming and pricey. Not my idea of fun.

And then there are those that can ONLY have it cheap, and to those people I say that you are cutting yourselves off from experiencing amazing food by insisting on only eating at cheap restaurants. And so I'd like to introduce you to three sushi restaurants. One that is cheap, nice and convenient, and two others that are reasonably priced, very tasty, good quality, and a little off the beaten track.

Let's start with Saul's Sushi @ Vegas, shall we?
Based in Sea Point, Saul Beder has more less taken over the Main Road with his many restaurants, and while I can't claim to be a fan of burgers the size of my head at 4am, I can say that the sushi served at Saul's Sushi is fresh, well priced and imaginative, with specials to tempt those whose appetites lean toward the, well, burger the size of your head size. I went down to Saul's last night, in search of dinner (did anyone else notice that we've had summer for a few days? It wasn't a night I wanted to be sitting in my cold house!!), and ended up at Saul's, just a few steps from my house.

{Image source: VirtualErn, flickr}

We also stumbled into the R99 eat-like-a-horse special, which seems to attract the entire population of Sea Point, because within half an hour the place was packed! Now, I can say that the eat-as-much-as-you-can menu did lean towards the ricey, with a large variety of California rolls and maki rolls, there were also fashion sandwiches, hand rolls, and a variety of sashimi, which is unusual for these "go wild" specials. We had some delicious Rainbow and Rock n Roll rolls, Norweigan salmon and seared tuna sashimi, some gunkan and inari rolls (I've never had those before, so I can't compare them to anything else, but they were ricey), and a couple of handrolls. The sushi was fresh, the fish was tender and tasty and it was good. What was also good was the Fun Card that I won at the SA Food Blogger's Conference earlier this year, which meant that our meals were FREE! And who doesn't love free?

And last week, we had a little something to celebrate - my little sister passed her first board exam (yay! Just one more exam and another 2.5 years, and then you're a CA!!) So we went down to Subarshi, on the Foreshore in Cape Town. Subarshi has actually been around for a long time, well, long in the life of Cape Town restaurants, and it's longevity is owed to it's consistently good prices, inventive, authentic sushi, and the chocolate and banana spring rolls. Don't be fooled, people. The sushi is good, great even, but the chocolate and banana spring rolls? I'd kill for those things, easily.

{Image source: Bento Business, flickr}

Now, back in the day when they opened, Subarshi had a card that gave you 25% off the sushi. Whenever you ate, no strings attached. And that was on top of their already reasonable prices. I think they call this a 'win-win' situation. But after a few years of awesomeness and great prices, we visited a few times to discover a slight decline in quality and a hike in prices. This didn't make for happy people, and we went elsewhere for a while. Until a few months ago, it had fallen off our radar, and then we decided, "What the hell, let's give it another go!" And boy am I glad we did! The quality was back up to par and the prices are SO reasonable. I'm talking 5 big pieces of sear tuna sashimi for R42! A bargain, I think you'll agree. They also make these chocolate and banana spring rolls which, for some unfathomable reason, aren't on the menu, but if you ask, and you MUST, they will make them. Eat. And enjoy. You're welcome.

{Image source: LexnGer, flickr}

And lastly, my Southern Suburbs option (Obs is in the suburbs, isn't it?). 1890 House Sushi Bar & Grill. 1890 House is my secret. Well, ok, I'm sure other peoples know about it, it's always full, but it's my secret place to have amazing, interesting sushi and sushi-like food at rock bottom prices!! And damned, if I'm not sharing it with you lot! This shows how much I love you, doesn't it?! They have crispy tuna, in a sweet sauce, drizzled with sesame seeds (yes, you can drizzle seeds, aren't you glad you know that?), deep fried chicken wontons, that are HEAVEN dipped in sweet chilli sauce, and the sashimi! Seared tuna sashimi (can you tell that's a favourite of mine?!) at, I think, about R30-40 for 5 pieces. It's my little bit of heaven. And if it weren't in Obs, I would eat there more often.

Those are all I can think of for now. Sure, there are more and probably better sushi places, but insofar as making sushi available at good prices while still maintaining great quality, these places come out tops for me, and keep me coming back, again and again.

So, where do you like to go for sushi? Or, if you're not a big sushi eater (why?!), do you like Asian food? Where do you eat great Asian food?