Lynton, Trill Road, Observatory, Cape Town Central, South Africa
Cuisine:
Japanese
Good for:
Delivery, Late Night, Reservations
1890 House Sushi
4 Visitor Photos +
REVIEWS
2 Reviews
Lynton, Trill Road, Observatory, Cape Town Central, South Africa
Expert Review
1890 Sushi House is a local favorite among the diverse inhabitants of “Obz”, Cape Town’s Observatory neighborhood. As a whole,...
1890 Sushi House is a local favorite among the diverse inhabitants of “Obz”, Cape Town’s Observatory neighborhood. As a whole, the neighborhood is a bit cramped and ramshackle, but it has a nice edgy vibe. There’s a whole block of restaurants and pubs on Lower Main Road on a two-way street, barely big enough for one car. 1890 Sushi House is located just off Lower Main on a side street. It gives you a feel for the neighborhood that you have to be buzzed into the restaurant through a locked security gate.
Inside, tons of fresh sushi circulates around the conveyor belt, and the sushi bar is usually crowded with customers on a working lunch. There’s also a dining room with tables in the back and a small courtyard. The restaurant décor is nice, but nothing too fancy, and the dining room is pretty warm in summer. The menu has a variety of Chinese and Thai dishes and sushi options. The prices for the former are good, but the sushi can get expensive quickly. In my opinion, it’s a bit overpriced for the quality. The sushi is good, but it’s not as “gourmet” as many other places. 1890 House focuses on the basics—salmon, prawn, and tuna in a variety of traditional rolls. They don’t go in for all the fancy deep fried combos with specialty sauce drizzled on top.
I tried a few options from the sushi conveyor belt and an order of prawn spring rolls. I also had a dish of edamame. Everything was good, but not amazing. That said, it’s probably your best bet for sushi in the neighborhood. There are several other sushi restaurants nearby, but all look to be of a lower standard. Service at the 1890 Sushi House is friendly and helpful and they definitely have a following of repeat customers!
Expert Review
Sushi is quite a big deal in Cape Town, with people rushing out each week to get their ‘fix’. With...
Sushi is quite a big deal in Cape Town, with people rushing out each week to get their ‘fix’. With sushi restaurants’ opening up in abundance it’s often very difficult to find really good ones, especially when you’ve become a bit of a ‘sushi snob’, which I have admittedly become. So it’s always refreshing to find places such as 1890 House, which feels like a little secret rose hidden amongst the thorns.
Three seating options are available here: Smoking section, conveyor belt and an inside section of tables. We went for one of the inside tables as we had a decent sized group and the atmosphere was intimate and cosy. The restaurant is fairly small so I would definitely recommend booking because it gets very busy. Despite the rush hour, our waitress remained calm and friendly, and every meal was brought out on time.
So let’s get down to the food. With a lot of ‘all you can eat’ options popping up at rival restaurants I was disappointed to see that 1890 House didn’t offer the same special. I can’t complain though, because the food ended up being quite reasonably priced and the quality was very high. They have a range of platters on offer, which is good for people like me that battle to decide when there is too much choice. Or, of course, you can choose your sushi separately. Personally, I like to choose a platter and then add on some salmon roses. In my opinion you can never have too many salmon roses. For non-sushi lovers (the horror!) there is a wide range of Chinese and Thai cuisine on offer. I could never come here and not have sushi so I’ll probably never know what the rest is like, but one of my friends tried the Cashew Nut Chicken and loved it!
A great little spot. Just don’t forget to book!