Restaurant reviews, part 2

Yindees - Thia (Gardens)
At first, Becky and I thought this was a cute little restaurant. But the building/house really opens up on the inside, and the whole place was bit "smarter" than we expected. Nonetheless, the food was good, maybe not quite Bangkok Cuisine/Amarin Thai-level but we were both pleased. Becky ordered green curry and I can't remember what I ordered.

King's Wood - Chinese (Rondebosch)
Tucked between the Pig & Swizzle and Steers on Main Rd., this restaurant looked like the kind of restaurant I normally avoid. Especially since the sign advertises sushi as well. But the sight four Asian guys chowing down food was encouraging. The best dish we had was the vegetarian chow mein. Not too greasy or overcooked. We also ordered sizzling fish with sweet and sour sauce, braised tofu with mushroom, and prawns with cashew nuts. Not great, not bad, but the portions were a bit small and the meal a bit pricey for the quality.

A real hole-in-the-wall restaurant - Ethiopian (Long Street)
We went out to lunch with a Stanford med school admit who is working here in Cape Town. First, in order to find this place, we had to find parking on Long Street at noon, which is nigh well impossible. Then we walked into the Africa Village Market (Castle & Long), which is filled with small shops selling herbal remedies, hippie who-knows-what, and some really nice paintings. Tucked in on the 1st floor of all these shops was a small room with an adjoining bathroom. The cooking was done on a burner on the floor. Becky described her meal as "a pile of meat on top of some bread" and wasn't too fond of it, but then noted that this was her second Ethiopian meal and that she doesn't really like the sour bread anyway. I, on the other hand, had a wonderfully yummy vegetarian combination with a couple different kinds of curry-like veggies and salad (again piled on top of bread). I guess I'll have to just wait until Nina and Brent get here so we can go again!

Gourmet Burger (Long Street)
Also located at the corner of Castle & Long, this is definitely not a hole-in-the-wall. The long menu features lots of burgers with all sorts of toppings as well as a couple of vegetarian burger options, salads, and other asides. All the food comes artisticly prepared, with lots of slices of avocados. Becky had the mixed green leaf salad while I had the garlic butter prawn burger. We liked the fries so much that we ordered an extra helping. Plus they use Heinz ketchup, not the strange-to-my-palate South African stuff.

Maz Sushi (Main Road, Sea Point)
I'd been wanting to try out this place since I first saw it. When we went in, the owners were busy throwing together several huge takeaway orders, and they warned us that it might be awhile. We later overheard them turning away other customers because they were running out of sushi rice and fish! We also overheard another customer proclaiming this the "best sushi in town". The presentation wasn't as nice as the sushi we saw at Willoughby and Co., but it was overall quite tasty, fresh, and not too extravagant. In particular, we liked the unagi and the spicy tuna maki rolls. The cape salmon/local fish nigiri was only so-so, though. The miso soup was tasty, if a bit on the salty side. We liked the fact that the pickled ginger was normal coloured, not that ridiculous bright pink stuff that is normall served. As an aside, I don't know why I feel somehow cheated when found out that the owners are actually from China and Taiwan (as opposed to Japanese). But we'll likely go back as it is within walking distance and the fish was quite fresh.