Jack Salmon

Jack Salmon (Jack Salmon Fish House - to give it its full and slightly odd title) has been open in Durban for a year now, and is already making major waves, winning rave reviews, full bookings and Eat Out 2014's stamp of approval as 'Durban's best seafood only restaurant'.

In the kitchen is Australian seafood chef John Porcelli. I first heard of Porcelli back in 2008 when I was living in Hilton. His eponymous restaurant there sadly closed soon after we moved to the Midlands and before we had a chance to try it out. Some years later, he opened a pop up restaurant in Pietermaritzburg that operated on weekends out of a coffee shop. We went along very excitedly to see what all the fuss was about, and ran straight into one of my pet peeves (read it on the bio: The Hungry Hedonist) – overdone tuna steak.

Based, rather unfairly, on this one poor experience, I had been wary of visiting Jack Salmon until now (I’m like a culinary elephant, I never forget).

On arrival at the restaurant you will immediately see that the venue is a delight - Durban has a surprising lack of venues that take advantage of our coastal views, but Jack Salmon gets a good piece of sea view in from its second story position in a small centre in Glenashley. Part of the view is obscured by the coastal scrub that grows between the Ruth First highway and the beach, but the ribbon of blue that you can see unfolds over 180 degrees and sets the scene beautifully.

Inside, the restaurant is pretty tastefully decorated, with a large sepia wallpaper print of a fishing boat on one wall, and large mirrors on the other. If the weather is good (and this is Durban, after all) the balcony is the best place to be to enjoy the fresh air and the sea views. A word of warning, however, an onshore breeze will carry with it a haze of cigarette smoke from those last desperate individuals that are yet to shake the habit and who congregate on the stairs for a quick puff.

The wine list (look carefully and you'll find it hidden on the back of the menu) is a very short one, with 9 whites and 3 reds - we went with the Tokara Chardonnay which Platter's describes as easy-going but firm with 'invisibly supportive oak', whatever that means. It went well with the view, anyway.

Starter options include calamari in its various forms; mussels; prawns; oysters, and even a seafood soup. We wanted a bit of everything, so opted for the mezze platter (calamari tubes and tentacles as well as olives and grilled halloumi). Annoyingly, the waiter returned to our table 20 minutes after taking our order to let us know that there was no halloumi. This is a(nother) pet peeve of mine for two reasons: one - that you shouldn't be running out of basics, and two - how did it take 20 minutes for awareness of this sad state of affairs to sink in?

Having agreed grudgingly to substitute extra calamari for the absent halloumi, the platter then arrived cold. The calamari was delicious, tender and sea-salty, but would have been markedly better warm. The marinated olives were plump and ripe and pips were soon flying merrily into the hedges below us.

In Jack Salmon’s defence, it was an unusually cold afternoon, with a chilly breeze blowing in from the Drakensberg. However, I was wary of receiving another cold dish (cold fish - not good), so we took a tactical decision to go for sushi (already cold), and the 'scrumptious prawn and fish cakes' which would stand up better to the weather than a delicate dish like the (apparently excellent) grilled and poached Norwegian salmon.

The scrumptious fish cakes lived up to their name admirably. The dish was made up of two good sized, grilled cakes that were a lovely blend of subtle fish flavours and prawn pieces, served on a bed of mash playfully studded with a scattering of peas and sweetcorn. The lemon, pineapple and sweet chilli sauce was a particularly pleasant surprise, the sweet pineapple marrying well with the hint of prawn in the fishcakes.

The sushi was also very good, with a couple of nice finds, particularly the crunchy California rolls (the crunch comes courtesy of Panko crumbs inside the roll) and the rice paper rolls, which substitute the usual nori wrap for a delicate rice paper cover. Happily we discovered that sushi is half-priced most afternoons: Tuesday to Saturday 12 to 6 p.m. One quibble for the sushi - the rice was not sufficiently sticky, and so the rolls tended to fall apart a little under enthusiastic soy-dunking.

On the dessert front, there was a novel take on the classic chocolate brownie which has to be recommended: two spheres of brownie each surrounding a caramel centre and carefully coated in Panko crumbs! A fantastic idea and a winning combination. The brownies were served with vanilla ice cream, however, which I have recently decided needs to be banned from all restaurants nicer than a Spur (homemade ice cream with real vanilla excluded). Let’s get serious and have some salted caramel ice cream or pistachio and honeycomb, or butter pecan. Vanilla is so done.

Jack Salmon's is not a cheap and cheerful spot (they consider themselves ‘semi-fine dining’ and most of the main courses will set you back around R140), so you do go expecting a lot. I did have a couple of criticisms, but that won’t stop me from coming back for more at some point - even if only for sundowners and half price sushi.