One of the things we love most about discovering new cities is trying new food. And Cape Town is one of the best places we know to get out there and tickle your taste buds with delicious new flavours. We’ve compiled a list of six of the very best places in Cape Town to give your stomach a treat. So, read on to find out just where to go when dinner (or lunch) time comes around.
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Get ready to give your taste buds a treat!
Kloof Street House
Located right on the heart of downtown Cape Town, on Kloof Street as the name suggests, stands this fantastic restaurant where the food is only part of what makes the experience so good. Kloof Street House is a style treasure, as well as a culinary treasure. Whether you decide to sit inside or out, the surroundings are sure to delight.
The garden is a world of green that feels like a secret garden set right in the heart of the city. We can’t think of many nicer places to eat. Inside, you’re also in for a treat. The ornate decoration has the feel of a palace about it. And the food doesn’t disappoint. We recommend the amazing Chalmar Beef with Smoked Marrowbone Butter. Each bite is heaven! And for the veggies, we’d go for the Lentil Artichoke Bake, which is equally scrumptious. For pudding, we find it hard to resist the Salted Caramel Cheesecake!
Eastern Food Bazaar
South Africa has long had a large Indian population. Both countries were parts of the British Empire and thousands of Indian workers came to work in South Africa. They soon became part of the cultural fabric of the country, leaving their mark in many ways, not least in their effect on South African cuisine. The Eastern Food Bazaar is the perfect place to drip your toe into Cape Town’s Asian tastes. Situated right in the heart of the city, this brilliant restaurant has our perfect combination of qualities: the food is cheap and yummy!
You can order a selection of dishes from around India, from Bombay to the Punjab. There’s delicious tandoori specialities and creamy North Indian curries. Amazingly, there are 10 different kitchens cooking a wide range of Asian cuisines. They even do pizza! For us, the only problem is just what to choose. There’s plenty for veggies too and they do a great bunny chow, but more of bunny chow soon!
Mariams Kitchen ForeShore
Mariams Kitchen ForeShore is another place that can be described as cheap and cheerful. But sometimes (or maybe most of the time), that’s just what you need. If you come to Mariams, then we recommend you try a gatsby. They’re great! (Sorry about that, we couldn’t resist). What’s a gatsby you ask? Well, it’s one of Cape Town’s signature dishes. Basically, a giant sandwich stuffed with chips and the filling of your choice. It’s the perfect example of when the whole is somehow magically more than the separate parts!
When ordering at Mariams, we’d recommend the steak gatsby with braised onions. It seems like the best place to start your gatsby journey. Be warned, they’re enormous! The full steak gatsby with eggs includes four eggs! That should give you an idea of how big it is. Just a stone’s throw from the waterfront, it’s a great place to stop and recharge after a walk by the water. Or maybe get a takeaway and head down to the water to eat.
Biesmiellah Restaurant
Not far from Nelson Hotel and also pretty close to Mariams Kitchen ForeShore is Biesmiellah Restaurant, which has been a feature of the local food scene for years. The reason we’re recommending it is that it’s a great place to try bobotie, one of South Africa’s signature dish. Pronounced bo-boor-tea, bobotie is something like a cross between a curry and a moussaka. It’s a recipe that can be trace back as far as the Romans, but which took its particular form a lot more recently.
A mix of minced beef, spices, fruit, milk and eggs, bobotie is utterly delicious. Biesmiellah is one of our favourite places to eat it. Another local speciality to try is denningvleis, which, like bobotie, is a dish that originates in the Cape Malay community, the long-standing local Muslim population. It’s an incredibly tasty lamb stew, with a sweet and sour flavour, that’s served with rice. Try either and your stomach will definitely thank you.
Sundoo Sea Point
We mentioned bunny chow briefly earlier, and now is the time for it to star. Sundoo Sea Point is a South Indian restaurant, just minutes away from Queen’s Beach. You might be thinking another Indian restaurant in Cape Town. Well, yes, the city is full of them, but the dish we think you have to try here is one that’s very much South African. We don’t think you’d find anything like it in India!
Bunny chow is possibly one of humanity’s great inventions. Something that’s so simple, yet so right. It’s basically a load of white bread with the bread scooped out and then replaced with curry. So, essentially a bread-container stuffed with delicious curry! What’s not to like? Sundoo serves fantastic bunny chows as part of their lunch menu and also offers a selection of mini bunny chows with various fillings. Our mouths are watering just thinking about them!
The Pot Luck Club
We started off upmarket and then we’ve toured a few more homely restaurants that offer some of the city’s typical dishes. To finish, we’re heading back to somewhere a little more upscale. The kind of place you might go for that special lunch or maybe your last night in the city. The reason we’ve chosen The Pot Luck Club is its amazing seafood. It doesn’t hurt that it’s in a prime waterfront location or that it has incredible views of Table Mountain.
Cape Town is obviously a city where seafood is important and the Pot Luck is one of our favourite places to eat it. The Fish Sliders with Miso Mayo are genuinely to die for. And the Linefish Taco will bring you right back to life! The tuna and the squid are also fabulous. To be honest, it’s all amazing. If you’re in the mood for something a bit meatier, then we recommend the Pork Penang Belly, further evidence of the deep Asian influence on cape Town’s cuisine.
That's just the start!
We’ve picked six places to eat here where we’re sure you’re going to have unbeatable culinary experiences and eat the kind of food that you’ll still be able to savour many years later. Cape Town has so, so many great eating places though. We could write this post again in a week and feature six completely different restaurants. The best thing, as far as we’re concerned, is that they’re all reachable on one of our hop-on hop-off buses. An excellent plan is to have a delicious lunch and then sit back and let the bus take you up Table Mountain!
Frequently Asked Questions
Cape Town has a diverse culinary scene, but some of the traditional dishes include bobotie, a baked dish with spiced minced meat and an egg-based topping; samoosas, a pastry filled with spiced meat or vegetables; and boerewors, a type of sausage usually made from beef or lamb.
Cape Town has many great neighbourhoods for dining out, each with its own unique character and cuisine. Some of the best neighbourhoods for eating out in Cape Town include the City Bowl, which has a wide variety of restaurants and cafes; Woodstock, which has a thriving food scene with many trendy restaurants and bars; and Sea Point, which is known for its seafood restaurants and ocean views.
Cape Town has many great food markets where you can sample a variety of local and international cuisine. Some of the best food markets in Cape Town include the Neighbourgoods Market in Woodstock, the Oranjezicht City Farm Market, and the V&A Food Market at the V&A Waterfront.