A dining experience with sharks
IT WAS my first time setting foot at the Cargo Hold restaurant and it was love at first sight. Dining while watching sharks, I have to say, is a unique experience, one I never thought I would ever enjoy.
I was there for the relaunch of their menu and it was an unforgettable dining experience as I got to taste a variety of food, from starters, soups and main courses to desserts, all presented by ushaka Marine World executive chef Warren Frantz and Cargo Hold Restaurant head chef Sune Terblanche. Not all the food agreed with my palate, but their hospitality was excellent.
For starters, you can enjoy exotic flavours of seafood, from oysters, grilled calamari, and salmon. I have never tasted oysters before because I always had this idea that they taste bad, but it turned out they are really delicious. They had lemon wedges, red Tabasco, freshly ground black pepper, crushed ice, red wine vinegar and shallot. Also on offer for starters are spicy chicken livers, aubergine Parmigiano, mussels and risotto balls.
Before moving on to the main meals there were two soups on offer, minestrone and bouillabaisse. The minestrone was a tomato-based soup with fish in foil (filleted, baked in foil, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, tomato, bell peppers, chilli and lemon), roasted Kassler (potato, chorizo hash, pickled cabbage, cauliflower purée, apple mayo and mustard glaze), lime and chilli prawns (garlic, lime, chilli, lemon, bay leaves, basmati rice, pico de gallo salsa and coriander yoghurt) and a variety of other meals.
It was time to round things off with some sweet stuff. Their dessert menu was wonderful.
The outstanding dessert for me had to be their strawberries and black pepper pancake, containing strawberry, black pepper, mascarpone, chocolate, balsamic glaze and vanilla ice cream.
I also enjoyed their baklava, consisting of crushed nuts, crispy phyllo pastry, lemon zest and cinnamon syrup.
l Cargo Hold restaurant is open from Monday to Saturday from 12pm to 3pm and again from 6pm to 10pm and Sundays from 12pm until 6pm.