Cape Town dining guide: Inside Africa’s capital of cheap eats and fine dining Photo / Cape Cadogan
A table-hopping tour across Cape Town offers a tasty introduction to Africa’s culinary capital - and a designated driver to boot, writes Julia D’Orazio.
It’s my second visit to Cape Town, and this time around, I’m happy to eye the world’s most famous table, Table Mountain, from afar. Let fellow tourists ride the cable car, jostled shoulder to shoulder, up the natural wonder: I’ll watch the almighty gale of southeasterly winds roll the “tablecloth” clouds over its steep granite cliffs, from other, albeit smaller, tables peppering the city’s salt-crusted corners.
Cape Town’s eclectic heritage is best devoured on the palate – a fragrant blend of Cape Malay spice, African soul food, Indian savouries and rustic Dutch fare. The options to savour its myriad flavours are just as vibrant and diverse in Africa’s culinary capital. In Bo-Kaap, between Crayola-coloured houses and centuries-old, cobbled streets, vendors peddle oiled paper bags of cinnamon-scented samosas and koeksisters (sticky, sweet doughnuts) for less than a rooibos tea.
In Woodstock – the city’s premier creative hub – Neighbourgoods Market serves as a stage for budding culinary heroes to present their spin on global street food alongside live DJs. The market, housed in the Old Biscuit Mill, offers a global odyssey with plates ranging from Zambia’s vegan-friendly kikanda – a spicy, dense “African polony” made from boiled tubers – to familiar crowd-pleasers, tacos and shawarma. Fine dining restaurants with enough accolades to rival a world-class wine list are rife. Clearly, the Mother City makes “good food and good vibes” seem the norm, no matter the budget.
My table-hopping adventure with tour operator Adventure World moves to V&A Waterfront newcomer Marble Restaurant. Almost a decade after opening in Johannesburg, the award-winning wood fire grill restaurant has taken up rooftop residency in Cape Town’s lively retail and dining district in Table Bay.
It’s sundown, and most tables are full of well-dressed carnivores feasting civilly on refined South African cuisine as the city’s natural wonder becomes engulfed in darkness. While a coal-roasted rib eye steak seems to be an obvious choice for mains, the “continental clash” is more curious: burrata topped with floss-like shavings of beef biltong and swimming in sweet chilli oil. Spicy, creamy and the right amount of chilli smack, I’m instantly hooked.
A place where I wish it were socially acceptable to take leftovers home is Le Bistrot De Jan. After earning a Michelin star in France, chef Jan Hendrik returned to home soil to open his latest venture, next to the new InterContinental Table Bay Cape Town. The menu fuses traditional French cuisine and South African flavours, with a palm-sized seabass fillet with preserved lemon and beurre blanc, a delicate, flaky standout.
The French farmlands are brought to Atlantic shores in the bistro’s hidden cheese room. The signature “Tour de Fromage” woos turophiles to a roundtable buffet with 20 varieties sourced from both hemispheres. Presented under the glow of passionfruit-scented candles and surrounded by Hendrik’s personal library of timeworn cookbooks, it’s an indulgent trip.
Carrying on the intimate thread is Tannin. This storied wine bar on Bree St is a convenient place to get acquainted with the country’s burgeoning wine scene, stocked with more than 430 South African wine labels. Yet, scenes of rolling vineyards are not too far; Cape Winelands is an hour’s drive away. Table Mountain, who? The world-renowned region is home to one of South Africa’s oldest estates, Boschendal, at the foothills of the jagged Drakenstein and Simonsberg ranges.
A guided wine-and-chocolate pairing and an afternoon of snacking on charcuterie boards and sipping new favourites, with the mountains and beautifully preserved Cape Dutch buildings in view, is pure bliss.
For a change of pace, visit Die Strandloper in Langebaan. The unique shanty-like beachfront restaurant offers a 10-course seafood lunch that defies dining etiquette. Forget crockery: mussel shells replace forks, and paper plates are recycled until their flimsy demise. Roving guitarists and performers weave between tables and fresh fish sizzling on oversized grills. It’s BYO, too – a perfect excuse to grab a bottle from Boschendal and let the tour’s designated driver handle the West Coast jaunt.
In Cape Town, food is an omnipresent fixture, even when sleeping. Cape Cadogan Boutique Hotel, off buzzing Kloof St, weaves historical and contemporary charms throughout the elegantly restored 19th-century National Monument.
Recent upgrades to the Georgian-era townhouse include reimagining the reception desk as a more inviting place to linger: a sleek bar. Whether it’s getting a caffeine hit from an antiquated copper coffee machine or having a late-night cocktail, it’s available when you need it.
Small enclaves that appeal to the vices of many must be a Cape Town thing, as this hotel boasts a complimentary dessert room. Each afternoon, its sun-drenched conservatory turns into a sweet-tooth haven, with plump, pastel-coloured macaroons, tiered cakes and homebrewed iced teas shielding the scents of nature. If savoury is more your thing, free-flowing canapes are also served early evening in the lounge.
For something more substantial, head next door to Upper Union Restaurant. The hotel’s chic interior flows into this glitzy eatery, with crystal chandeliers hanging over zebra-print dining chairs. Executive chef Amori Burger brings Cape Town’s energy to his fusion share plates – a riot of colour that reinforces what makes this city best discovered by the forkful. I’m happy at this table.
Checklist
The 12-day Authentic Southern Africa tour is from $12,835 per person (based on twin share).
DETAILS
The writer was a guest of Adventure World and South African Tourism.