A visit to Eden on the Bay

Saturday was a stunning day, so we decided that it was time to get out and enjoy Cape Town, but go somewhere different. We headed for Eden on the (Big) Bay. However, when we got there the South Easter was really pumping and it became "fresher" the longer we were there. It is the place to go for the most superb view of our city and the mountain, a walk along white sandy beaches and a paddle or a swim. But the downside is the almost constant wind. So it is much used by wind and kite surfers, although they can be swept out to sea

One special observation - usually, when the South Easter blows, the mountain has its 'tablecloth' of cloud; there was none this day. You can see our neighbourhood across the bay on the slopes of Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Our view across the bay is very different; From our house, this area looks very far away. And there are always tankers and container ships riding in the roads, waiting to go into port or just sheltering from the wind. And from this beach, you do get a very different view of Robben Island, which is much closer

It is a fairly new area which has some lovely looking flats with sea views and they do have several sea front restaurants to choose from. We were hoping to meet an old friend there for lunch, but he was busy. We had done some research about the restaurants there, as we have in the past had a very bad meal at one of them. So we walked up the front and investigated their menus and specials boards. It was not too crowded and most people were masked and keeping good social distancing

While some restaurants were full, others were quite empty. We always take that as an indication of the quality of their food and service

A sign of the times, there had been a few closures

There are also a few restaurants at the back and we had a look at those. Lynne found the Orient, which was the one which appealed the most when she did her research. It has a sushi carousel and some specials. We had brought along a bottle of De Morgenzon's  good Chenin Blanc and were planning to buy a take-away and sit on a bench with a view to enjoy our lunch. But the wind, with its icy edges, was going to put paid to that plan

The specials are tempting. The Sushi Buffet seems to have a great price but, actually, how many can you eat?

This one caught our eye and it is what we decided to order

It was just enough for the two of us, and we didn’t need much supper

This would leave us wanting more if we shared, but seemed to be too much for one of us to manage

On the carousel

They have lots to choose from and two experienced sushi chefs. It was lunchtime so, sadly, not many customers

The few who were there were seated outside on the terrace

We watched as the chef prepared our selection

Much discussion about the arrangement of the plate

He is very skilful with his knife; so impressive to watch, It takes years to learn how to do this

Our finished platter ready to put into our car fridge and head home. Most of it was rather good, but some of the maki pieces were squidgy and wet; they had probably sat too long on the carousel and were not good. The quality of the fish is good. Disappointing was the deep fried roll, it was just a maki. And horror of horrors, what the hell is cream cheese doing in sushi?! It may be to your taste; it is obviously a modern iteration, but so not for us

We did giggle about the 'Sanitary Chopsticks'; there was no similar note on the napkins,

and we did not understand why we were given four pots of soy

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