Cape Town Sushi: Bowling

Address: Stadium on Main Shopping Centre, Shop 14, Upper Ground Level (1st Floor), 53 Main Road, Claremont
Tel: 021-6836700
Email: helen.hongrestaurant@gmail.com
Web: None

"Bowling for Columbine?"...well maybe not. Rather "Bowling for Hong Seafood Restaurant and Bar?". Okay, perhaps I should ditch any aspirations of becoming a Hollywood Playwright or the next Gavin Hood. Enough said, Hong certainly has elements that proves itself worthy of potentially becoming the next main attraction. Hong Seafood Restaurant and Bar is secretly located in Stadium on Main in Main Road, Claremont.

Stadium on Main is predominantly recognised for its bowling alley, Lets Go Bowling, Indoor Action Sports arena, Laser Quest arena and Tiger Tiger nightclub. All of which act as a draw-card for the predominantly teenage-to-young-adult crowd, primarily due to the stadium's entertainment facilities. Of course we can’t forget about the occasional Saturday morning group of wannabe adolescent sorcerers performing planetary battles with their fantasy card games. Yes, Yugi Ho is alive and kicking out here. I know what you thinking, teenage boys and girls with spotty skin shouting, screaming and bluffing their way through skirmishes with dragons, mages and orge. Sounds crazy, but how many of us have watched Lord Of The Rings and are looking forward to previews of The Hobbit. So deep down inside all of us, there is a freckled-faced kid waiting to burst out with a magical melee-fireball attack.

Hong Seafood Restaurant and Bar was surely a review by accident. Our initial intention for the evening was to dine at Jimmy's Killer Prawns in Claremont, unfortunately their sushi bar was closed for renovations, much to our dismay. This eventually led us to play a quick game of rock, paper, and scissors for Mainland China, JB's Sushi Bar or Hong Seafood Restaurant and Bar. I still don’t understand how a sheet of paper wins against a hard rock, but we decided to give Hong a try.

The venue was neat and tidy with the bar perfectly located in a corner part of the restaurant. Seating was available in the restaurant or outside in a designated area. Hong has quite an extensive menu of sushi dishes and it took us a while to decide what to order. Their different platter combinations of sushi is truly amazing. At this stage it is still too early to tell if there is method in their science of complimentary flavours and textures for each platter. However, you do get a bit of everything in some platters, whereas other platters consist primarily of one specific type of sushi-fish. On a side note, and to some of our reader’s request, we unfortunately did not see any vegetarian sushi on the menu. However, the staff appeared very friendly and accommodating, and I would expect that a specially prepared vegetarian sushi meal could be catered for upon request.
Hong also provides you with a fair selection of wines and other alcoholic drinks at reasonable prices. We would have liked to see a little more creativity in the cider and cocktails department.
Our order consisted of a little bit of everything. These were salmon and tuna maki rolls, prawn and tuna california rolls, and rainbow rolls. We certainly couldn’t also forget about our usual serving of delicate salmon roses, and to top it all off, we had some tempura prawns. The tempura prawns was an experimental order, as we had churning memories of our last order of tempura prawns from Willoughby and Co in the V&A Waterfront.

For a Friday evening, the stadium appeared a bit desolate, but this was only on the level where we were seated. This is arguably a good thing as patrons do not always enjoy the hustle and bustle of people walking around, while enjoying their meal. What was constant and clearly audible was the occasional hollow echoes of hard-rock maple wood pins crashing, preceded by the infamous rolling, countdown-sound of the bowling balls. This certainly was not annoying, and I imagine if I were still in my teens (with my Nike velcro-takkies, ruffled Pepe denim jacket and Ewing roundhouse-kicks pants), that the bowling alley and Hong would be my weekend territorial spot for fun and eats. Parking at the Stadium is also quite cheap compared to parking at Cavendish Shopping Centre, just on the opposite side of the main road to the Stadium.

Our order arrived in good time. The sushi was of good quality and the serving sizes were fair. The serving plates were not the most elegant, but then again we weren’t looking for porcelain crowns, but rather generous boosts of fresh protein and omega. The salmon roses in terms of its portion size was really generous when compared to some of the roses we have seen from the competition. Healthy portions of salmon wrapped around each portion of sushi rice. Had the salmon cuts been slightly bigger, Balducci's Royal Sushi Bar may have had a challenger in that department. The rainbow rolls were also quite good. However, when it comes to rainbow rolls, personally, I prefer no cucumber in the centre. Having the tasty soft rice, soft avocado and delicate soft sushi fish flavours combine and meld in your mouth is indescribably yummy. The last thing you need is to have to chew through a piece of crispy cucumber slices. I don’t think the cucumber slices work well in certain sushi rolls.
In terms of condiments, we quickly ran out of pickled ginger. There was not enough ginger to accompany each serving of sushi. As always, and I'm sure everyone will agree, there will always be plenty of wasabi. The lack of the light-soy sauce left a bit of a smudge on the evening.
The tempura prawns was probably the best we have tasted in a while. We usually do not order anything other than sushi, but the opportunity provided our palette with some alternative flavouring. We have to mention, that the queen-sized tempura prawns were very good - light and crispy with just enough batter, so as not to hide that succulent taste of fresh prawns. The accompanying broth of dipping sauce was really tasty and also very, very light. A dish perfectly done.

In terms of pricing, Hong steers well clear of the foul line. Our total bill came to a very reasonable R194, including drinks and excluding a tip. It was somewhat surprising to be able to enjoy a hearty good quality sushi dinner for two for under R200. And when we say good quality sushi, we mean good quality sushi, at expected sushi portion sizes that are really satisfying. In this category, thoughts of 1890 House Sushi and Grill in Observatory and Noodlebosch in Long Street, cbd spring to mind. With Valentines Day approaching, Hong have taken the initiative to offer its patrons some great specials for this period. We have alternative arrangements for Valentine's Day, but perhaps our readers can forward us some comments on Hong's specials, such as the Lovers platter or the Buffet specials. We look forward to hearing more about these specials.

Hong Seafood Restaurant and Bar provides great sushi and Japanese dishes at excellent value for money while still maintaining high standards in simplistic quality and taste. They further compliment their cuisine by stocking a fair selection of wines and alcohol. Hong is certainly bowling in the fast lane to become the next kingpin of good quality sushi - Grant