The place for perfect sunsets
The thing that has killed more restaurants than I can think of is inconsistency. Never mind food that cannot be categorised, never mind high prices, never mind the occasional dropped glass—oh no the main killer is inconsistency. Diners get used to the way things are and the kind of dining that suits them, the kind of prices that suit them and the ambience they like. What they do not like is one day this one day that. For my money one of the very best restaurants to get this right is Café Orca in Melkbos run by brothers Ricky and Jason. For years now they have been delivering superb food straight from the ocean with great service and ambience always perfectly in sync. A recent visit confirmed their status as the place to go on this side of the coast—indeed in most of Cape Town.
Superb Cape salmon in Alaskan sauce
We started with superb prawns done Cajun style, succulent and rich with just the right amount of bite and tender calamari strips perfectly crispy with delicious piquant sauce. The best was yet to come with the most superb Cape Salmon served with an Alaskan sauce, creamy, garlicky, with smoked salmon pieces—heaven on a plate. With fish one minute less is too little and one minute more is too much as you know. But this was perfect as if the fish and the chef had the same plan.
Have you ever seen tuna like that?
The other dish was a magnificent wedge of yellow fin tuna fairly well seared owing to the thickness of the fish but still very underdone in the centre– perfect. If fillet steak came from the sea that is how it would look. The sauce was more of that world beating Cajun sauce just like they make it in New Orleans, a perfect counterpoint to the rich tuna.
Heavenly cheese cake
We finished off with a wedge of magnificent homemade cheese cake with a splash of cream and lemon curd and caramel ice cream—way beyond anything Gran ever made. The service is impeccable, and the wine list is well planned. Get there and see what I am talking about.
CAFÉ ORCA BEACH ROAD MELKBOSSTRAND 021 553 4120