We must be honest … when we first saw the new additions to Ocean Basket‘s menu for summer, we didn’t linger on the new sticky rice dishes. The falafel starter – yes. Panko zucchini – absolutely. And the salmon salad with avo and feta – our mouths were already watering! But sticky rice didn’t quite sound summery. Boy, were we wrong.
From the moment our sticky rice dish landed on our table – served in one of those traditional Ocean Basket pans – we knew we were in for a special treat. Think sushi rice with zucchini, tomato and crispy onion sprinkles. We chose the fish option – which was a real winner – and you can try this dish with prawn and mussel or there’s a vegetarian one too. It’s light enough for summer and so moreish … we wouldn’t blame you if you found yourself scraping the pan for the very last morsel of rice. It’s really no wonder it’s named as the pick of the season on the menu.
We paired our rice dish with the new salmon salad with avo and feta which we were drooling over … it was scrumptious. The salmon is lightly seared and pairs beautifully with avo and a really tasty salad dressing. Sharing the rice dish and salad between two people was ideal … and a glass of chardonnay really topped it off.
The new starters on the menu are definite must-tries. We’re dreaming of the falafel with tzatziki, and we so enjoyed dunking the panko zucchini into the delicious zesty mayo. Also new on the starters’ menu is the oceans meze platter which has tzatziki, zesty mayo, feta, tomato, cucumber, panko zucchini, falafel, crumbed prawn tails, hake goujons and paprika whitebait. It certainly sounds delicious, and we suspect it’s good for sharing.
We have the sweetest sweet tooth, but even we couldn’t manage to try the new mallow whips after our starters and tasty mains. (Although you can betcha we’ll be going back to order one this weekend!) It’s a dish of ice cream layered with decadent flavours topped with fluffy mallow. You can try either a berry bliss flavour or choc crunch. Sounds divine!
If you’re looking for a real summery spoil this weekend, we suggest you pop into your local Ocean Basket … and you can also rest easy that all of the restaurants are enforcing social distancing, the wearing of personal protective equipment and temperature checks. We visited the restaurant at Ferndale on Republic and felt very safe and well taken care of. And what a treat it is to dine out again after months of lockdown restrictions.
