Swimming in circles.

Google “Sushi in Umhlanga”, scroll a bit, and “Q’bns Eatery Umhlanga (Seafood Sushi Grill Vegetarian)” pops up. This is exactly how Yuven and I stumbled upon Q’bns 3 weeks ago whilst in search of somewhere new for a pre-birthday lunch.

Cruising around Umhlanga, you would be forgiven for glossing over Q’bns for it’s tucked away on the 1st floor of Umhlanga Plaza on Lagoon Drive. We could be mistaken, but this is where Ocean Basket had previously dropped anchor.

Before we could even sneak a peek inside, we had to complete the usual ‘full name, contact details, date of birth, temperature’ form and had our hands sanitized. Walking in, the restaurant is bright and inviting as Durban’s sunshine engulfed the interior. We chose to sit on the balcony, which faces The Pearls, and absorb some of the warm weather.

Playing it safe, Yuven settled on the hake, which formed part of the ‘Signature Mains’, and was accompanied by one side and one sauce of your choice from the list for R75, and a Castle draught. Our waitress, however, allowed him to choose half of two sides, so half a side of rice and half a side of chips it was. I chose one of my favourite types of sushi, the 4 piece California Roll with salmon for R60, and a glass of white wine.

Our waitress did warn us that our meals would take slightly longer because the sushi was freshly prepared, so we used that time to sip on our drinks and catch up on some conversation. The slight wait seemed to matter no more when our food arrived.

Yuven’s “hake” was actually two whopping pieces of hake with the tastiest lemon butter sauce. For the first time ever, I was prepared to hand over my sushi for his plate of food! The fish was fried perfectly without being oily, and was doused in the creamiest sauce. The sides were also large and flavourful.

Despite wanting to swap my food for Yuven’s, my sushi was incredibly scrumptious, and did not skimp out on the salmon! It was served on a seashell-shaped plate with ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. The inside was filled to capacity, and I had to turn away from the other diners as I stuffed my mouth.

It was such flavourful sushi that I went ahead and ordered another round – This time the 4-piece Prawn Avalanche for R75. Once again the portions were quite large and definitely included all the ingredients in generous quantities.

Our only complaint was the absence of reasonable service. Don’t get us wrong, the waiters are super friendly, but when a restaurant is as quiet as it was when we were there (there were about 5 other tables in use) and we could see the waiters standing around whilst we tried to signal for some attention, it can leave one a bit peeved. But we do believe in second chances and human error, so a week later we were back again.

This time we brought along my parents, and my brother and his girlfriend. We did the usual Covid 19 temperature check and sanitizing, with only one person’s details required for the form. It was a ridiculously hot day so we chose to sit inside where there was shade and tables that could fit the 6 of us.

After much deliberation we were ready to order. The restaurant wasn’t too busy with just two other tables being occupied on the inside so our drinks and food arrived within a reasonable time. The Castle Draughts were relatively cold, the chocolate milkshakes decadently tasty, and the passion fruit and lemonade was refreshing.

My brother’s girlfriend and I chose the hake with a half-and-half side and lemon butter sauce for R75, with hers being grilled and mines being fried. The portions were massive, and for someone who loves fish as much as I do, even I could not finish the entire lot.

Yuven did a complete 180 since our last visit and settled for a spicy mutton burger with a side of chips for R80. The patty wasn’t anything to write home about, but it wasn’t a bad burger either with Yuven finding it to be quite a filling meal.

My parents each chose the prawn and hake with the half-and-half sides from the “Combos” section for R115. They were both quite chuffed with the portion size and taste of the prawns and hake, however, unlike my hake that was drenched in sauce, theirs did not have any sauce accompanying it.

My carnivorous brother chose the 300g rump and prawns with a side of chips from the “Combos” section for R220. His steak was cooked to his satisfaction, that being medium rare, and he thoroughly enjoyed the flavour of the prawns.

Unfortunately, once again, the service was quite dismal. Our waitress, the same waitress we had on the previous occasion, was her usual friendly self, however, she was not too clued up on the menu and catching her attention proved to be quite difficult at times.

Despite the mortifying service, we would recommend Q’bns Eatery Umhlanga (Seafood Sushi Grill Vegetarian) based solely on their food. So if you’re satisfied with receiving a delectable plate of food, but occasionally having to bob around looking for a waiter then Q’bns is for you, but as usual that’s just in my opinion 🙂