If you want a unique take on seafood, go to Love Fish – their menu is filled with interesting asian and mediterranean flavours!
We were wined and dined courtesy of the lovely owners of this special little seafood restaurant located at the Morningside Shopping Centre and were treated to a selection of starters, mains and desserts – not one dish disappointed!
Forming part of the Bistro Collection, Love Fish is the sister of two of my other favourite bistros: Licorish and the Green Peppercorn – their style is characterized by innovative fusion food so I was really looking forward to our dinner!
The atmosphere is cozy and romantic, with a wave of glass fish hanging above and bits of canoe as light fittings and oars hanging on the walls. Sliced vetkoek and an aubergine dip were served to the table as we ordered our drinks and looked at the menu – a nice little South African touch to start off a meal from the usual bread.
For starters we had fish tacos filled to the brim with spicy hake and topped with avo and cilantro yogurt, tempura prawns with a sweet pear and apricot chutney and salmon carpaccio. The salmon carpaccio was my favourite starter as the salmon strips were laid on sweet Japanese mayo, honey and teriyaki sauce, topped with spring onion – a delicious combination of flavours!
The mains soon arrived. The beer battered hake and chips had a very generous portion of hake, a lovely crisp batter and some really tasty chips.
The Prawn stirfry with pak choy, bean sprouts and peanut butter char su dressing served with noodles was a bit too sweet, but after adding some fresh chilli, really enjoyed it.
The real showstopper for me was the blackened sea bass. The sea bass was cooked to perfection with a crisp beautifully flavoured skin topped with a sweet red pepper chutney. The harissa risotto was a perfect accompaniment to the fish and we thoroughly enjoyed this dish.
As you can imagine, we were stuffed – but I have NEVER turned down dessert! The lovely Marnus from Love Fish, informed us that most of the ice creams on the menu were homemade and that they made a killer malva pudding and chocolate brownie. I had to see if he was right and we gorged ourselves on all three…. and oh man, I was impressed with it all! The malva pudding is served with ginger cookie icecream and has a spicy ginger taste that makes it different to the traditional ones.
Their coconut icecream is amazing and so is their salted caramel popcorn flavour.
All in all – impressed and will definitely be back again with friends and family. They have sushi and also special seasonal menus in addition to their usual menu – the sushi burritos on their current winter menu sounded great and want to definitely try that out!