My Black Book.

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…

1. First morning coffee: Deluxe Coffeeworks
2. Coffee & croissant: Jason (ex-Jardine Bakery)
3. Hangover breakfast: Sidewalk Cafe
4. Classy breakfast: Table Thirteen
5. Brunch: Bistro 1682
6. Saturday morning beer: Neighbourgoods Market
7. Healthy lunch: Cookshop
8. Lunch and the paper: Mozzarella Bar
9. Quick sandwich: Jason (ex-Jardine Bakery)
10. Unfussy lunch with a mate: Mano’s
11. Classy lunch with a mate: Dear Me
12. Power lunch: Caveau
13. Long boozy lunch: The Foodbarn
14. Very low-key lunch: Dias Tavern
15. Hipster lunch: Superette*
16. Sunday lunch: Woodlands Eatery
17. Winelands lunch: Bar Bar Black Sheep
18. Early afternoon espresso: The Power & The Glory
19. Drinks by the pool: Sandy B’s
20. Early afternoon beer: &UNION
21. Vegetarian meal: Masala Dosa
22. Second best vegetarian: Lola’s
23. After work drinks: &UNION
24. Martini’s: Planet Bar
25. Rooftop bar: The Grand Daddy
26. Dinner with a mate: Hudsons
27. Dinner with the family: Massimo’s
28. Dinner with a view: The Roundhouse
29. Romantic dinner: Kitima
30. Tapas dinner: La Boheme
31. Business dinner: Bizerca
32. Gourmet experience dinner: Test Kitchen
33. Low-key dinner: Nonna Lina
34. Zen dinner: Kyoto Garden Sushi
35. Tequila-fueled dinner: El Burro
36. Classy nightcap: Fatback Soul
37. Messy nightcap: Black Ram
38. 4am on brandy: The Shack
39. 4am on cocktails: Julep
40. 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

Superette.

Superette is very much part of the ‘cool Cape Town’ scene. It’s partly the crowd, a mix of bohemian and hipster folk not short on style or scared to create their own. Plenty of cardigans, beards, stripey tops and enough Wayfarers for a Ray Ban advert. Plenty of pretty girls too (even the chef is pretty here). If you’ve got a style blog, come here for inspiration. It’s also definitely the effortlessly cool design of the place, complete with mismatched tables, bench seating and neutral colour scheme punctuated with canary yellow. It’s also location, location, location, in this case smack in the middle of shabby chic Woodstock, aka creative central. And finally, it’s the knowledge that Superette is owned by Cameron Munro and Justin Rhodes, the talented duo behind the Neighbourgoods Market at the Old Biscuit Mill and the What If The World gallery. Yes, more ‘cool Cape Town’ you’d be hard-pressed to find.

During the day, bright sunlight streams in through large windows that look out onto busy Albert Road and its noisy taxis. A small kitchen pants to keep up with orders, working hard to get you your gourmet sandwich, salad or soup. The menu is very rustic country; things like the All Day Breakfast sandwich and the Pork Belly with Caramalised Onions & Apple are favourites, the latter being one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in Cape Town. In fact, it’s one of the best sandwiches I’ve had, ever. When you’re finished it you just want to go home and get into bed, because you know the day won’t get any better. A solid looking machine pumps out good coffee, roasted by Deluxe, another very ‘cool Cape Town’ spot, and you can also get refreshment via some Brewers & Union beers out the help-yourself retro fridge in the corner. I can think of far worse places to come for breakfast or lunch.

They also do a supper club, usually twice a month. This has run around various themes: I missed the Lagosta lobster one (upsetting!) but made it to the vegetarian one and subsequently a night of Spag Bol after a recent art opening (the What If The World Gallery is upstairs). The spaghetti bolognese was superb, but being a raging carnivore the vegetarian night was a challenge. I survived the quinoa unscathed with much help from red wine and a bottle of grappa. It was pure chance/luck/misfortune/evil that Cameron happened to have that grappa on hand that night and decided to leave it on our table. Big mistake. Half an hour later we’d polished off most of it and I have vague memories of announcing my meat devotion to anyone that would listen and chasing the chef down the side alley as she made a rapid getaway in her car. Eish. Either way, it was a really fun night and luckily they’ve allowed me to return since.

If you’re heading out to Woodstock (antique furniture, anyone?) or the suburbs (why would you?) then Superette makes a great stopoff point for coffee or a bite. There supper club is an awesome vibe too and well worth keeping tabs on to see what’s next. This is rather easy to do through their blog, which is very cool and well-written itself. And yes, Superette oozes cool, but that’s what you get when people head overseas, soak up the best bits of food and culture and bring them back here. You also get one of the best neighbourhood cafés in Cape Town.

www.superette.co.za

Deluxe Coffeeworks.

The coffee revolution will not be televised. The coffee revolution will be dispensed into vintage-looking cups from stainless steel espresso machines by bearded hipster-looking guys wearing old school black-rimmed glasses. The coffee revolution will use beans sourced from sustainable growers in Ethiopia and Guatemala and other poor countries where it rains a lot. The coffee revolution will hand-roast in small batches using the experience gained from over ten years making great coffee.  The coffee revolution will be carried out to the masses in nondescript brown bags or takeaway cups, both with a small ‘D’ logo stamped on the side. The coffee revolution will also attract lovers of the finest coffee into their tiny shop on Church Street, where they can sit at the window, listen to rock music and watch the lesser-informed walk by while they sip a flat white that gets the hairs on their arm up. The coffee revolution will get the word out at random cyclist gatherings, Vesparado meetups and over drinks in city bars tucked away in small alleyways.

No, the coffee revolution will not be televised.

But you can join it anytime… just go to Deluxe Coffeeworks and get an espresso, flat white or whatever. Coffee that is revolutionary. Coffee so good it makes you wonder when coffee changed from a way to take in caffeine to a way to get momentarily high.

Deluxe Coffeeworks.