There are so many incredible aspects about Cape Town, but the most lasting, and to me most piercing, is that view of Table Mountain in the distance on a cloudless day. The weather has seemingly got increasingly good each time coming here. My first time in Feb 2013 - we are quickly approaching the seven year anniversary mark of that fateful visit. Table Mountain's imposing vistage is one of the world's great sights. Way too often the top is partially layered with clouds, but these last two days have been perfect.
With Friday being Valentine's Day - a pretty big event in South Africa (thanks American Capitalism!) - the city was a bit more alive than normal. It was tough to secure reservations for places and generally there was an unease about how busy things would be. Walking around the Waterfront area both in the morning and then again when going for post dinner drinks, you notice the number of couples, both locals and tourists, and the sense of energy in the area. The V&A Waterfront itself, on any day, is among the most incredible too-touristy things I've seen. It is like a Times Square if instead of a baseless maw of capitalism it had actual good restaurants and shops (if overpriced), and if instead of immigrants paid too little to dress up as power rangers you had actual good buskers busking.
I can waste too much time walking around the Waterfront, which I definitely did on Friday mid-day after waking up too late with the last of my jet-lag wearing off. I romped around The Watershed, Cape Town's beautiful warehouse ode to African arts, craft and clothing - again all fairly pricey in South African terms, but great place to roam. The food market next door has become an increasingly fun random assortment of stands as well - including a few quick lunch options that I would definitely partake in more if I lived in Cape Town and wasn't just visiting for a few days.
Because of the short time, and also due to Cape Town's incredible culinary scene, my meals are mostly all pre-planned and booked ahead of time. I tried out a few new places this time, mostly for my lunches. The first was La Tete, which was slightly disappointing in that the menu was quite small. The food I did order, however, was excellent. First was a salad with crispy duck, which came with a great sauce. The main was a roasted quail served with chips in a gravy, which was also quite good.
The other lunch, though, was truly great. Oddly the restaurant was fairly empty - but based on Google's accounting it generally does much better for dinner. The place was called Upper Bloem, oddly not on Bloem street. They serve essentially a mini-tasting menu type deal, with a set of three starters and mains in little plates, all plated with gourmet brilliance. The starters were a tomato salad with buffalo cheese (given my hatred for tomato I left most of it, but the pickled tomato was excellent), two cheese croquettes with mint (excellent) and a potato and raw tuna mixture in a cup.
The mains were similarly good, with a mixed beet salad (great), a fried cauliflower curry (apparently this place specialized in Cape Malay cuisine, something I haven't tried too much of), and then a chicken curry dish with potato balls. Each dish was small, but overall it was quite a filling and excellent lunch.
The dinners were also both quite good, and of course pre-planned. Friday night at Miller's Thumb was somewhat fortunate, as they don't take online reservations. You can call them in advance, but for whatever reason I didn't. Honestly, I'm in love with this place. It is a Mom & Pop operation in a town that is increasingly a hotbed of cuisine. It has somehow held its rankings on all types of lists over the past seven years. The 'Mom' of the operation is there every day, and is the one who answered the phone. They have a weird orange and green decor which they've stuck to. The main part of the menu is simple. They write four or five fishes on the chalkboard, most local to South Africa, and there's six or seven ways to prepare them (Cajun, Moroccan, Grilled, etc.). The starters are a mix of normal asefood fare. They serve meat - no idea why anyone would get meat here - and other dishes like a fish curry and jumbalaya, but stick to the chalkboard man.
I got grilled Calamari that was grilled 'Moroccan' style, and then the Kob fish (a game-fish, whatever that means) done Cajun style, so blackened with Jalapeno. Both were great. This place is grat. Every other palce I go to has fancy websites and Youtube videos and semi-celebrity chefs. Miller's Thumb is the exact opposite, and still excellent.
The other dinner was probably the one I was looking forward to the most on the trip, at a place called Belly of the Beast. Housed in a weird part of town that is getting redeveloped, Belly of the Beast serves a six-course tasting menu with various meats and seafood, with just incredible culinary heart. The first dish was a South Arican take on babaganoush along with venison tartare, to be eaten on local Kaboors bread. The second was squid with a lot of other things I don't quite remember. Prior to the meal beginning we had three giant mussels with a salsa on top thaht was so sweet and fresh.
Fourth was beer-battered hake that was lighter and flakier than almost any battered fish I've had, perfectly mixing in with the sauce around it. The final main was a Karoo Lamb cut with another excellent accompanying sauce. The desert was a lovely chocalate and banana cake. They took their time, wit the meal running about two to two-and-a-half hours but it was so well paced and presented you felt at home.
The other place I'm slowly starting to feel at home in is Cause Effect, a cocktail bar that opened at the edge of the Waterfront. This might be one of the most impressive cocktail bars I've seen. The mixologists are brilliant in their presentation, turning it into truly an artform. The cocktails themselves were so inventive - one called the 'membrane' was poured into a plate with a round middle, with a fondant drawing placed on top that you had to pierce through to get to the drink. Overtime, the fondant would melt into the drink and add to it. The place was crazy.
On the tourism side, I didn't really do too much different this time. There's a Stellenbosch bike tour lined up for Sunday, but the first couple days mostly saw me amble around the Waterfront, adn take a hike on the pipe track from the bottom of Table Mountain back towards Camps Bay - the beach town directly to the Southeast of Cape Town. The hike took me about 90 minutes (better hikers could do it in an hour) with stunning views of the back of Table Mountain, Lion's Head (the hill next to Table Mountain) and the Pacific Ocean.
On the whole Cape Town remains a truly incredible place, something only reinforced in my first couple days there. It was Valentine's Day weekend, and I was in a place I love which was the best gift imagineable.
With Friday being Valentine's Day - a pretty big event in South Africa (thanks American Capitalism!) - the city was a bit more alive than normal. It was tough to secure reservations for places and generally there was an unease about how busy things would be. Walking around the Waterfront area both in the morning and then again when going for post dinner drinks, you notice the number of couples, both locals and tourists, and the sense of energy in the area. The V&A Waterfront itself, on any day, is among the most incredible too-touristy things I've seen. It is like a Times Square if instead of a baseless maw of capitalism it had actual good restaurants and shops (if overpriced), and if instead of immigrants paid too little to dress up as power rangers you had actual good buskers busking.
I can waste too much time walking around the Waterfront, which I definitely did on Friday mid-day after waking up too late with the last of my jet-lag wearing off. I romped around The Watershed, Cape Town's beautiful warehouse ode to African arts, craft and clothing - again all fairly pricey in South African terms, but great place to roam. The food market next door has become an increasingly fun random assortment of stands as well - including a few quick lunch options that I would definitely partake in more if I lived in Cape Town and wasn't just visiting for a few days.
Because of the short time, and also due to Cape Town's incredible culinary scene, my meals are mostly all pre-planned and booked ahead of time. I tried out a few new places this time, mostly for my lunches. The first was La Tete, which was slightly disappointing in that the menu was quite small. The food I did order, however, was excellent. First was a salad with crispy duck, which came with a great sauce. The main was a roasted quail served with chips in a gravy, which was also quite good.
The other lunch, though, was truly great. Oddly the restaurant was fairly empty - but based on Google's accounting it generally does much better for dinner. The place was called Upper Bloem, oddly not on Bloem street. They serve essentially a mini-tasting menu type deal, with a set of three starters and mains in little plates, all plated with gourmet brilliance. The starters were a tomato salad with buffalo cheese (given my hatred for tomato I left most of it, but the pickled tomato was excellent), two cheese croquettes with mint (excellent) and a potato and raw tuna mixture in a cup.
The mains were similarly good, with a mixed beet salad (great), a fried cauliflower curry (apparently this place specialized in Cape Malay cuisine, something I haven't tried too much of), and then a chicken curry dish with potato balls. Each dish was small, but overall it was quite a filling and excellent lunch.
The dinners were also both quite good, and of course pre-planned. Friday night at Miller's Thumb was somewhat fortunate, as they don't take online reservations. You can call them in advance, but for whatever reason I didn't. Honestly, I'm in love with this place. It is a Mom & Pop operation in a town that is increasingly a hotbed of cuisine. It has somehow held its rankings on all types of lists over the past seven years. The 'Mom' of the operation is there every day, and is the one who answered the phone. They have a weird orange and green decor which they've stuck to. The main part of the menu is simple. They write four or five fishes on the chalkboard, most local to South Africa, and there's six or seven ways to prepare them (Cajun, Moroccan, Grilled, etc.). The starters are a mix of normal asefood fare. They serve meat - no idea why anyone would get meat here - and other dishes like a fish curry and jumbalaya, but stick to the chalkboard man.
I got grilled Calamari that was grilled 'Moroccan' style, and then the Kob fish (a game-fish, whatever that means) done Cajun style, so blackened with Jalapeno. Both were great. This place is grat. Every other palce I go to has fancy websites and Youtube videos and semi-celebrity chefs. Miller's Thumb is the exact opposite, and still excellent.
The other dinner was probably the one I was looking forward to the most on the trip, at a place called Belly of the Beast. Housed in a weird part of town that is getting redeveloped, Belly of the Beast serves a six-course tasting menu with various meats and seafood, with just incredible culinary heart. The first dish was a South Arican take on babaganoush along with venison tartare, to be eaten on local Kaboors bread. The second was squid with a lot of other things I don't quite remember. Prior to the meal beginning we had three giant mussels with a salsa on top thaht was so sweet and fresh.
Fourth was beer-battered hake that was lighter and flakier than almost any battered fish I've had, perfectly mixing in with the sauce around it. The final main was a Karoo Lamb cut with another excellent accompanying sauce. The desert was a lovely chocalate and banana cake. They took their time, wit the meal running about two to two-and-a-half hours but it was so well paced and presented you felt at home.
The other place I'm slowly starting to feel at home in is Cause Effect, a cocktail bar that opened at the edge of the Waterfront. This might be one of the most impressive cocktail bars I've seen. The mixologists are brilliant in their presentation, turning it into truly an artform. The cocktails themselves were so inventive - one called the 'membrane' was poured into a plate with a round middle, with a fondant drawing placed on top that you had to pierce through to get to the drink. Overtime, the fondant would melt into the drink and add to it. The place was crazy.
On the tourism side, I didn't really do too much different this time. There's a Stellenbosch bike tour lined up for Sunday, but the first couple days mostly saw me amble around the Waterfront, adn take a hike on the pipe track from the bottom of Table Mountain back towards Camps Bay - the beach town directly to the Southeast of Cape Town. The hike took me about 90 minutes (better hikers could do it in an hour) with stunning views of the back of Table Mountain, Lion's Head (the hill next to Table Mountain) and the Pacific Ocean.
On the whole Cape Town remains a truly incredible place, something only reinforced in my first couple days there. It was Valentine's Day weekend, and I was in a place I love which was the best gift imagineable.
