Like Everything In Lagos, Ocean Basket Remains Average

Restaurants

Nov 7

Ocean Basket

35 Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Over a year since Nosa and Folly’s review, Christina, Tobi and I decided to see how Ocean Basket is doing amidst the many restaurant openings of 2019.

For someone that loves seafood so much, it’s weird that Ocean Basket never comes to mind when deciding on a place to eat. I guess it’s one of those…

We got on to a good start with courteous waiters and waitresses from the door but this was thwarted so quickly by the three complementary bread rolls we were served - one for each of us. I can’t begin to imagine the level of austerity that will make you serve one bread roll per person. They were free anyway so we shouldn’t be complaining.

To start, we ordered the Mussels in Lemon Garlic, Crumbed Prawn Tails and Creamy Seafood Soup, and for our mains, the Platter for One, Prawn Special and Sushi for One.

Folarin: The Mussels in Lemon Garlic and Creamy Seafood Soup were decent but really heavy on the garlic and salt. The generous amount of seafood in the soup also compensated for the three bread rolls we were served earlier.

Christina: I low-key think the salt would have been masked if we were served more bread. Talk about self-jeopardy.

Tobi: I liked the texture of the mussels; they weren’t overcooked so weren’t too chewy, but the garlic really was something.

Folarin: It’s Halloween so maybe this is their way of warding off vampires.

Christina and Tobi: Don’t, Folarin. Don’t do that again.

Folarin: Besides the Crumbed Prawn Tails reminding me of those crumbed jumbo prawns we get at Chinese restaurants, they really weren’t memorable. Anyway, on to the mains!

The Platter for One had 3 mussels, 6 prince prawns, fish, calamari, calamari heads and French fries. The mussels looked and tasted like they had been pulled out of the same pan as the starter, something I had grown tired of. The menu didn’t indicate how they would be cooked so I expected them to have been steamed with light spices or in a tomato sauce or in white wine, or anything but how they came in the starter.

Tobi: Such expectations for the price you paid? Okay.

Folarin: They determined their price point themselves. Charging so little doesn’t now mean an indistinguishable starter and main, to be honest. Anyway, the calamari was my favourite thing of the platter. Nice texture with a hint of lemon, nothing sophisticated, just right. The calamari head was also decent and crunchy but I didn’t have too much of it.

Christina: Loved that about the calamari and calamari head too. The hake fish was also grilled really nicely and it retained its fluffy crisp. It was quite different from the overdone hake in batter we get at Caribbean food shops which made it likeable.

Tobi: I also enjoyed the hake fish in the platter, kept simple and not oily. I like that we were given the option to have the contents of the platter grilled or fried; and we chose the former.

Christina: The prawn special and jollof rice were quite good, maybe due to the low price point. For the generous amount of prawns I got, it was good. When we were figuring out the side to accompany the prawns, our waiter recommended the jollof and while I lowered my expectations for a South African restaurant’s version - it surprisingly delivered.

Tobi: Wouldn’t say it ‘delivered’ but yes, it was quite surprising to get smoky rice at a seafood restaurant, though it wasn’t as spicy as I’d have liked.

Christina: It had this smokiness that you wouldn’t expect anywhere outside a bukka or owambe party. Although I still wouldn’t leave my house to buy jollof from Ocean Basket, if I was there and needed an okay side, I’d go with it.

Folarin: Before we go on, we need to acknowledge the fact that the prawns in the Prawn Special and Platter for One also tasted the same. The only difference was one being shelled and the other de-shelled.

Christina: The last thing we had was the sushi, which I quite enjoyed, mostly because everything else was overly salty. I preferred the shrimp California roll because it wasn’t as chewy and therefore was fluffier than the California salmon roll. Sesame seeds are stellar with sticky rice and ocean basket’s wasn’t too far-fetched; it was just alright. Simple, nothing special. And that’s shocking, because I had really low expectations.

Tobi: My second favourite thing of the afternoon after the hake fish were the California rolls and their sesame seeds. They were delicious and the sesame seeds gave a nice flavourful crunch.

Folarin: I think the Sushi was really basic. The platter for one had shrimp nigiri, crab maki, shrimp California rolls and crab California rolls. They really served us the most cost-efficient sushi rolls they could put together - rice, crab and shrimp. For a platter for one, we’d have expected at least a variety of rolls, nigiri and sashimi, not 8 California rolls, crab and shrimp.

POSTSCRIPT

FOLARIN: Ocean Basket seem to have established a nice cost-efficient template for seafood with their simple dishes doused in garlic and salt. They’re decent but are no Oceanic Boil or Randall & Aubin so don’t get your hopes up.

VERDICT