Change has been slowly but steadily at work within Cape Town’s culinary scene for more than a decade. The comfortably sized, easy-to-navigate city, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, has always been the advantageous home to pristine ingredients like west coast oysters and mussels, game meats such as springbok and kudu, and sweet local crayfish—and its restaurants have long served flavors and dishes from South Africa’s melting pot, like Afrikaans koeksister (a sweet fried doughnut) and delicately spiced Cape Malay curry. After the city’s first breakout global “bests”—La Colombe, The Test Kitchen—young chefs began passionately flooding Cape Town’s kitchens with more techniques and trends they encountered overseas, while South Africa’s wines also saw a transformation by a new generation of winemakers who were breaking away from the traditional winelands like Franschhoek and Stellenbosch and making wine in more challenging terroir.
For a region so dependent on tourism, Cape Town was never going to escape the pandemic unscathed. Subject to some of the strictest lockdowns in the world (the city once again battened the hatches for two weeks in June to dodge the Delta variant), nearly 100 restaurants have closed their doors over the past 15 months. However, an estimated 70 new ones have sprung up, which sums up the energy of Cape Town overall, not to mention its resilience—this is, of course, the city that almost ran out of water a couple of years ago. New chefs are taking short leases for pop-up dining experiences and opening hole in the wall takeaways, and classic restaurants are being reimagined, too. Here are the spots, stalwarts and newcomers, that have re-emerged as the places to eat and drink across the city.
TO EAT
Chef’s Warehouse Beau Constantia
In a sleek dining room overlooking the Constantia wine valley, this is laid-back, refined dining at its best from one of Cape Town’s most influential chefs, Liam Tomlinson, in partnership with co-owner and head chef, Ivor Jones. The glass cube that houses the restaurant in a verdant suburb just outside the city is a welcome dash of modernity in an area where most restaurants are housed in 100-year-old Cape Dutch buildings. The menu changes weekly and features nine plates to share, from local-line fish sashimi to venison, all with ingredients grown on the on-site farm—about which the staff know every last detail—ideally washed down with a glass of the estate’s Pas de Nom MCC, South Africa’s answer to Champagne. Finish with the standout honey and lavender crème. 1043 Constantia Main Rd, Constantia
Pot Luck Club
Luke Dale Roberts is one of the city’s culinary luminaries, owner of the path-breaking The Test Kitchen. A decade ago he opened this second restaurant in Woodstock, an edgy neighborhood 10 minutes from the center of town, which became its crowning glory—quite literally, as it sits atop a silo at The Old Biscuit Mill, a mixed-use development housing quirky boutiques and a weekly neighborhood food market. Pot Luck Club is reached by a glass elevator, which pops open into an urban loft-style space: wooden floors, charcoal walls and bright African fabrics arranged by Robert’s designer-wife, Sandalene. The menu is modern sharing plates and the dining room view shows a different but no less essential side of Cape Town, the striking industrial side of the harbour. The Old Biscuit Mill, 373-375 Albert Rd, Woodstock
Beyond
In the shadow of Table Mountain in the Constantia wine area, the restaurant is housed in a historic thatched building on the family-owned Buitenvervactig wine estate, but bright and modern in every other way. Here, under chef Peter Tempelhof, the emphasis is on plating and provenance, as in locally caught seafood or roast springbok, or handmade burrata cheese, styled just so. The estate’s wine list is spectacular (try the limited-release Maximus, an intriguing oaked sauvignon blanc), or to finish off there is a whiskey trolley for fun. 37 Klein Constantia Rd, Constantia
Hemelhuijs
Open from just 9am-4pm, this restaurant does not stray from a compact menu of sophisticated flavors inspired by traditional Afrikaans dishes. A mosbolletjie loaf at breakfast is loaded with roasted artichokes, poached eggs, and hollandaise. For a filling lunch, the South African national dish "bobotie" (curried meat and fruit) is wrapped in cabbage leaves. Owned by celebrated local designer and chef Jacques Erasmus, the décor changes to reflect the season—right down to the wall color. The artful menu resembles a botanical atlas, and the shelves hold a selection of homewares including citrus candles from the owner’s farm and hotel, Jonkmanshof, two and a half hours outside Cape Town. 71 Waterkant St, Cape Town City Centre
Between Us
Bree Street, in central Cape Town, runs almost the length of the city, bookended by the mountain on one side and the sea at the other. Pre-COVID it was Cape Town’s most lively street, thanks to almost a decade of independent bars, coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques opening their doors here. Opened by local twin sisters Jesse and Jamie Friedberg in a renovated Victorian building featuring exposed brickwork and custom-made furniture, Between Us serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner with some dishes reflecting the sisters’ Italian heritage, such as slow-cooked lamb and cannellini with braised courgettes, and home-made pastas. Their excellent wine list—which includes an excellent small-batch Pinot Noir called Copper Pot by Thorne & Daughters—is curated by local specialists, Publik (see below). 176 Bree St, Cape Town City Centre
Maria’s Greek Cafe
One of Cape Town’s oldest restaurants, this Greek tavern is an institution. The white building sits on the corner of Dunkley Square, a quiet oasis of quaint two-story buildings in the Gardens neighborhood. Inside, it’s light and airy with concrete floors, but the rustic wooden tables spill outside into the square on warm evenings, where diners can sit beneath lights strung between the trees. The mezze are exceptional—stuffed calamari tubes, home-made lamb meatballs, and spanakopita—as is the signature dish, Lamb Maria’s, slow-cooked for 24 hours in a rich ouzo-and-artichoke sauce, plus tumblers of local wine. 31 Barnet St, Gardens
