www.MyPE.co.za: The Longhair and I married young, very young. So young in fact that I think we broke the law.
28 December this year was the year of our 3rd seven year itch or more conventionally, the momentous occasion of our 21st wedding anniversary. Coming hot on the heels of Christmas and always during the time of ‘Slaapstad se Mense se Kuier Tyd’, the Longhair and I are ready for a bit of quiet time on our anniversary so we normally slip off to the scene of the initial crime – the Algoa Bay Yacht Club – for a quiet Fanta Brown before deciding which of Port Elizabeth’s fine restaurants will be graced with our tired old saggy butts for the evening.
Even 21 years ago our wedding was slightly out of the norm as we got married in the in-laws garden, no pomp (that happened later!) and splendour and then toddled off to the Yacht Club for fun in the sun and a bite. In those days the balcony was much smaller – you could sit in your chair, lean back and put your feet up on the railings.
I remember our Wedding Day as a wonderfully sunny one attended by friends and family who made the occasion very special – in fact we were in the last to leave bunch after being told that maybe we should bugger off and enjoy our honeymoon. That evening we settled our young pert butts into the chairs at the old Elizabeth Hotel and guzzled crayfish with abandon before setting off on the great adventure called marriage.
21 years later we are sticklers for convention disguised as controlled mayhem and at 6:00 pm were still trying to decide just where we were going to go and celebrate our wedding anniversary ‘slap up supper’. Naria Siam was out as the Kangaroo and fellow rowing coach were to be supping there, The Butchers Block had been done the night before, The Chartroom had experienced the mayhem of our eating habits a few days before and we were hankering after something new. The Indian restaurants in Central were not answering their phones so we piled into the car ‘waiting to be shod with Continental Tyres’ and drove past Nattis Thai (fully booked), as we were pulling off from Nattis we decided to give Pescadiya on the corner of Stanley and Moffat Streets and right next to Fushin a bash.
Sorry Robin but you were number 7 on the list – just like the first of the supposed 7 year itches!
There is an old joke about the ideal girlfriend being one with a father that owns a brewery and a flat head. So too the owner of a seafood restaurant should at least be a fisherman, better still if he owns a commercial fishing boat as he should then know his product – a bit like a butcher owning a cattle farm. And my point? The owner of Pescadiya, Robin Grant-Smith, is a commercial fishing boat owner who decided to parlay his seafood knowledge into a seafood restaurant and grill.
Unfortunately I forget the name of the waiter, but he definitely steered us in the right direction when we were trying to make up our minds what to eat (“For these and all other sins I have conveniently forgotten to mention please forgive me, Father!”). Said waiter pointed out that Pescadiya had a special running on two crayfish (okay they were frozen, but what the hell) and combining the crayfish with a selection of different seafood starters from the menu would give us our own DIY seafood platter. Of course the crayfish slut was game and we promptly added local calamari tentacles, mussels, tiger prawns, chips and vegetables to the deal.
The Mussels, done in a sauce with a hint of ‘smokey coriander’, were stunning, the Tiger Prawns, ordered hot were hot like the curry at the old British Middle East Indian Sporting and Dining Club in Durban. Piling into the vegetables I remarked to the Longhair that they were a great combination and reminded me of eating out in Durban. Great was my pleasure when Robin, the owner of Pescadiya confirmed for me that he had spent many years in Durban before moving to Cape Town and then Port Elizabeth.
Now, I have a bit of an odd affair with chips as I like them with the skin on and between crunchy and soft – I have given up on ordering them in this way as the waitrons invariably give me a strange look, mutter under their breath and then toddle off presumably to breath heavily over my food. Pescadiya was a revelation as the chips were just the way I like them and equally scrumptious as I dipped them into the hot sauce from the Tiger Prawns.
A new item on some menus is squid tentacles – most restaurants offering this delicacy deep fry the tentacles. Invariably they use imported ‘softer but no taste’ calamari which ends up tasting like crunchy fishy batter and nothing else. Pescadiya, almost apologetically, tell you that their calamari is local and tastier – almost as if they are waiting for the philistine of a diner to refuse to eat local crap. I can assure you that local is not crap – it IS tastier and, when served as deep fried tentacles, hard to stop eating.
The crayfish, being frozen, was not as tasty as we have been spoilt to experience with our trips to Betty’s Bay where we take crayfish straight out of the sea and into the pot less than an hour later, but an admirable attempt anyway. Robin – you forgot the promised garlic butter which would have moistened the crayfish up a bit!
Eating on the pavement in Stanley Street, Richmond Hill has certainly not lost it’s appeal and we can report that Pescadiya has been added to the list of places that make the saggy butts of the Longhair and I welcome.
And the bottom line? Two crayfish, eight Mussels, six Tiger Prawns, Calamari Tentacles, Chips, Vegetables and one bottle of el cheapo white wine – R342.00.
Please only tell a few select friends about our little seafood heaven, because if you make Pescadiya so popular that the prices go up astronomically then I will hunt you down and gut you, you have been warned.
Contact Pescadiya.
Alan Straton
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Congrats on your anniversary Alan! Lovely article. 🙂 Will definitely give Pescadiya a try. 🙂
It’s really great for me to know about you and congratulations on your Anniversary. And hope you are doing good.