On Friday night, I got the urge for some sushi and I found myself in Nelson Mandela Square doing a little shopping. Right at the main entrance is ‘The Big Mouth’ and it ranks about number 1 or 2 on Tripadvisor for the area. Sounded like an ideal dinner place!
First off, it’s hard to work out who is in charge and where the host/hostess is situated as the restaurant is open to the front. Some signage would make life easier! When I tracked someone down, I chose to sit at the sushi bar so I could see what was going on – there were other solo travellers and some couples at the bar too and the atmosphere was rocking!
Everything is branded and ALL of the staff speak in the same way (effective training?) – please come back, we know you’ll love it, here is my preferred sushi (why would I go with what someone else likes for sushi?!).
I risked a local lager – Windhoek Lager – and it was pretty light and refreshing.
I had a BIT of a wait for food (nothing terrible) but I got through my first beer and was about to start offering to help with the sushi!
I was encouraged to order more than just a regular California roll so I included two ‘skewer’ starters – a chicken and spiced mayo version and a fillet beef and teriyaki. Given the price and the description, I expected these to be much smaller than they were. The chicken was pretty dry, to be honest.
However, the beef was a winner!
The star attraction really is the sushi. I chose a ‘Rainbow Reloaded’ which had salmon and avocado in the centre wrapped in nori and rice, with salmon and tuna on the outside. It was topped with a spicy sauce and caviar and was on a bed of tempura crumbs. The added crunch was delicious!
That was a lot of food so there was no room for dessert and I was in a mad dash to make it to the shuttle back to the hotel. However, when the bill came, so did some delicious toffee popcorn. How is a guy to say ‘no’?!
Back through Mandela Square to find the bus, full to the gills.
Verdict: 8 out of 10 (slow service marks it down).
