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Thu 25 Feb 2010 |
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Review: Kyoto Garden Sushi |
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Stopped in at Kyoto Garden Sushi on Tuesday night for a long overdue catch-up with a friend… I'd heard lots about this sleek sushi spot off Kloof Street for some time, so was keen to check it out.
From the outside, the evening was looking up: light wooden (almost Nordic) tables, modern chairs, chic sushi bar, a happy buzz of diners. All good.
 So a pity my entrance wasn’t so grand. I had a reservation for two, so they shouldn’t have been all that surprised that patrons might decide to walk through the door.
No maitre’d to be seen, no waitress to greet me. So I stood there. And stood there some more. 30 seconds or so later I happened to catch the barman’s eye. He finished off his cocktail before asking if he could help. Um, no, I’m just wandering into random restaurants for entertainment?
Well, that’s what I thought. Instead I said “Yes, I have a reservation”.
He finally rustled up a waitress who showed me to the table. If I leaned back in my chair I could have knocked on the door to the ladies loo – it’s a small restaurant, so ask for a banquette near the window. There’s a private room for groups of 8 or so, which could be fun.
Wine lists appeared and waitresses disappeared. A good rage of wines, with a nice selection by the glass. Except…
When we eventually placed our wine order we were told that they didn’t have our first choice of Semillon. Oh yes and they were out of the second choice Uitsig Chardonnay. And the third choice too. Hmmm.
The offer of a R300 Muldersbosch got a polite refusal, but to their credit they provided an excellent Glen Carlou at the price of the out of stock Constantia Uitsig. I’ve heard a few comments that their wines are frequently out of stock, so it’s obviously an area for improvement.
Tempted by the Dirty Ninja Saketini, but decided to play it safe. Where’s that designated driver?
The Chef’s platters didn’t seem to offer great value, so we went for a range of California rolls. At R46-R48 for 8 pieces it’s at the upper end of Cape Town sushi prices, but the cuts of fish were generous, the rice was perfect and a bowl of real wasabi root was offered… so all in all fairly good value. When you compare quality and price together I’m not sure it beats the sushi of 1890 in Observatory though.
They lose serious points for having Blue fin Tuna on the menu though. Perhaps some Snow Leopard kebabs are coming soon?
In addition to sushi they also do a range of main dishes, some of which looked fairly interesting. Might be worth a visit to sample those…hopefully they’ve been to the bottle store by then.
Kyoto Garden Sushi. 11 Kloof Nek Road, Gardens.
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Gourmet Burger in Cavendish turned into a contradiction in terms on Tuesday night... 'Pedestrian Burger' would have been more appropriate. Patty fell apart, was undercooked and really nothing to write home about. Far too much stilton on the bun, and the whole affair served lukewarm... no doubt thanks to the cold relish that was plonked on top. Skinny fries pretty good though, and does well to make you feel like you're not in a mall. Window seats overlooking the Square are your best bet.
The burger wasn't problematic enough to send back, but for a restaurant that only does one main menu item, you'd think they'd be rather good at it by now. Unfortunately not the case for me this time... |
My worst travel nightmare came true last week. Passport? Gone. Camera? Ciao. 500 beautiful photos. See ya. Cash and credit cards? Adios.
Damn.
After a two-week jaunt around India — which was characterized by some fairly tiring travelling, innumerable rickshaw rides (at variously inflated prices) and about 200-million touts — the proverbial hit the fan as we boarded our train at Agra for our final leg back to New Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Station.
In the bustle of boarding, a train attendant was fussing around the passengers clearing away old bedding, pulling back and drawing curtains, rearranging seats and generally getting in the way. Combined with dozens of passengers climbing on and off, pakora-sellers with trays of the deep-fried snacks and chai-wallahs carrying hot kettles... it was mildly chaotic.
A moment of inattention, a flash of fatigue and fifteen seconds later… the 'attendant' had made off with my camera bag. Although, in fairness it could equally be called my passport bag, credit card bag and 8000 rupee bag... such were the contents that disappeared, never to be seen again.
You can read the full sorry story over here, but as travel disasters go I reckon it ranks fairly well up there. Just below fiery plane crash, and well above severe bout of Delhi belly. Losing your passport and every valuable to your name while stuck on a train in the middle of India? It makes a good story now, but at the time it led to serious sense of humour failure.
Despite ticking off country #30 on this trip I discovered that — no matter how much you've travelled — you can never be too careful. I'd show you some photos of the trip... but alas they're somewhere in the back alleys of Agra.
Damn. |
Thousands of travellers between Britain, France and Belgium left stranded by the Eurostar rail shutdown will be on the move again Tuesday, according to AFP, but the company says it could take several days to clear the massive backlog.
Eurostar announced it would run a "restricted" service Tuesday after a three-day shutdown hit 75 000 people — but only passengers originally due to travel Saturday or Sunday will be eligible.
The remainder of the backlog will be cleared over the next few days. But with the Christmas holiday looming on Friday, the clock is ticking for travellers wanting to head home or visit friends and family abroad.
For the full story click through to http://travel.iafrica.com/bulletinboard/2126280.htm. |
Sun 13 Dec 2009 |
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Life's a beach...or something |
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I learnt a valuable, and very expensive, lesson last weekend.
Waking up late on Saturday morning my wife and I decided that the perfect way to wash away the post-2010-street-party cobwebs would be to head down to Fish Hoek for a swim. The first swim of summer in fact. Sunny, nice and warm, not too windy; the perfect Cape Town day to hit the beach.
Into a bag went just the bare basics: sunglasses, driver's licence, sun lotion, ice-cream money. No cellphones, wallets or cameras. Down to Fish Hoek, make friends with a fellow sunbather, leave the bag in their care and head into the water.
We swam, we dived, we washed away the cobwebs... out of the water; no bag! Now before you jump to the obvious conclusion, the lady who was looking after it was equally mortified that she hadn’t noticed someone walk by and swipe it, but it’s easy to get distracted on a busy summer beach.
To cut a long story short, our quick trip to the beach ended in an epic excursion involving tow-trucks, police and insurance companies.
Were we too trusting? Perhaps, but years of doing the same on regular summer swims had never given us reason to think we would be caught short. And that, dear readers, is the valuable lesson. Hit the beaches this summer, by all means, but even if you've never had trouble before remember that you simply can’t be too careful.
If you don't have someone you trust to look after your belongings, see if there is a municipal bag lock-up you can use. I also discovered that the local beach constable's office (who were incredibly helpful, by the way) are usually happy to look after car keys and valuables while you’re in the water. If you have a waterproof car key that you can take swimming, lock anything valuable in the boot and just take a towel, water and sunscreen onto the beach.
I've learnt my lesson the hard — and expensive — way. Take the above to heart and hopefully you won't have to do the same this summer. |
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