Ocean Basket’s new menu is bigger, brighter and even a bit healthier

SA's king of the seafood chain has brightened up its offering without losing any of the famous tastes it's become the go-to seafood place for.

The popular nationwide Ocean Basket franchise has updated its menu just in time for the festive rush, and The Citizen gave it a taste on the official opening of the Ferndale on Republic shopping centre in Randburg earlier this month.

There has been an Ocean Basket there since the days of the Randburg Waterfront, which then became Brightwater Commons and is now looking for a new lease of life as a mostly open-air centre dominated by Urban Brew’s new TV studios.

There are also numerous restaurants worth trying out, including the centre’s Ocean Basket, which has kept its classic seafood restaurant style of clean, white and blue decor.

Ocean Basket really is a South African success story, and I’ll never forget how, when I was in Norway, a big Viking-looking man told me about how one of his favourite things about his one-time holiday to Cape Town had been going to one of these restaurants.

Believe me, Norwegians know their fish – but he just couldn’t get enough of the place, and said he hadn’t found anything else to rival it on earth.

So what about its new menu?

At first glance, healthier options are clearly more obvious than before, with Vitality-approved meals that steer clear of anything deep-fried, offering only grilled seafood, and even veggies. More traditional Ocean Basket platters full of deep-fried seduction are also brightened up with fresh tomatoes and cucumber to clean the palate and assuage the guilt.

Woman shot in Moreleta Park during food delivery

There are also plenty of new bright and tasty salads, along with a salmon food bowl bursting with omegas and vitamins, right on course with the latest trends.

There are plenty of new starters and meze options for sharing. We tried the mussels in a tomato-based Mediterranean sauce, and it was just the thing to get the appetite going for more substantial fare.

We shared the Jupiter Meze Platter with hake goujons, firecracker squid, calamari, crumbed prawn tails, battered zucchini, tomato, cucumber, tzatziki, tarama and a mayo sauce. The firecracker squid had a nice bite to it, and for those who always need more spice, the side bowl of chilli is always to hand.

Value for money remains the standout feature of a trip to any Ocean Basket, and their famous hake and chips “ou staatmaker”, served in a pan with chips and rice, still only costs R75.

Even when we added a platter of sushi to our order, with three pieces of prawn nigiri, three crab stick maki, four salmon California rolls and four tuna California rolls (all tasty and fresh), the bill still came to less than R400 for the two of us, and we couldn’t eat another bite.