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.

Friday Nights: Sevruga, Gateway

Sevruga is part of the Caviar group of restaurants, which includes two venues in Capetown, and now two in Durban. Adverts for the restaurants appear regularly in TASTE magazine, and the Eat Out guide, and invariably feature long haired, blonde models whose enjoyment of the food appears to border on the indecent. The food-porn theme continues on their website, which is currently down, and amusingly offers the Freudian excuse that they are 'currently too busy servicing our guests'. Being of the opinion that good food photography does not require a side of high heels and come-hither glances, I was initially wary of visiting the new Sevruga restaurant at Gateway, worrying that they had chosen glamour over substance.

Happily, however, we had received several 50% off promotional vouchers at the Taste of Durban festival, so determined to take full advantage before they expired, we visited the restaurant twice in a month, once as a couple and once with friends.

The restaurant is located on the Eastern side of the mall, overlooking the Wavehouse and is an impressively large 300 seater. Front of house we were greeted (as expected?) by two bored looking model types, dressed for a night on the town, who ushered us to our table in their matching micro dresses before mincing back to their positions.

The initial service experience was frustrating, as we were descended upon by at least four different servers, each of whom offered us 'a bottle of water for the table', attempted to drape napkins over our laps and generally fell over one other. Once the help had settled down, however, and our eyes had a chance to adjust to the deep gloom of the restaurant interior, we were able to begin enjoying the experience, and page through the extensive menu, which features wonderful and exotic sounding 'regular' dishes (risotto balls with truffle aioli, deboned lamb ribs, marinated springbok) as well as a lengthy dim sum and sushi section.

We had come for the sushi, so the regular section of the menu will have to wait for a later review. To begin, we ordered a portion of Har Gau (translucent dim sum) filled with duck, honey and ginger. Service was prompt (our final waitress on our initial visit was lovely) and presentation was beautiful, with the three generously sized dumplings nestled in still steaming bamboo, and shaped in a way that I had not seen before, with a pretty tri-lobed finish. I would have enjoyed a more pronounced ginger flavour, but they were definitely delicious, with a wonderful soft mouth feel.

Next came a round of crispy, deep fried wontons, filled this time with beef, coriander and ginger. Again they arrived promptly, beautifully presented, hot and tasty.

An interesting offer on the menu was the bowl of Edamame beans. I had heard that these were a popular dish in Japan and China, but didn't realise until they arrived at the table that they are in fact simply immature soybeans, served steamed in their pods and eaten with salt. The characteristically hairy and rather drab looking pods, when broken open yielded up a surprisingly beautiful harvest of plump, shiny, jade-green beans. These offered a good test of my chopstick wielding abilities as I initially ate them one by one after manoeuvring them through a ponzu bath, before abandoning pretenses and popping them directly into my mouth.

The Tom Yum soup, which I tried on our second visit, was wonderfully fiery, with a dangerous red sheen across the bowl, and a good hot and sour balance. Since enjoying Tom Yum in Bangkok, I have been on the lookout for a South African experience which can compare to what we tasted there. This one was one of the better that I've tasted - perhaps too much emphasis on the chili, but I enjoyed eating it immensely.

Having visited the dim sum pages, we moved on to the sushi, and ordered a selection of California rolls, sashimi, something called a 'samurai roll' and the 'tuna crunch' which involved tuna tempura rolled with cream cheese before being tempura battered a second time (purists, look away).

When we visited as a couple, all of the dishes which we ordered were presented on a single plate, which was a nice effect. Generally all of the sushi we ordered on both visits was well constructed, fresh and tasty, although I felt that too much mayonnaise was in use, something which I feel detracts from the fresh, Asian flavours of really good sushi.

On our first visit we bypassed the deserts and ended instead with an apple martini lolly - there are several variants of these alcoholic ices, and they are served in a retro ice lolly shape. Good fun, and a great palate cleanser.

When we did try the deserts, they were out of the chocolate fondant that we had wanted to order, and so I had to fall back on the crème brûlée. It was a pretty good effort, with vanilla seeds spotted through the silky smooth custard, but I still felt a bit disappointed. I think that perhaps crème brûlée has been overdone to the point that only making them at home still holds much appeal - rather stick to the lollies.

With its sophisticated interior, extensive, well executed menu and great wine list, Sevruga is a welcome addition to the Durban restaurant landscape. If they can tone the service down to an unobtrusive level (without venturing into the neglect we experienced on our second visit) and perhaps sort out a few issues with availability there will be very little on which to fault them. Fun for a date night, or an evening out with friends, I rate it worthy of a third helping.