Swish sushi restaurant Koi (which also exists in Jozi) has recently opened its doors at the Ambassador hotel in Bantry Bay, taking over the spot where Salt used to be. It’s been open for a while but last week celebrated its official opening with a launch party.

While cocktails flowed freely from the bar, guests got to try plate after never-ending plate of sushi, dim sum and other Asian-inspired canapes. Of everything I ate, I was most impressed with their new style sashimi. It’s super thin and drizzled with a sweet soya-like dressing that just takes it to the next level. It’s the kind of thing I could easily eat six plates of and still want more.

Aside from good food, another of Koi’s draw cards is the fabulous view. You literally feel like you’re sitting on a cruise ship with the sea crashing up against the sides of your ‘boat’.

Peeps on the scene-wise, I spotted ruby player Percy Montgomery in the crowd along with Cindy Nell and hubby Clive Roberts. Tanya Nefdt was also there and its clear she thinks we’ve totally made up since the pillow fight incident but chicas always been totes naïve like that.

Other familiar faces included this lot:

Yet another fashion blogger, Clouds Drummond, was also out and about along with Fairlady mag’s brand manager Roxanne Cloete.

I didn’t stay too long as the place got super full and I’d already been there an hour before the bash officially started. While the food wasn’t ready just yet, the bar was churning out the cocktails which goes a long way to explaining this series of snaps of myself and local actor Aidan Whytock.

In all, this was a fun evening out with a super impressive turnout. If you’re a part of the socialista set you’ll know that Cape Town people are notoriously flaky. Just one teensy drop of rain everyone decides it’s best if their leather Missibaba handbags stayed indoors. Thus, the fact that it was practically flooding outside and yet everyone arrived in droves is a nice credit to The Little Black Book PR who created a crazy amount of hype.

So, to wrap things up; if you’re looking for an Asian-style fillet that’ll blow your mind (it’s the kind of dish I’d want on my birthday) or feel like killer good sashimi with a view to match, get on over to Koi. I’m quite sure that nabbing a table around sunset in summer is going to be a bit Zingara-esque in tha require booking a good few days in advance.

Love, love

Leigh