Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Fatal sushi attraction
IT’S POSSIBLE to fall in love with a restaurant before you’ve been there. I noticed this place one day when I was next door at The Rockwell hotel for an unrelated event, because it has tables outside in the paved area, along with some other restaurants. The chalkboard was offering an appealing bento box lunch special, and I was just waiting for the right time to go back. That time came after all sorts of nonsense from other places – like one which only takes bookings for inconvenient sittings which don’t fit in with my hunger pangs, Diva’s pre-existing plans, and our need to have unrestricted time; and another that refused to take a booking over the phone. “You must send an e-mail,” said the live, perhaps illiterate, human being. Ridiculous.
Their losses were Izakaya Matsuri’s gain. When we walked in and saw the lovely decor – lots of paper lanterns, stony walls, soft lighting, high ceiling – I was even more enamoured. And all this before we even ate. Diva had been there before and recommended it.
The open-plan kitchen is small, and there is a surprising number of chefs in it, although the size and range of the menu can justify that. Heading the team is chef Arata Koga, who doesn’t speak much English but universal sign language can easily overcome that. “How is the food?” he conveyed. “Excellent,” I replied with hand signals. Service from the two staff members on the floor was attentive, and our Desmond Loots was able to answer all our questions about the food with quiet elegance and charm. Matsuri is a small restaurant, and it was quiet on the weeknight we were there. It deserves to be full.
The menu comprises lots of wonderful and unusual sushi as well as Japanese tapas and main dishes. Starters include things like panko tuna or salmon skewers, deep-fried calamari tentacles, miso soup, pork dumplings, and yakatori skewers (chicken or pork neck). There are also platters made up of three or five items for more extensive sampling.
We began with crispy bang bang prawn and avo spring rolls (R52 for three), and the most fabulous aubergine slices wrapped around spicy tuna (R48) with a sweet sticky sauce. Actually, that’s not strictly true; a quick order of salmon maki ( R50) when we ordered our bottle of Ken Forrester petit chenin ( R99) from the excellent and wellpriced wine list was the true beginning. An amuse bouche if you will.
Although we had thought we were going to eat things other than sushi, somehow it’s irresistible. You’ll find all the familiar things here, as well as some more unusual offerings. Like the hot soy wrapper rolls (R85), which are prettily pink. They have salmon and cream cheese (just a hint so you don’t get that ooey gooey sticky mouth) and rice inside a gluten-free soy bean sheet, and topped with red chilli.
Thus far we’d had spicy tuna and the chilli but neither was overpowering; chef Agato has a subtle touch, unlike some whose hands are heavy. I prefer the other flavours to come through, and in this case they did. Our other dishes were eel crunch rolls (R78), which were as crunchy as they should be, with yummy eel sauce out of which Diva could not keep her fingers; and rock’n’roll rolls (R90) – salmon, tuna, linefish, prawn, and caviar wrapped in cucumber ( no rice) served with jalapeno ponzu dipping sauce.
We finished with a trio of ice creams ( R42), a scoop each of wasabi (I’m a fan, Diva is not), green tea with black bean paste, and deep fried. How have I lived without this deliciousness in it? Our bill came to R544 without a tip.