Beluga

There is nothing quite like a summers day in Cape Town. Not only is the weather incredibly warm and peaceful but the sights are simply breathe taking. Cape Town truly is a sexy city. Within this city subsists a number of restaurants that are on par with the sexiness that is this city.  Being the restaurant special seeking student that I am, I find myself constantly looking for cheap restaurants that are offering some sort of special. If there’s a 2 for the price of 1, all you can eat or half price special at a restaurant, you can be sure that Guy Muller will be there getting involved. The restaurant up for review this week offers a particularly appealing special for people like me (students). The special: Half price Sushi and cocktails. Not only does this restaurant offer sushi at an affordable price but it combines allows students to engage in their two favourite pastimes; saving money and drinking cheap drinks. The restaurant I’m harping on about: Beluga.

Beluga is situated within the city of Cape Town, a stone’s throw away from the famous V&A Waterfront. The restaurant itself is absolutely stunning, the interior has a very modern, classy kind of feel, while the outside has a very chilled out atmosphere conducive to the kind of people that attend such restaurants. Being the lazy Sunday afternoon that it was my mood wasn’t quite in a “let’s get boozed” place as it perhaps may have been due to the ‘half price cocktails’ offer. So I decided to go for a drink that was more of a thirst quencher, something refreshing and easy on the pallet. Mojito was my choice of drink. Besides waiting a longer time than I would like, the drink itself was incredibly refreshing and easy to put back. One may think that when a restaurant is producing a larger than usual number of identical drinks at the same time, these drinks may lose their quality as quantity becomes a priority. However, this was not the case and my drink was incredibly tasty and thoroughly enjoyed.

My tummy was rumbling for sushi, as it often does and I couldn’t help but experience feelings of immense hunger and anticipation as my eyes gazed over the delicious sushi options. As I ordered my desired raw fish I found myself thinking ‘I hope this doesn’t take as long to get to me as my mojito did’. Thankfully it didn’t and to the credit of the chef and server involved, my food was delivered in good time with little frills and fuss. The sushi itself was really good, I’d be lying if I said it was the best meal of my life but it certainly was satisfactory. My fears of my drink losing its quality as quantity became a priority rang true with the Sushi served. My knowledge is limited when it comes to the actual making of Sushi but I’d imagine that it would be a careful, precise process that requires concentration and experience. Due to the high demand, the chefs must find themselves under pressure and often end up rushing their meals. Due to this obvious and natural happening, my sushi may be wasn’t of the quality it should have been.

The business of the restaurant was without a doubt an attributing factor to the service that wasn’t terrible but also wasn’t quite where it should have been. Many restaurants who offer specials (and there are many of them) should not use ‘busyness’ as a cop out excuse for their poor service. If you want to walk the walk i.e: Offer all these amazing attractive specials, you should be able to walk the walk and provide your customer with these specials regardless of how ‘busy you may get’. For the most part, my dining experience at Beluga was an incredibly enjoyable one, and although the food may have been at a 6 out of 10 rating, the general vibe and atmosphere makes the restaurant extremely appealing and enjoyable to attend.