A platter groaning with fresh seafood at FSH in Kalk Bay

A platter groaning with fresh seafood at FSH in Kalk Bay

THERE’S a classic among local cookery books called Free From the Sea, a superb reference work by Lannice Snyman and Anne Klarie, although the title has always struck me as being ironically and sadly inapt given how much we have to pay in restaurants for some of the things that can be hoiked out of the sea in no time if you have the skill, a licence and a bit of luck.

If you think of a seafood restaurant at the Cape, you think ‘expensive’. That’s just awful. If you think of what to choose from a seafood restaurant’s menu – unless you live in Constantia and drive three 4Xs plus one each for the pets or stay in Clifton and commute to your Waterfront offices on your private yacht – you’re likely to avoid the stuff you really want, like mounds of langos or the biggest kreef they can find in the seafood tank, and choose some relatively affordable linefish instead.
It shouldn’t be like that. It’s a crime and a crying shame. Even the one seafood venture where you know you can get an affordable meal, Ocean’s Basket, is still going to set you back.

Still, if you live at the Cape and love seafood, there are times when you have to have your bank manager abducted in the pry of night and taken by masked men to some greasy spoon cesspit while you go out to your favourite local seafood spots. I have three I rate highly, plus my local Ocean Basket, which I think of as a pizza place with seafood – a friendly franchise which does not try to cripple you financially.

In another fish kettle altogether, though, is Solly and Jane Solomon’s Miller’s Thumb in the crooked end of Kloofnek Road. Solly and Jane have been there since the mid-Nineties and they are packed to the rafters every night, with Jane keeping her smile going from table to table, never missing a beat, and unfailingly tripping through the menu while Solly sweats in his tiny galley kitchen which would look more at home in the bowels of a small yacht. His is the nightly miracle, yet if, as locals sometimes do, you step into his minuscule kingdom to say hello he’ll be all smiles and hale-fellow.

On their plates are Solly’s immaculate way with fresh seafood, crustacea, calamari, seafood curries, a touch of Asian, plenty of spice, and always imagination and flair. Great place.

Down at the Waterfront, I have a long history with the Greek Fisherman, going back to the evening I lost my rag when they wouldn’t take my cheque, back when I thought rather more highly of myself than was my due. In my shaky defence, we were in a large group including my then editor Kosie Viviers, plus his mate the veteran editor of The Star, Harvey Tyson, and I was embarrassed to the core in their presence.

Later, owners Georgina and Peter Petroulis charmed me back to the place and we all had a good laugh about it – water under the bridge. Recently I was back there (without them knowing it) to see how things were shaping up all these years later. Extremely well. They’ve given the place a facelift and the new elegant chic look has nothing in common with the downhome theme of the early days.

On the plate is a very broad menu of almost anything you can imagine from the sea, and the best thing is that on a hot night you sit out on the quayside with saucy lights above you while you take in that awesome mountain while eating the sea’s bounty, or a meaty alternative.

Of course, everything has a Greek flavour, and the brilliant flavours of lemon and garlic and oregano do wonders for seafood. But at a steep price, for this is posh, yet hearty, seafood at Waterfront prices. Not for the squeamish of pocket.

Too far away for me to visit too often, but nevertheless a favourite, is FSH (”fish”) in Kalk Bay, where Thea and Peter Douglas do things their own way, with engaging warmth and a welcome lack of pretentiousness.

Here, you choose your fish or crustacea raw from the fridge (in the picture) where experts cut and weigh it for you and price accordingly. So you can have one kind of fish, or three, or make up a whole platter precisely to your own taste or mood.
The fish is brought over the road daily from the boats as they land in Kalk Bay harbour, and you can sit under umbrellas across from the railway line that hugs the False Bay coast, and tuck in.

Lovely starters too, from the menu, and an extensive sushi menu. FSH is an ideal choice for spoiling you overseas visitors this summer.

FSH
The Quays, Main Rd, Kalk Bay
021 788 1869

Greek Fisherman
Victoria Wharf, V & A Waterfront
021 418 5411

Millers Thumb
10 Kloofnek Road, Tamboerskloof
021 424 3838

First published in Cape Argus Tonight, December 2009