If you’ve never heard of Ocean Basket, you’re probably not from South Africa. This is one of the most popular seafood restaurant chains in South Africa, not to mention its reach over 18 countries globally and growing. So, what makes this international treasure a local story?
Ocean Basket has only recently appeared in the UK, with its first home kitty-corner to our Bromley local office. Our team instantly fell in love with the food, and I received the suggestion to do this blog multiple times. Straight away, they put me in contact with the great Grace Harding, CEO of Ocean Basket, and invited me down to the Bromley office to take a look around. This was my first clue to the level of excitement around Ocean Basket.
Escape to Bromley
I’ve never been to Bromley before coming to collect this story. I am walking down a remarkably wide high street with huge stores. There are tons of brand names you’d never expect to feature in-store nail salons and third-floor cafes. Bromley is, after all, an old market town that has worn its market status proudly for the last 800 years.
As our Bromley team have boasted, Ocean Basket is just across from the Foxtons office, on a corner where you can watch the passers-by. I step through the door and the smell of fried seafood, with a burst of fresh lemon and splash of rich butter, instantly transports me to a beach. The host sets me up at a table with blue-and-white checked cloth facing Bromley’s high street.
There is a group being seated at the opposite end of the restaurant – I’m thinking maybe a family lunch? There are hugs all around, and a few laughs over a haircut that looked better online…it’ll take him a while to live that one down. Two friends sit closer to my table, giggling quietly over a platter they’ve picked clean. In the background, there’s a soft shhh of frying fish in the kitchen, and it’s making my mouth water.
Ocean Basket was started, as Grace tells me, by a pair of brothers whose family fled Russia to Greece and finally made their home in South Africa in 1960.
“Their mother is the soul of our brand,” Grace says, “Liza Lazarides is an 88-year-old dynamo. She still bakes baklava with a small staff from her home and supplies over 80 restaurants in South Africa.”
Their incredible mother introduced them to the benefits of a Mediterranean style meal, and Grace painted me a picture of a big table laden with plates of vibrant seafood and bursting with conversation, “There is always too much food, a messy table and loads of laughter. People feel positive and do not need to watch their p’s and q’s. This is Ocean Basket. Put all the food in the middle of the table and enjoy. And for those who really want to enjoy their own pan of seafood – they are welcome too.”
Pick the platter
I came to Ocean Basket hungry, because Grace tells me that the top-selling dish is the platter, “I love platters. It gives you a bit of everything. Sharing without picking off your husband’s plate.”
Claudine, Locality Marketing & Customer Experience specialist, pops by to say hello. She strongly suggests I try the prawns, because as a South African who grew up with Ocean Basket, they’re her favourite. So, I get myself a platter for one with prawns.
Ocean Basket opened in Bromley, an suburban town populated by happy families (as Kent as you can get while still in Greater London), last year. Grace tells me they opened on Valentine’s Day and initially, South African customers drove hours to eat here, “We could not hold back the SAFFAS who had been waiting for us to open. The first few weeks after the opening were wild.”
Claudine adds, “it is a dream for me to work with Ocean Basket, it has always been a favourite of mine. As a SAFFA, it is home. London can be so fast paced. There’s no time to sit down, to connect, to communicate. People used to be so busy, but since Covid, priorities shifted and it seems people have realised, you know, life is short. People want to know on a Wednesday night they can come out, it doesn’t have to be for a special occasion, we all just want to break bread together, we want a laugh, we want to eat together.”
Outside, the sun keeps peeking from behind clouds to dress the streets in golden light, which gives Bromley a picture-perfect suburban feel. In the restaurant, it’s turning into a spirited afternoon as more people stop in. The food is really sizzling now under the increasing din of chairs pulled up and friends greeting each other. The family in the corner is raising toasts and clinking drinks.
A platter is set in front of me, fried calamari, prawns, muscles, creamy sauces and a lemon wedge. I start with the fried calamari. Crisp, lightly salted batter gives way to perfectly tender meat and the sauce…the sauce. Ocean Basket is renowned for their creamy lemon garlic sauce, and honestly? I know from the first bite there will not be any trace of it on my platter when I’ve finished.
A perfect fit
The Foxtons Bromley team told me the train put Bromley on the map in the 1800s as an idyllic market stop between the bustle of London and the charm of the greenbelt. Bromley has since developed as a place to stop and stay awhile. Big homes feed into the house-proud culture, tons of shopping, cosy pubs and a remarkably international selection of restaurants cater to big, extended families. Ocean Basket seems to be the perfect addition, “There is nothing like us in Bromley. Both from a seafood perspective and from an environment too. We love being with our neighbours – Franco Manca, Zizzis, GBK, Nando’s and the pubs and other specialist restaurants,” Grace says, to “give the community of Bromley great options.”
For the atmosphere, the space to gather or even purely for the incredible food, I highly recommend a trip to Bromley’s Ocean Basket. I’m actually here at the perfect moment, as Valentine’s Day is the first OB in the UK’s first anniversary. As well, a second Ocean Basket has just opened to cater to Kingston’s matching family and foodie culture. Sample a new Kingston favourite in part 2.
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