I think I can say with some certainty that I’ve frequented almost all of Cape Town‘s sushi joints enough to have a fair standard of sushi-judging.
I had fallen into a comfortable sushi-rut with the ridiculously well-priced platters at Sevruga and Beluga (at the Waterfront and in Greenpoint, respectively) and the delicious creations of Willoughbys. I thought I knew where all the good sushi was to be had in Cape Town, until I stumbled upon Kyoto Garden Sushi, tucked away on a quiet stretch of Lower Kloofnek Road, only metres away from the throbbing music of Cape Town’s favourite chilled-out bar, Rafikis.
Stepping into Kyoto Garden Sushi, I felt like I was transported to a fancy Japanese restaurant in New York or London. The place definitely had an international feel about it, and a chic Japanese-y minimalism that you don’t really see much of in Cape Town’s mass market sushi restaurants. The Zen-like atmosphere (calm Japanese music, bamboo poles adorning the walls, bonsai trees in softly lit alcoves, a mini water feature next to the bathrooms) only added to this.
The menu confirmed the Japanese authenticity, featuring things I’d never eaten, like sea urchin and abalone sushi. While the menu doesn’t have what you’d expect as the full range of Japanese dishes (no teppanyaki, udon or soba), it has a great selection of (sometimes intriguing) dishes. If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking of going to Kyoto Garden Sushi to have sushi, but don’t miss out on the other dishes on offer: tempura oysters, seafood salads, steamed linefish, sake steamed clams, or a fabulous-sounding saute of tofu, oysters, prawns, octopus and mushrooms.
We started off our meal with delicious cocktails: the boyfriend had a refreshing mix of whisky, lime, fresh ginger and I had a fruity drink of Japanese melon liqueur, vodka, pineapple and lemon juice. In a word: yum.
As we perused the interesting menu, we were served snacks: salty edamame beans, baby clams, pickled lettuce, fried squid and jellyfish. ‘I didn’t know you could eat jellyfish’ said the boyfriend, as he gingerly poked a piece of it with his chopstick. The thought of eating the rubbery sea creature had never crossed my mind either. But that’s the thing you have to love about Japanese people – they’ll eat anything, even if it it may kill you. You could never accuse them of unadventurous eating. Not ones to be accused of it either, we tried the jellyfish. I’m not sure that I would order it willingly, but we loved all the other titbits. It all felt very authentic.
For starters, the boyfriend had cold noodles with prawns, and I tried the fried tofu with seaweed, Asian mushrooms and Japanese curry sauce. Both were delicious. The tofu was lightly crispy on the outside, and silky on the inside (but not in a gross mushy tofu way), the mushrooms was potently umami-ish, and the curry sauce was fantastic. The boyf’s noodles came in a clean-tasting dressing of soy, mirin and something else that tasted nice.
We moved onto the highlight of the evening: a chef’s choice sushi platter of sashimi, nigiri and california rolls. I can’t effuse enough praise on the sushi: it was unfaultable. The fish was the freshest I’ve ever had in Cape Town, the rice was perfectly soft and flavoured and even the wasabi paste tasted better than at other sushi restaurants. I could have eaten piles more.
I’m not usually a dessert person, but seeing as the rest of the food was so top-notch, I decided I had to try one of their sweets. We both ended up having the green tea pancake with ginger ice cream – and it lived up to the standard of the other dishes. It was understatedly tasty, and kept to the clean-tasting flavours of the rest of the food, avoiding the sweet cloyingness of most Western desserts.
We had a quick chat to the friendly American owner, Scott, who told us that he only uses the freshest ingredients available, like locally-caught line fish and freshly made wasabi, grated from wasabi roots imported from Japan. It’s this attention to freshness that is clearly evident in the dishes and makes Kyoto Garden Sushi stand out from its competitors.
Kyoto Garden Sushi is a bit more pricey than your average sushi restaurant, but then it’s definitely not your average sushi restaurant. It’s more a special occasion kind of place (our special occasion was that it was Saturday night and we’d just overcome the previous night’s hangovers) where you go if you want real Japanese food and sushi without mass-market-appeal mayo and sickly sweet sauces.
On a side note, even if you don’t need the loo, do make a trip to the bathroom during your meal. It’s an oasis of calm: flickering candles, trickling water feature and ginger-scented handwash. You could almost be in a teahouse on a Japanese mountain.
There are a number of great Sushi Restaurants in Cape Town that you can explore.
Kyoto Garden Sushi
tel 021-422-2001
11 Lower Kloofnek Road, Tamboerskloof
Photo courtesy of Mike Saechang
