Luckily, a recent dining experience at Cape Town’s Haiku Asian Tapas (part of the Bukhara Group. Read review of Bukhara and Del Mar) has restored my faith in the joy of tapas. Specialising in Asian fusion tapas, Haiku offers exciting and surprising bites of food as well as more traditional Asian fare.
To experience as many different tastes as we possibly could, my partner and I opted to share both the Sushi & Robata Tasting Menu and the Haiku Tasting Menu, both at R495 per person and including four and five courses, respectively.
We started with scallop yuzu sashimi, tuna tacos and dragon rolls, which features as the first course on both tasting menus. Wow, those scallops! Perfectly flavoured with the citrusy yuzu, this was the first morsel I popped into my mouth and heralded the start of an amazing flavour rollercoaster. The tuna tacos, an Asia-meets-Mexico fusion, served with guacamole and cream cheese were wonderfully crisp and tangy.
The next course that features on the Haiku Tasting Menu included dim sum, a selection of spicy prawn har gau (Chinese dumplings), basil fish har gau, and spinach har gau, as well as lamb pot sticker, beef cha siu sou, and chicken sheng jian bao. All were plump and delectable, my favourites were the creamy spinach and lamb pot sticker. So lip smacking!
Up next were ginger beef, salmon robata, and Korean chili chicken. The highlight on this plate was the salmon - still pink and so silkily sumptuous, perfectly complemented by a tangy apple puree.
To follow was a choice of main courses and both my partner and I went beefy. Beautifully buttery wagu beef served with a peanut slaw and wasabi mayo for me, and the dramatic sizzling beef served with steamed rice for my partner.
This all sounds like quite a substantial amount of food; however, each course is really quite light and delicate so, luckily enough, space remained for the last course, which featured a perfectly gooey chocolate fondant and the freshest and creamiest litchi ice cream.
Haiku is a wonderfully romantic and intimate dining option. With its sultry lighting and delectable and exciting plates to share, it will it will give you many warm and fuzzies, and it definitely made me fall more in love with tapas.
For more info or to make a booking go to bukhara.com/?page_id=821 and www.facebook.com/HaikuAsianTapas
