Lord Prawn
Where:
9 uMhlanga Plaza, 2 Lagoon Drive, uMhlanga
Open:
Daily for lunch and dinner
Call:
0315611133
Lord Prawn has to be one of Durban’s oldest restaurants - certainly the oldest under the management of a single family.
Opened in 1975 on Durban’s beachfront, it has served ocean loads of prawns to many satisfied customers.
Now in uMhlanga, one is tempted to say little has changed in all those years, but obviously that is not the case. The restaurant has a wonderful and comfortable retro feel about it. From the furniture, to the starched white table cloths and napkins, to the baskets for the shells, and the classic plate with three sauces that accompanies the prawns.
Even the service speaks to the 1980s. As do the baby bottles of wine rather than by the glass. It felt like we were stepping back into our youth and we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch on their tiny terrace.
The menu, predictably, is strong on seafood, with prawns (LM, queen and king) crayfish, langoustines, calamari, mussels, and fish - all featuring in a number of different platters or combinations.
Then there’s even the retro dishes like crayfish thermador, crumbed prawns and prawn creole. A platter for one - with baby lobster, two langoustines, six queen prawns, mussels and calamari - comes in at R350.
There is also full range of steaks and sauces, plus oxtail, whole baby chicken and veal. There is even a small selection of curries and pastas. So it has something for everyone, although vegetarians may be confined to the penne arrabbiata.
Starters have more retro options like snails in garlic butter, clam chowder, lobster bisque, prawn cocktail and seafood St Jacques.
With fresh oysters available (R120 for six) we decided to go that route. They were served au naturel on ice with all the trimmings, lemon, black pepper and tabasco. We also shared a mussel pot in a creamy garlic sauce (R70). This was enjoyable, even if it was rather drowned in a sauce which was pleasant without having much oomph.
For mains we opted to share a special of 1kg of queen prawns (R275), which were served with garlic butter, lemon sauce, and a very good peri-peri. It came complete with a shell basket and mountains of paper napkins and wet wipes. We were obviously meant to tuck in and get messy.
The prawns were very good, nicely cooked and a decent size. They came on a bed of good home cut chips that had been properly cooked. A bonus. We devoured the plate. I don’t think you can beat this for value in the entire village of uMhlanga.
Desserts were limited, and yes, Italian kisses and pecan nut pie both feature. We opted for the tiramisu and cassata. Both were pleasant, distinctly in the Chateau Gateaux mould.
I’m going back, just for the prawns. I think it would be fun to have a big table and put plates of prawns out in the middle. But remember to book. It’s rightly popular.
Food:
3 ½
Service:
3 ½
Ambience:
3