The Wonderful Delights of Cape Town Cuisine

Ah, yes, after being on a bit of a hiatus due to the masses of newly acquired school work I had to attend to, I, Alex, am ready to blog once more and this time on perhaps one of the best things about living in Cape Town, the food. It’s so wonderful, in fact, that I’m not even quite sure where to begin. I suppose I should start with one of our most frequented facilities, the infamous Pancho’s. In case you all forgot from our previous blog posts, Pancho’s is a Mexican restaurant just a walk down the street from us that serves some of the best shredded beef tostadas and lemon margaritas around. We enjoy it so much in fact that we treat ourselves to the fried and salty goodness every Monday night, along with over 10 of our closest friends. The picture below hopefully gives a fair representation of one of the many delectable dishes on the menu.



Oh, and then there’s a great little eatery just a block past Panchos called Café Ganesh that is perhaps one of the cutest mixtures of hodge-podge chairs, decorations, and people around. I would highly suggest the eggplant parmesan or perhaps the five-curry roti (both pictured below)!





It most certainly would not be a complete food blog without the mention of The 1890 House, apparently and rightfully known as one of the best sushi joints in Cape Town, it is conveniently located right next door to Café Ganesh. I immediately fell in love with the seared Ahi tuna roses, and Kristine, raves about the sashimi and nigiri. Even the non-fish lover Callie has found something to her liking on the menu, Kung Pao chicken. In addition to the fantastic food, the atmosphere is just as enjoyable. It’s clear that the sushi preparers have fun with their jobs and their creativity is reflected in the beauty of their dishes. Then again, with the ingredients they have to work with (fish FRESH from the ocean) it would probably be pretty difficult to make anything unappetizing.

Then, there’s Crespella, a three-tabled restaurant where each and every pancake (crepe) is prepared fresh and lovingly by the owner, one at a time. Because of this seemingly painstaking process of specially preparing each crepe, you may be salivating for a while before it’s finally your turn to dig into the savory or sweet gooyness. Trust me though; it’s well worth the wait, particularly if you happen to be ordering my personal favorite, banana and nutella.

Last up on the cuisine tour of Observatory is Queen of Tarts, located just across the street from Crespella. Upon entering this restaurant and bakery combo, one is greeted by an assortment of antique kitchen supplies lining the walls, a steel blue and white color pattern, mounds of tarts and cakes ready for the eating and a menu that is to die for. I cannot remember eating a better salad in my life than the. grilled aubergine, pesto, feta, red pepper, fresh tomato salad. It comes out as a mound of perfectly prepared freshness that I have yet to see competition for anywhere else. While all of the restaurants listed above are friendly to your wallet, Queen of Tarts is perhaps the best visual of how eating in Cape Town can be described as eating gourmet on a McDonald’s budget. My dream salad and fresh squeezed lemonade comes in under 10$, and the hand-made tarts I spoke of are under $3, the perfectly frosted cupcakes, under $2. While the exchange rate of 1 U.S dollar to almost 7.5 Rand does play in our favor, I believe credit must also be given to the local restaurants charging fair prices for their menu all the while making it an absolute pleasure to the taste-buds.

Oh, and as promised, the picture from Old Biscuit Mill of one of thee most amazing sandwiches I have ever consumed. It consisted of rare rump, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion marmalade and the perfect dash of salt and pepper. Heaven on a bun.

(More pictures of each of the mentioned cuisines to come later!) Tune in later this week for an entry from Kristine about some of our volunteer experiences in the Townships.

Met liefde van Afrika,
Alex