Cape Town Fish Market is a chain — the name refers to a South African restaurant group with branches across southern Africa and Namibia — and for some travellers that is already a disqualification. That instinct deserves to be set aside here. The Zanzibar branch occupies one of the most consequential addresses on the island: the waterfront edge of Forodhani Gardens, with the Indian Ocean at its feet, the silhouette of Stone Town behind, and a sunset angle that does more for a reservation than any menu ever could.
The kitchen cooks in two registers. On one side, a grill and fryer turn out the South African seafood canon — fish and chips, prawns grilled or flamed with garlic butter, calamari, lobster tails, a generous mixed platter. On the other, a small but disciplined sushi counter produces sashimi, nigiri and maki from the same fish landed that morning, to a standard that is genuinely surprising for a chain restaurant on an Indian Ocean island. The overlap is deliberate. A sashimi starter and a grilled platter main course, shared across two people, is the house move — and it works.
The wine list is where the South African ownership pays its clearest dividend. Rustenberg, Mulderbosch, Meerlust, the Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noir — a roll call of Western Cape winemakers that would be expensive and awkward to assemble in Stone Town without a parent company that knows exactly which bottles to ship where. The by-the-glass selection is unusually sensible. The cocktail list — gin, rum, coconut and lime in various configurations — is competent rather than inspired.
The atmosphere is deliberately informal. The restaurant is a long open terrace facing the water, with hurricane lanterns on the tables, a live musician (typically a guitarist) from around seven, and enough ambient noise from the Forodhani market next door that conversations feel covered without being drowned. Service is South African-trained, which in this part of the world means friendly, efficient and occasionally slightly too attentive. The dress code is functional. Reservations are recommended in high season (July–August, December–February) and essential on weekends, but walk-ins are handled gracefully when capacity allows.
Two practical observations. Firstly, the sunset tables — the outermost row, closest to the seawall — are allocated by request at reservation rather than by priority of arrival; ask when you book. Secondly, portions run generous, in the South African manner. Three starters shared across four people, two mains and two desserts is usually the correct quantity, and leaves room for a second bottle without discomfort.