Plate With A View: Tank, Cape Town

That's tank as in fish tank, so no surprises menu-wise; sushi, fish and shellfish in a new-wave Californian and Pacific Rim cuisine style.

THE PLATE

That's tank as in fish tank, so no surprises menu-wise; sushi, fish and shellfish in a new-wave Californian and Pacific Rim cuisine style. The menu is long - the sushi section alone takes four pages; Arata, it tells you, is the seventh sushi master in the world. The food's light, fresh and delicious. Starters include baby octopus marinated in coriander, chilli and lime on sweet potato chards, and oysters "with a selection of raspberry vinaigrette, tabouleh salsa, sour fig sauce". For carnivores there's sauteed crocodile salad "with bean sprouts and carrots tossed in the flavours of south east Asia" or smoked warthog with shitake mushrooms and carpaccio of marinated ostrich. Not the place to go if you fancy steak and chips.

THE VIEW

The tank in question is a 20,000-litre salt-water fish tank. The restaurant has a dining area, cocktail lounge and sushi bar. Tank is in Cape Town's fashionable Cape Quarter - an area of terraced cottages from the 18th century, which once housed free slaves and artisans - and is one of the city's hottest new restaurants. You can eat outside in a revamped courtyard surrounded by stylish boutiques (heaters keep you warm) or inside (past the fluorescent blue bar) while gazing at the mesmerising tropical fish darting around what they claim is the largest private tank in South Africa.

THE BILL

Our two-course dinner with wine came to a reasonably priced R220 (£19) a head.

Tank, 72 Waterkant St (00 27 21 419 0007, www.the-tank.co.za)