A Foodie Guide to Cape Town and the Winelands

We finished our trip with 6 days in the Cape Town area.  We spent 2 nights in Franschhoek, and 4 nights in Camps Bay, a beachfront 10 minutes from downtown Cape Town.  We explored the town, saw the Cape of Good Hope, went penguin-watching, hiked Table Mountain and Lion's Head, wandered Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens, ate tasty food, drank lots of wine, and enjoyed sundowners on the beach.

The food in Cape Town and wine country was such a pleasant change.  The winelands were originally colonized by the French, and the heritage shows in their food.  Now the areas of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are well known for their culinary inventiveness.  The food was a mix of French classic technique paired with local ingredients and an African flair.  Our best meal was at La Bon Vivant, a French bistro in Franschhoek. Following the guide are pictures of food, wine and adventures.  For more detail and more pictures, check out Mackenzie's accounts here.

And here is the guide of where we ate and drank and overall impressions, comment with any questions:

Cape Town:

Meals
La Boheme (Sea Point): Spanish inspired cuisine.  Excellent tapas. Great wine list. Atmosphere gets A++.
Bay Harbour Market (Hout Bay): An indoor market with live music, beer, wine, cider, and cheap eats.
Vovo Telo (V&A Waterfront, lunch): Rustic and tasty lunches, excellent coffee.
Anatoli (Da Waterkant): Turkish fare, including mezzes, mains, and desserts.  Best meal in Cape Town.
Primi Piatti (Camp's Bay): Inexpensive, tasty pizzas and pastas.

Cocktails and Appetizers
The Bungalow, formerly La Med (Clifton): Very hip vibe, decent (overpriced) sushi, fantastic views, great place for a sundowner drink.
Cafe Carpice (Camp's Bay): We had drinks and calamari. Overall: don't bother. Weak drinks, nice view (but The Bungalow is better), decent calamari.

Stellenbosch:

Eats
Apprentice @ Institute of Culinary Arts (lunch): A variable menu with good options.  Well executed but lacking creativity.

Wineries
Ken Forrester: Excellent value (11 wines on the full tasting menu for R50), best white wines.
Spier: Huge complex, commanding grounds, good wine but less value.
Jordan: Quieter setting, great views, good but not great wines.

Franschhoek:

Eats
The Common Room at Le Quartier Francais*: Small plates intended to be shared.  Very inconsistent quality throughout the menu.  Fun atmosphere.
Le Bon Vivant: Best meal of the trip. We had the restaurant to ourselves (thanks to it being winter). Excellent service and top quality food.
Pierneef at La Motte (lunch): Top quality food in a beautiful setting.  Exquisite presentation and excellent execution.  Close second to the meal at Le Bon Vivant.

Wineries
Stony Brook Vineyards: Intimate experience at a small winery. Family run. Best red wine.
GlenWood: Off the beaten path, gorgeous views, wines were unremarkable.  Rumored to have excellent sushi.
La Motte: Excellent restaurant (see above), cozy tasting room, allowed to walk around the barrels, good wines.
L'ormains: Has a car museum also, beautiful setting on a horse farm, shuttle driver takes you to the tasting, unique grape varietals including an excellent Sangiovese.
La Provence: Modern tasting room, good selection of wines. Lack of variety on the tasting menu. No opportunity to taste any of the high-end wines.

*We intended to go to Ryan's Kitchen, but as we walked up at 7pm, they were closing due to lack of business.

Day 1: Cape Town, Cape Point & Cape of Good Hope

At Boulder's Beach

Camp's Bay and the 12 Apostles

Sunset at Camps Bay

Days 2 and 3: Stellenbosch and Franschhoek

Stellenbosch 

Ken Forrester

View at Jordan

(Kenz pic)

La Motte

The Goose Cottage: Our Franschhoek Home

 And somehow Mackenzie got all the food pics, so here they are:  Franschhoek Food (Le Bon Vivant and La Motte Winery)

Day 4 back in Cape Town, for 1 more day with Matt and Mackenzie:

Lunch Pizzas at the V&A Waterfront

V&A Waterfront

Day 5: Kirstenbosch and Lion's Head

Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens

Kirstenbosh

Camp's Bay from the trail on Lion's Head

Top of Lion's Head with Table Mountain in the Background

Trail on Lion's Head

Table Mountain and Lion's Head from Signal Hill

Day 6: Table Mountain

"True Summit" of Table Mountain, McClure Beacon

Boardwalk on Table Mountain

On the edge

Headed back down the trail

Friday Links: Back to School Lunches

While I am no longer a student (for now), the week after Labor Day always feels like back to school.  This year it means back to work, for both the hubby and myself.  He recently got a job driving a school bus (so almost back to school), and I am working part-time with 0-3 year-olds in the Early Intervention program.  While it is sad that our summer travels, hiking, biking, swimming and just playing is over, it will be good to bulk up the bank account a bit.  So today's links are focused on healthy back to school (or work) lunches.  Happy weekend!

photo

Use an eco-friendly container or bag: pack it smart, ditch the plastic.

Put it in a pita: pitas can make fun make-it-yourself lunches for picky kids.

Cook up some chicken and soba noodles like this or like this: easy to make the night before. 

DIY pizza lunchables, without the preservatives: add some veggies for more nutrition

Make one of these fun sandwiches: spruce up the classic.

On the Wild Coast and Baked Fish & Chips

Still high on our leopard sighting, we drove out of Kruger and back to Johannesburg.  After removing a sizable amount of tar from the sides of the Micra, we dropped her at the airport and hopped a short flight to East London at the southern end of the Wild Coast. We caught our ride to Buccaneers Backpackers at Cintsa and immediately (after some begging) devoured some honey-glazed chicken skewers, salad, and bread.  We woke up early for our shuttle to Kei Mouth, and the beginning of the Strandloper Trail.  We spent 3 days lazily wandering between the beach and the headlands, stopping at small pubs for lunch and sleeping in rustic 12 bunk cabins.

Braai Fire at Double Mouth

The first night we had a braai pit and wood, but the store in Morgan Bay was closed when we got there, meaning we were stuck with ramen noodles and peanut butter for dinner.  While watching the waves and dolphins from our porch at Double Mouth, I spotted 2 fishermen, and we quickly sent Steven and Matt with 20 rand in change (about $2) to chase them up the beach.  The mission was successful: Rockfish for dinner.

The second night was a no-fires-allowed cabin, so we ate a large lunch in Haga Haga and bought some fresh vegetables for salad to go with our crackers and cheese/peanut butter.  On day 3 we walked a lazy 10 kilometers of beach back to the hostel in Cintsa and spent the afternoon playing in the surf, watching a huge Southern Right Whale, and lounging.

Today's recipe is inspired from our pub lunches.  I could tell you how to barbecue a whole fish, but I am no expert, and I doubt many of you are all that interested.

Pub-Style Baked Fish and Chips with Yogurt Tarter Sauce
Serves 2-4
The recipe is sort of a combination from the Food Network and Roasted Root

• 1 pound russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch strips
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 3/4 pound of cod, halibut, or other white fish, cut into 1 ounce portions
• 1/2 cup flour (you can use any mix of rice flour, whole wheat, cornmeal, etc; I used 1/2 rice and 1/2 whole wheat)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup beer (brown ale is the best choice)
• 2-3 cups Panko bread crumbs
• Kosher salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, with a large baking sheet on the top rack.
2. Toss potatoes with olive oil and paprika.
3. Spread potatoes onto pre-heated sheet in a single layer and return to top rack.
4. Whisk together eggs and flour until smooth, add beer and continue to whisk.
5. Spread 1 cup of bread crumbs onto a large plate.
6. Dip each piece of fish into the batter, and then roll in the Panko, if bread crumbs are not sticking, add 1 tablespoon of flour to the batter before dipping the next piece.
7. When you run out of bread crumbs, refill the plate, if you put them all out at once you will end up with a soaked mess.
8. Place the fish onto an oiled baking sheet and place on the bottom rack in the oven.
9. Flip the potatoes after 15 minutes and continue baking both the fish and potatoes for another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and the fish is cooked through. Season chips with kosher salt.
10. To create a more browned crust on the fish, lightly mist with canola oil after 5 minutes in the oven (I did this a little to late, and mine turned out a little on the pale side.

Yogurt Tarter Sauce

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 medium dill pickle cut into a small dice
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

1. Combine all ingredients and serve with fish and chips.

Day 1 on the trail.

Lunch at Morgan Bay

Surfing Dolphins

Fish Purchase

Proud of his fish

Headed toward Double Mouth

Sunrise at Double Mouth

Photo: Mackenzie

Almost to hut number 2

The Mamas on their afternoon commute to Buccaneers (photo: Mackenzie)

Southern Right Whale Tail (photo: Mackenzie)

Boys. (photo: Mackenzie)