Sushi, Dim Sum & Seafood? At Beluga, baby!
Situated in the edgy Foundry Area, the multiple levels of Beluga are housed in a one hundred year old building. It has a huge cobbled outside terrace and dark interior with bricks lining the outside walls. It’s going for a New York vibe, in an open-plan layout that still manages to have nooks an crannies.
The coolest part of this restaurant and probably the reason most people go is the bar in the middle of the restaurant. It’s crowded and dimly lit. People laugh and clink glasses, enjoying an after work drink. We had our first drink there while waiting for our table and I gotta say: we were kind of sad to leave and go to our boring table.
Beluga is a huge place and as you walk in you definitely need the host to show you to your table – you could get lost. The open kitchen shines like a shrine where the many cooks are hard at work. They create an abundance of dishes with a focus on seafood, sushi and dumplings. If you are wondering – as I was – no, they do not sell Beluga caviar at Beluga.
The service is good, even in a fully booked restaurant. We got the feeling that they were trying their best to make up for late orders and keep everyone happy.
Start your dinner with the Springbok carpaccio with a chili reduction, baby leaves and a parmesan crisp as a starter and the kingklip & langoustine with crushed potatoes as a main dish. Or take the Japanese route to a full stomach and start out with some crisp edamame beans combined with a variation of dumplings like the Har Gau (Prawn or Chicken) or the Cha Siu Baau, which we loved. Share one of the combination platters, which are incredibly affordable and offer a selection from their sushi menu (sake, maguro, california rolls, rainbow rolls – the classics).
And here we get to the one thing that put a damper on our prime dinner mood: The sushi rice was so bland it brought tears to my eyes to see a Japanese cook mess up so badly. What a lot of people do not realize is that in a nigiri (the sushi with a slice of fish draped over rice) the rice is more important than the fish. So a sushi chef is only as good as his rice. The subtle taste of rice vinegar mixed with a hint of sugar and salt, formed to perfection, topped of with a perfect slice of raw fish. Ideally, it’s already seasoned with soy sauce and is nothing short of a miracle.
So we mostly made due with the fine quality fish and left the rice out… so sad, I still get shivers.
Verdict:
Go there for evening drinks and relax on the terrace if you can get a spot. Stay for the dumplings and give the sushi a chance, maybe we caught them on a bad night.
Beluga – Click here
The Foundry
Prestwich Street
Green Point, Cape Town
+27 21 418 2948/9
info@beluga.co.za
