Cape Town Fish Market Bar: Pub with a great view

 

In Summary

• Like the music. Very diverse and eclectic, but mostly pop. When was the last time you heard Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows? I heard it there, and a whole load of these old rock tracks that reminded me a little of the teen TV series One Tree Hill.

By Jackson Biko

Cape Town Fish Market, South Africa’s famous restaurant chain, opened in Dar es Salaam three months ago. And they couldn’t have picked a better location for it – at the gorgeous waterfront of Msasani Bay.

The décor is sophisticated, with whites and blues and lounge chairs overlooking the ocean and all that glitzy stuff that make restaurants like this be tagged as “luxurious.”

Then unlike their typical closed establishments, they opened up a bar that is completely detached from their main restaurant. As far as bars go, very few bars in Nairobi will hold a candle to this bar. The Cape Town Fish Market Bar is a rectangular bar, set in the middle of a small garden adjacent to the restaurant.

Eclectic

It’s a sports bar of sorts. Four large screen television sets hoisted above the bar. All on sports channels. Their chairs don’t have a backrest, which means you will need plenty of reasons to stay there for long. And you do have plenty.

Like the music. Very diverse and eclectic, but mostly pop. When was the last time you heard Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows? I heard it there, and a whole load of these old rock tracks that reminded me a little of the teen TV series One Tree Hill.

One of the best things about the bar is their wine list. Given that it’s a South African franchise, they really invested in the kind of wines they serve. There is a choice to have your wine by the glass – and its excellent wine. I had a glass of cabernet sauvignon from this bottle called Fat Fish, from West Cape. Suffice it to say, it left a good taste in my mouth.

Long bill

You can order from the main restaurant – sushi platters, grills, and snacks – and have it at the bar. Try their fish of the day, grilled in lemon butter, or since you are Kenyan, try their sirloin steak, basted with barbeque sauce and flame grilled.

Have you ever gone to a bar with a large group and ordered food and drinks and after the meal, a long bill came with a list of many items, some which you don’t remember ordering, but since you don’t want to be “those guys” you settle it while mumbling something about broad daylight theft (even though it’s night)?

Well, they have this debit card at this bar, which when you get there, they give you (residents) and you can load it with money, so when you want a drink or food all you do is give it to them and they swipe it.

But all these don’t beat the view at night, when the lights from the buildings across tinkle in the sea. And the breeze blows through ceaselessly.