That changed last year when I came to Cape Town with my parents, and seeing their endless mouth agape in glory reaction to Table Mountain - from the second the cable car took off, to every moment at the top, I relearned the magic of this incredible site. I declared then that I would never not do Table Mountain on a Cape Town visit again.
Anyway, after this lengthy preamble, needless to say Table Mountain was the centerpiece of my day on the Cape, but far from the only memorable moment. The day actually started with a waltz through Bo Kaap, seeing the various pastel colored houses. I stopped for a coffee there as well, but the real beauty is the colors, brought out well in a partly cloudy day that still very much had a great deal of sun.
From there I head for lunch to the Neighborgoods Market, housed in the Old Biscuit Mill, which also is the home of Salon (dinner Friday Night) and The Pot Luck Club (lunch tomorrow - a last gasp attempt to dull any sensation of depression that will undoubtedly be approaching). The Market is only open on weekends and while there are some stores and wares, the real key element of the market is the giant food market section, fit with live music, beer and wine stalls, and a whole host of food options. I have no idea how I never came here on any trip prior to last year, but after coming for lunch last year it has become now a staple.
Some of the stalls seemed familiar, but others definitely new. It is marketed more for locals, so many of the stalls unsurprisingly feature non-African food, with multiple Mexican stalls, multiple BBQ, a Korean, a Japanese. All of thsoe looked good, but I wanted something more special to this part of the world, and ideally two half meals (or more realistically, two stops that would get me 1.5 lunch's worth of food). The first was a set of four pork spareribs in a Ghanian glaze sauce, which were excellent. The ribs were perfectly fall off the bone tender. The seoncd set I got was a braised beef stew with chapati from a Tanzanian stall, that again was cooked really well. More than the food though, what i love more is the vibes of the place. Just a ton of people enjoying good food, some music, some drinks and having a great time. I'm sure many cities have something like this - but how many have the shining mastiff of Table Mountain overlooking it?
Speaking of, from there I went to the aforementioned mountain. I was a bit worried what the clouds would be like when I got to the top. All day there have been clouds over Table Mountain - luckily in this case over and not enveloping it / spilling over its face, which happens super often. For me today it made the top quite cold but the pictures from all sides were left unaffected. I did a mini hike - wanting to go about halfway to Maclear's Beacon, as from my memory from 2018 the second half of hte hike is quite tiresome and the views aren't that great (or at least no better than what you have at the start). It's a fairly good route, starting out moving southward getting views of the Twelve Apostles, further extended peaks behind it, various slivers of things like Hout Bay and Simons Town, and then swing back aroun to the front side that has the city view.
In the middle of the mini hike you have to cross the very top bit of Platterklip Gorge, which is a small slice between two parts of the mountain that does have a trail that extends basically from ground level up to Table Mountain. From what I understand it takes about 2.5 hrs, doesn't require equipment or anything, but far more arduous than I have any uinterest in. I'll gladly just take a quick photo of the gorge, and go on my way.
It is hard to describe just how great the views from the top of Table Mountain are, similarly it is hard to describe how good the views of Table Mountain are from the Waterfront, where I did a third walk around the waterfront shooting photos of Table Mountain from various angles. At least today with the mix of clouds the pictures will look a bit different than the cloudless ones from Thursday and Friday. The stroll through the Waterfront, including another walk through the Watershed, getting a beer from the TimeOut Market (still not a fan, but far more lively today than Thursday), and imbibing people finishing their weekend makes me already a bit emotional and nostalgic for these trips.
You'd think I wouldn't feel this way given this is the seventh time here, and the fourth in five years, but if anything knowing how quiet Cape Town can be on Sunday Nights is what is getting me down. What I really should do is fly out on Sunday and come in a day earlier, but usually I'm flying United back from Cape Town to Newark, which runs every other day and is on Monday Night, not Sunday.
Anyway, let's get out of depressionville and back to real stuff, and in this case new stuff with dinner at La Colombe - a beautiful restaurant high up a hill-side winery in Constantia. The setting is beautiful, though admittedly too dark to really see much. The setting was pristine, as you would expect from a white table cloth, white plate brilliant restaurant. Each dish was made with such care and invention, from the bread course where the spread was made to look like various fruits or vegetables, in my case a red pepper andouille sausage spread made to look like a tomato. Or the incredible qual two ways, teh second of which was qual breast stuffed with crayfish with a bit of sweet seafood bisque as a sauach. To of course the final main dish of lamb.
La Colombe is run by the people who also run Pier, Foxcroft and other top class restaurants around the Cape. Pier is more seafood focused, while this was more refined I would say - but both quite amazing overall. I don't know if this meal was better than Salon, but about as good and a more than great way to have a last dinner on this trip.
Cape Town is super quiet on a Sunday apart from quite seedy Long Street places. I've long complained about this. In 2020, I was able to find respite with one last great night at The Dubliner (RIP). In 2022, it was a place called YOBO Wine Bar, which was near The House of Machines (closed on Sunday), and YOBO has since closed. Last year, it was with my parents and we went to Cause Effect, which is open on Sundays but super random with its closing time. This time I reached the Waterfront aiming to go there but arrived at 11:25 as they were doing last call (the stated closing time is 1am).
So I had to go next door to Mitchell's, the one bar (restaurant) that was staying open till 1:30. Now, Mitchell's was a place I went to a lot back in the day, especially before Cause Effect opened (for my 2018 trip), It had a great people watching spot in the edge of the Waterfront, with views of Table Mountain. They used to have their own beer, one of which was called Milk & Honey and I loved it. By my 2020 trip they had taken most of their own beers off the menu and became more of a standard pub, which was super sad. Well, not only was it a welcome respite, but the IPA I ordered tasted just like what I remember Milk & Honey to be.
The crowd was decent, and I had a long chat with a couple from Ottawa who had flown in that afternoon. They were starting a 3-week trip to South Africa. I put aside the jealousy of their trip being just starting and mine effectively ending to give them some advice on palces to visit, eat at, drink at, and them having come to Cape Town once before in 2018, we could trade stories. It may not have been my planned Sunday Night, but ended up being quietly a great one and a great way to end night in Cape Town.
