Obi - Cape Town

As for the decor, it wasn't anything special, but the food was so wonderful that it brought a tear to my eye and a shiver down my spine. I started with the agedashi tofu, which was well prepared, but the real star of the meal was the ramen. The lunch special listed Shoyu Ramen, but the waitress informed me it wasn't available and suggested the tonkotsu ramen instead. Call me naive, but I haven't had ramen this good in a long time. The broth was rich with umami flavor, and the pork cheek was so tender it melted in my mouth. The soft-boiled egg had a perfectly runny golden yolk, and I really hope the ramen is homemade because it had such a delightful springy texture. I'm glad I only had a chocolate croissant for breakfast to save room for this meal. If I lived in Cape Town, I would definitely visit this restaurant almost every week! You might wonder why I gave it a score of 4 instead of 5. Well, I wasn't a fan of the waitress's very short skirt; it felt like a nod to the 'otaku' theme, which unfortunately didn't work for me in this case.

This is one of the best sushi spots in town. The fish is of excellent quality, and the food is prepared in an authentic Japanese style. The lunchtime bento box offers great value for money.

This is a wonderful authentic Japanese restaurant. It's small and cozy, and the service was excellent. We ordered tempura prawns, salmon skins, and leek gyoza dim sum. For our main dishes, we had the dragon roll and udon noodles. Everything was top-notch, and we will definitely return to this place!

I am a hardcore ramen nerd. You can trust this judgement. I have scoured Cape Town for the best ramen available and as of writing this, OBI is my champion (pls feel free to give me more options in the comments).<br/ <br/ It’s only offered in the lunch menu, and they one have one option (Shoyu), but it’s the best I’ve had in CPT. I’m a bit spoiled when it comes to ramen (being from Aus where amazing Asian food is literally on every street corner), and Cape Town mostly lets me down, but OBI is the one of the two places I could recommend going to if you want ramen in this city.<br/ <br/ The pork is melty and the fat is rendered perfectly, the broth is just the right amount of salty, and the noodles usually have just the right chew (although I have had some sad over cooked noodles here before). My only real issue is that the egg isn’t typically as marinated as I like.<br/ <br/ I’ve heard good things about the sushi, but if you’ve read any of my other reviews you know I’m a monogamist at the restaurants I frequent so cannot speak from personal experience.

In the world of OBI the waitresses wear the shortest skirts and the reddest lips. Against the walls are framed kimonos and the low-hanging lights are glowing felt spheres. Laid on stark tables are chopsticks, Kikkoman sauce and blue floral sideplates. <br/ <br/ The menu features vegetable tempura, which is why we’re here. It arrives as a carefully stacked arrangement on a beautiful stone plate. With vegetable tempura it’s sometimes a guessing game: OBI’s version includes courgette, asparagus, sweet potato and butternut. <br/ <br/ Agedashi Tofu is a mound of soft tofu blocks served on brothy bed onion and ginger with bonito flakes on the side. We also had a bowl of Udon noodles with wakame, inari tofu and spring onion in dashijiru broth.<br/ <br/ OBI’s menu also feaures other Japanese yummies like Fried Leek Dumplings and Nasu Miso. For meat eaters the Bento Box lunch specials would be fun. <br/ Frankly, i would return every week until i’ve tried everything on the menu, specifically the vast collection of vegetarian sushi, the best i’ve seen in CT.