Cowfish
Where: 136 Florida Road, Morningside
Open: Daily 11am to 10.30pm
Call: 031 943 1670
It’s finally open. Ingrid Shevlin and I have been waiting almost six months to try Cowfish, which opened on Florida Road recently. I think it was partly the name which intrigued her. We’d all but given up, until an informant started raving about the place. She arrived after we had ordered and told us what we simply had to try.
Apparently the delays were caused while trying to get the franchising sorted out before opening the first restaurant in KZN. More are planned.
It’s a big restaurant, taking up the space of the Old Keg and Bistro 136. It’s modern in feel ‒ stylish, airy, minimalist. It opens up onto the pavement. The music is vibey and the staff are willing to please. There’s a bar on the one side, and a private dining room. Pumping, I should imagine it will be a lot of fun. On a Saturday lunch we enjoy chilling and watching the goings on in the street.
The menu takes in everything you would expect from the sea, including sushi, and everything a good steak house should offer, naturally including their home-made burgers.
We start by investigating two of the more over-the-top items on the sushi menu. While the classic Californian rolls, hand rolls, nigiri and sashimi etc are all available, we thought we’d try the dream sushi. The pink Cadillac (R115), a California roll with seared tuna, avo and pink rice topped with tempura prawn and paprika mayo, sounded interesting in theory, but in reality was a mess of mayonnaise. Too big to eat properly in one go and with the rice cold and the prawn losing its crunch from all that topping, it had none of the freshness you expect from sushi.
Marginally better was the green dragon (R104), a salmon California roll with green rice and topped with crab in more paprika mayo. But if you want to go fancy there are versions with strawberries and Philadelphia cheese or salmon roses topped with cotton candy.
We also shared the Hong Kong pears (R85) off the starters menu. These were potato dumplings filled with chicken and prawn curry ‒ a pear-shaped croquette in a sense. They were pleasant without being memorable.
Tuna carpaccio and salmon tartare both feature, and might have been better options. We both had a bad case of Fomo when we saw a plate of tempura prawns delivered at the next table. Otherwise there are chicken wings and grilled halloumi, spring rolls and beef tataki, and a dim sum menu.
For mains the seafood takes in the likes of battered hake, kingklip, baby kingklip, teriyaki salmon and a variety of combos with prawns and calamari. There’s a Thai-inspired red prawn curry and a selection of seafood poke bowls. Ingrid went for the prawn and calamari combo (R259) which came with rice, her choice, and a lemon garlic sauce. It was enjoyable.
For lunch I didn’t feel like a steak, although there’s fillet, rib eye, rump, a tomahawk and sirloin on the menu, along with lamb chops and pork ribs. Sauces and sides are charged separately.
So it was left for me to try their burgers. These come in a whole array of options topped with some usual stuff ‒ aged Gouda, bacon, etc and some less usual ‒ teriyaki sauce, Gorgonzola or Camember. My simple Kaiser cheese (R129) had a tasty home-made patty and came with good chips. I enjoyed it.
Desserts here look a little more interesting, with Asian apple pie and spring rolls filled with strawberries, hazelnuts and dark chocolate. We shared a kataifi cheesecake (R75), which Ingrid thought was too sweet, but it would be with all that shredded baklava and rose water stuff garnishing the cake. I enjoyed it even if the cake itself was a little dense.
Food: 3
Service: 3 ½
Ambience: 3 ½
The Bill: R869
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