We
love eating fish and seafood at Ocean Basket but in the past their Sushi has
been less than perfect, often clumsily made hours or a day in advance, mushy
rice and minimal fillings. We are very happy to report that this has now
changed. Last month at the press launch we were invited to meet international
sushi chef Pepi Anevski of Umami restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark who is a
sushi master, was named Chef of the Year at Japan's first World Sushi Cup. He
was employed by Ocean Basket to come and train all their staff in how to make
good sushi. This has taken more than a month as he travelled around South
Africa doing the training. We were embargoed from telling you about this until
today but can now pass on the information and you can see some of the excellent
sushi we were served by him and the staff at Ocean Basket in Camps Bay in
February.
The view from Ocean Basket in Camps Bay on a warm
afternoon.
Meeting Pepi for the first time with Winnie Bowman
CWM and her sister Lynne
His credentials
Handsome, intelligent, multi-lingual and he loves
food
Ocean Basket Marketing Lead Jean Sloane introduces
him and their concept to the media. “As seafood procuring experts, we are in a
position to offer a superior product at an affordable price and now we can also
claim a fresh new menu with a unique blend of flavours that remain true to our
Mediterranean cuisine.”
He explains the new concept to us. Sushi can be
made with anything as long as you have the basics of seaweed, rice, wasabi and
soy sauce and ginger. “I thought of how many fusion restaurants I had been
working for that had learned to combine sushi with local flavours. We decided
to stop imitating other Japanese restaurants; to respect the sushi basics and
then insert Mediterranean flavours… perfect!”
Then it was time to taste some of the new sushi. The
new menu includes the following items: Wasabi prawn gunkan; Tarama gunkan with
calamari heads; Sesame salmon gunkan with zucchini and tempura; Calamari gunkan
with spring onions; Crunchy Athena with pickled red onion; Salmon Tomato roll
with fresh basil and grilled green pepper; Kypro prawn roll with Romaine
lettuce and origanum sauce; parsley prawn roll; volcano roll and Lemon salmon
roll.
All were being prepared by the sushi staff of the
restaurant
And served to us in abundance
Why not shaved carrot and courgette instead of
wasabi to wrap the rolls? and crisp baby squid tentacles on tramasalata. Breaded
calamari on courgette. These were some of the early ideas we sampled
Salmon sesame and tomato and basil rolls, prawn
with pesto
Then some rolls with crisp topping and some salmon
and mayo with Mediterranean flavours
Oh those crisp baby squid tentacles with lemon
juice
We had been asked to bring along some interesting
ingredients so Pepi could make us unusual sushi and he got some really different
options
He tried lots of different combinations
We all agreed Strawberry sushi works wonderfully,
especially with a touch of wasabi
How about Parma ham topped with sundried tomatoes
and baby mozzarella balls served on a leaf of chicory
Who wants to taste?
And voted the best - chopped Biltong topped avocado
and lettuce rolls, with basil
A wonderful place to watch the sun go down ...
... with a platter of sushi and some good crisp
white wine. Now head off to Ocean Basket to sample the new flavours
©
John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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