Who is the Foodie? It doesn’t really matter. Bacon is god. Wine cures anything. If you believe those two facts, then we’re going to get on fine. This means you have discovered the power of food to make life better. This knowledge is imperative to the art of living well.My Black Book.
Posted in Eats, Libations, Side orders on 10. May, 2011
I get asked the ‘where to go for what’ question a helluva lot. Regular text messages like: “Restaurant recommendation please, bud. First date, somewhere cosy. Oh, drinks after? Thanks.” Phone calls where I end up discussing the merits of how important atmosphere is versus food. Emails from people saying they’re going to Paris and want to know where to eat. It’s cool to help out, and people generally seem happy with my suggestions.
Anyways, these days, you don’t need a black book, you just need a smartphone and The Google Machine. But I thought it’d be fun to throw down four or five spots I recommend a lot and for what. I ended up throwing down a few more. So here they are, 40 rather useful places to know about. Yes, there’s a lot that would overlap and plenty more to add, but this is just how I first thought of them…
- First morning coffee: Deluxe Coffeeworks
- Coffee & croissant: Jason (ex-Jardine Bakery)
- Hangover breakfast: Sidewalk Cafe
- Classy breakfast: Table Thirteen
- Brunch: Bistro 1682
- Saturday morning beer: Neighbourgoods Market
- Healthy lunch: Cookshop
- Lunch and the paper: Mozzarella Bar
- Quick sandwich: Jason (ex-Jardine Bakery)
- Unfussy lunch with a mate: Mano’s
- Classy lunch with a mate: Dear Me
- Power lunch: Caveau
- Long boozy lunch: The Foodbarn
- Very low-key lunch: Dias Tavern
- Hipster lunch: Superette*
- Sunday lunch: Woodlands Eatery
- Winelands lunch: Bar Bar Black Sheep
- Early afternoon espresso: The Power & The Glory
- Drinks by the pool: Sandy B’s
- Early afternoon beer: &UNION
- Vegetarian meal: Masala Dosa
- Second best vegetarian: Lola’s
- After work drinks: &UNION
- Martini’s: Planet Bar
- Rooftop bar: The Grand Daddy
- Dinner with a mate: Hudsons
- Dinner with the family: Massimo’s
- Dinner with a view: The Roundhouse
- Romantic dinner: Kitima
- Tapas dinner: La Boheme
- Business dinner: Bizerca
- Gourmet experience dinner: Test Kitchen
- Low-key dinner: Nonna Lina
- Zen dinner: Kyoto Garden Sushi
- Tequila-fueled dinner: El Burro
- Classy nightcap: Fatback Soul
- Messy nightcap: Black Ram
- 4am on brandy: The Shack
- 4am on cocktails: Julep
- 5am toasted chicken mayo: Restaurant L’Orange aka Engen
Feel free to add your own suggestions as comments…
* okay, so there’s more to the Superette crowd than hipsters
Perhaps “Yours Truly” for early an early morning coffee?
Great post! Rumour has it owner/chef at Bizerca is leaving… will be a sad day.
Nice post David. Can Bern please check his facts before releasing his gobbet of gossip on the rest of us. Laurent Deslandes is not leaving Bizerca, repeat, not leaving Bizerca.
Dear all we love Cape Town so much we will never leave !!! Yes Laurent is doing some consulting in Johannesburg but will be at the restaurant 90% of his time!! Just to settle another rumor yes we only open from Monday to Friday as we would like to spend time with our boys , and not for financial reasons!! Regards CY
Best obscure hole-in-the-wall with great wedges and mayo? Roxy’s on Dunkley!
Best Pimms ‘c clock? Hemelhvijs.
Best carrot cake? Please let me know where it’s at when you find it!
Great post
They say Charleys Bakery
Best carrot cake – The Kitchen in Woodstock!!
Hand down Cookshop has the best carrot cake.
Best Carrot Cake (in the world) definitely at La Petite Tarte (in road between old Cape Quarter & new Cape Quarter – Green Point, Cape Town.
Interesting. Agree on the croissant (apart from heading to Knysna for ile de pain). On beer, I think it should be enjoyed more than on Saturday mornings and in the afternoon. What about Den Anker? BTW, cool offer from CityMob today with Cape Town Tourism re: Belgian beer tasting + tapas for two. Pretty damn good view too.
Perfect thanks!
Tequila-fueled dinner: have you been in San Julian, They’re the best!
Brilliant!!
I am in love with this post! *click to favourite bookmarks, SAVE as!
thankyouthankyou
Great post!
Awesome post thanks! What would you all suggest for Chinese visitors, one who eats meat including dog
and one who is a total vegetarian? They’ll be in Cape Town for one night.
Really nice post. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this instead of working
Now I’m hungry…
a healthy lunch – Organic at Heart
Donno about carrot cake, but THE BEST EVER chocolate cake in town is at quaint Cafe Puka in Tamboerskloof (cnr Brunswick & Tamboerskloof Rd. A statement I will die for
great list! love it. one thing i don’t get though is mano’s? what is the appeal?
Mano’s is great for simplicity. That’s it. Chicken kebabs and chips. Or a simple schnitzel. Not great food, but always reliably satisfying.
A Wednesday night dinner treat at Hemelhuijs and pasta and a movie at Societi on Monday and Tuesday nights
Love this! It also highlights how very un-awesome I am because I haven’t visited many of your favourite haunts. Thank you for making the effort.
&Union for afterwork drinks and Woodlands Eatery for a Sunday lunch. That’s exactly what I would have said.I do have one question. Where’s the rec for Best Burger Joint? Royale?
i’m going to go with Hudsons on this one. I love some of the burgers at Royale, but across the board, Hudson’s wins. but hey, burgers are so subjective…
Think Haiku and il leone should be on your list somewhere. Consistently great food and best tuna carpaccio in CT at the latter.
Love this list! Agree – some of my favourite places – though it’s hard to just pick on per category! What about a great steak spot? HQ/Carne.
Such a great list. A few of my favourite places in there