Treated BB to a birthday lunch at one of our Outram Park cafes: a squid ink soba, a scallop crab pasta and a latte. 🎂😋

What was on the table:

Squid ink soba with pan-seared cod: dark squid-ink soba with mushrooms and spring onion, topped with two crispy-skinned cod fillets
Scallop & crab spaghetti: in a light cream-tomato sauce with pan-seared scallops, shredded crabmeat, cherry tomatoes and ikura
A latte with a rosetta poured on top

This is the kind of chef-y, seafood-forward cafe cooking we love treating ourselves to. The squid ink soba was the dramatic one: jet-black noodles with a briny, savoury depth from the ink, earthy buckwheat underneath, and two cod fillets on top with that lovely crisp-skin-and-flaky-flesh contrast.

The scallop and crab spaghetti was the indulgent splurge. Plump scallops seared to a caramelised golden edge, a generous heap of sweet crabmeat in the middle, and little bursts of ikura (salmon roe) for pops of brine, with blistered cherry tomatoes adding a sweet-sharp lift through the creamy sauce.

BB’s latte came with a tidy rosetta, a nice marker that the cafe cared about its coffee too. A lovely, slightly fancy birthday lunch, and a happy hubby well fed.

Overall: 4.3 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Crispy cod over bold squid ink soba and a luxe scallop-crab-ikura pasta, a proper birthday treat. Would re-visit.

Original IG post