I am a frequent globe trotter with some certainty that I’ve been in some very good sushi joints world wide enough to say i have a fair standard of sushi-judging.

I have visited beluga, Sevruga, Willoughby and nobu which have been so called rated as the best for quality of sushi. I was just scanning through my lonely planet tourist guide to find some thing to do, when I saw article on Kyoto garden sushi. Tucked away on Lower Kloofnek Road, very easy to find parking not too over crowded.

upon entering Kyoto Garden Sushi, I felt like I was transported Japanese restaurant in Tokyo. The place definitely had a lot of thought and taste get put in to it, Japanese style at its best. The Zen-like atmosphere was so relaxing. mini water feature next to the bathrooms only added to this.

The menu confirmed the Japanese authenticity allong with the Japanese Sushi, I had never had abalone sushi. While the menu doesn’t have what you’d expect as the full range of Japanese dishes, I had never thought of having tempura oysters.

We were handed a cocktail menu on being seated, the boyfriend had a drink mix of whisky, lime, fresh ginger and I had a drink called the dirty ninja, it was not the name that sold it but the fact of putting cucumber with sake, i had to try it to see if it worked. the drinks were very well thought of and tasted great.

after ordering we were served snacks edamame beans, baby clams, prawns, fried squid and jellyfish. You have to love about Japanese people they’ll eat anything. You could never accuse them of unadventurous eating. It all felt very authentic.

For starters, the boyfriend had Miso soup, and I tried The Sea, Both were delicious.

We moved onto the highlight of the evening: a chef’s choice sushi platter of sashimi, nigiri and california rolls. I can’t effuse enough praise on the sushi: it was unfaultable. The fish was the freshest I’ve ever had in a long time even when I have been for sushi London and New York, the rice was perfectly soft and flavoured and even the wasabi paste tasted better than at other sushi restaurants. I could have eaten piles more.

we got told about the dessert by the polite waiter who told us about Green tea ice cream with a green tea crêpe, that topped off my evening.
But seeing as the rest of the food was so top-notch, I decided I had to come back before we left back to the Uk. I felt that we had not even delved deep enough in the how good the rest of the meanu is and I felt am going to miss out on some very special foods.

Scott the owner who told us that he only uses the freshest ingredients available and had also traveled extensively. It’s this attention to freshness that is clearly evident in the dishes and makes Kyoto Garden Sushi stand out from its competitors.

Kyoto Garden Sushi is a bit more pricey than your average sushi restaurant, but then it’s definitely not your average sushi restaurant. It’s more a special occasion kind of place

This is the place to go for fine Sushi and fantastic cooked Japanese food for sure. I have never been so impressed.

Best regards
Jane

It was interesting reading my review again after all this time. It’s still pretty accurate, especially the part about the toilets.

The food is still amazingly fresh and relies on the flavours of the good quality ingredients.

They have an additional section now, having expanded into the next door property. The new section has one big table, great for private dining.

I tasted a new cocktail, I can’t remember what it was called, something about green tea. It was fabulous.

Then I had the tempura light again, which was as awesome as I remember it being, but the price is now R70. For mains I had the bamboo steamed fish and it was superb. Very delicate and subtle. It was quite pricey at R160.

My dining partner started with the Japanese coleslaw with crayfish (R55), which was really quite spectacular. I will order that next time, even though my tempura was awesome. For main she ordered the Futo Maki (R55) which is like giant maki rolls with about 5 different things in them, that too was amazing.

I was really seriously impressed with the food. I was going to say it’s expensive but I realise that I just ordered expensive stuff, it’s actually quite reasonable.

I hereby resolve to eat at Kyoto Sushi Garden more regularly.