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
Situated at the end of Short Street, that short er, street across from The Royal Hotel in Riebeek Kasteel that has a few cute shops, a wine store and hosts a market every few Saturdays, Bar Bar Black Sheep is a rather ridiculous restaurant. Firstly, it’s ridiculously quaint. Assorted wooden tables and chairs. A leafy courtyard. Quirky old Scope magazine covers in the bathroom. Kitch wall art. A rather cosmopolitan crowd that seems to frequent it. The odd neighbourhood dog that wanders in. And an old railroad board on the wall with food quotes scribbled in chalk. The top one yesterday read: “I love you like a fat kid loves cake.” Perhaps the first restaurant to quote rapper 50 Cent on food?
Secondly, it’s got some ridiculously good wines on the list, almost entirely regionally loyal to the Swartland. Aprilskloof Red Red 2006 at R80 per bottle may just be the best ‘house wine’ I’ve had in recent memory. House wine? This stuff puts the big-talking, Ferrari-driving Stellenbosch set to shame. Local is lekker here, and though there are some bargains, the list also includes the big hitters: Chris Mullineux’s wine is there, as is Eben Sadie’s and Adi Badenhorst’s. Tempting options all round really, so why bother buying anything from outside the area? Makes sense to me. We also smashed a bottle of the Lammershoek Roulette Blanc 2008, a firm, steely white blend of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier that has great acidity.
Then of course, the food. It’s ridiculous. Ridiculously tasty, well-cooked and cleverly put together. Creative yet not overly constructed, it is cuisine that belies the casual nature of the place. How about vine-leaf wrapped sardines stuffed with garlic, olive and chili. Or a nice cold gazpacho, served as a terrine. Or chorizo sauteed with red wine and onion. Or marinated octopus tentacles. Or how about cacciatore made from rabbit, lamb loin and pork belly. It was hard to choose so we had it all. You can’t really go wrong here, which is hmmm, how shall we say… yes, rather ridiculous.
I’ve had some pretty creative food here over the years. And the chef is not shy to use offal, something I think is applaudable. True, this isn’t light food that you could eat often, but this isn’t the kind of place most people get to often. So it works. The service is also keen and efficient, with some small glitches that are easily forgivable. Like yesterday, when our waiter’s cellphone rang while he opened our wine. But with a rather cool West-African sounding song as a ring tone, it didn’t spoil the vibe at all.
Overall though, perhaps most ridiculous is that Bar Bar Black Sheep isn’t better recognized as a top restaurant. Maybe because it is so casual. Or because it’s tucked away in Riebeek Kasteel, though the town is certainly not the sleepy country spot it once was. Either way, you’d think word would be out about this place as a top winelands restaurant. You’d think they’d be booked every day through summer. You’d think pictures of the chef would be on magazine covers. But it isn’t, they aren’t and the chef hasn’t graced any cover. Though if you’ve sat in the courtyard after a terrific Sunday lunch and enjoyed a good espresso with a grappa, it’s not really anything to complain about. At least you already know about it.
www.bbbs.co.za
‘Shunting’ is a railroad term for when the train changes from one track to another, and this little spot certainly shunted my perception of the sleepy town of Botrivier. I’d been there a few times to visit Beaumont wines (always a worthwhile visit) and had passed through several more, but nothing had caught my eye. The town is sleepy. Like no-traffic-lights-yet sleepy. Then I heard about this place that serves good pizza. I think I read about it on JP Rossouw’s site a while back. Anyways, some friends decided to move onto a small farm nearby and it provided opportunity to visit The Shunting Shed.
The restaurant is a large tin shed that is furnished with old railway seats and tables and fitted out with some quirky accessories. There’s the pizza oven in the corner, a decent little bar with a Birkenhead tap and a TV playing sport. And a deck outside. The menu is simple, focused around the pizza’s. A wine blackboard lists some local wines, quite reasonably priced. The patrons seemed a mix of a few locals, visitors en route to Hermanus and tourists from further afar. But I get the sense that if you come here during a rugby match, the place will be packed with local farmers and other regulars. The vibe is warm here. It also has that we-could-get-really-drunk-here-and-meet-some-interesting-people feeling. I really enjoy places like that. In fact, The Shunting Shed is one of those rare places where almost anyone would feel at home. The stiff, red-trousered English tourist. The big denim- and leather-clad overland biker. The rough-skinned local farmer. The Cape Town hippie on a weekend jaunt. The family in need of an easy lunch to break a daytrip. All would enjoy this place.
We ate pizza, served on terracotta floor tiles with Spoornet branded plates on the side. The special was a rib pizza, which was delicious. All the pizza’s were good, served on thin bases and without too many toppings, something commendable. They could have been a touch crispier, but overall were very tasty. Considering the small, country town location, they were excellent. Sadly they were out of the Feiteiras Cabernet Sauvignon we wished to try, but the Birkenhead’s went down smoothly.
We toyed with the idea of staying and drinking for another two hours after lunch to see what happened at 5pm when the rugby came on. Would it get filled with local farmers that drink Olof Bergh and sit at the bar with a thousand-mile stare? Maybe. But we’ll have to wait till next time to see.
The Shunting Shed. 028 284 9443.
I just marinaded some rump steak in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Worcester sauce, lemon juice and with a bit of salt and pepper. Just cut the vacuum-seal bag open, added these ingredients, and closed the bag tightly around the steak so it’s well covered with marinade. Then just popped it in the fridge. In 6 hours time, I’ll take it out to get to room temperature, sear it over a sizzling hot fire for a few minutes each side, then off for a few minutes to rest, then slice it evenly and spread on a platter topped with some Parmesan shavings and rocket… olive oil, salt & pepper - it’s going to be a beauty!
That’s how easy it is to make a good steak at home. All in all, about three minutes to make, ten minutes (tops) to cook and another two to dress. 15 minutes!! So simple. It’s amazing people bother with any other rub, sauce, marinade or anything else. I would normally use fillet. Good fillet, marinaded overnight then seared medium-rare and served at room-temp (or cold) topped with Parmesan and rocket, is amazing. It’s a dish called Tagliata, one that I first encountered as a barman ten years ago at Constantia Uitsig restaurant. No not ‘tagliatelle,’ the pasta. Tagliata. La Perla do a shitty version. Il Leone does a good one. But now, you can do one at home. Enough said.
Nook eatery is cool. I was heading to another deli in Stellenbosch when I parked outside it by chance. It was the blackboard on the pavement with ‘home baked croissants’ that got my eye. Then the simple, neutral tones inside. And I had surfboards on my car, so thought maybe best to be in eye contact. Either way, I’m really glad I stopped in. Nook Eatery is a cool spot. How cool? Like Scandanavian design cool. Monocle magazine cool. Persol cool. That cool. The place get’s it all right: a great breakfast selection, including blueberry flapjacks and homemade granola; superb coffee and a decent lunch buffet with the coup de grâce, homemade chicken pies. Ooh, you shouldn’t have.
But forget all that for a moment. Just the fact that the first three songs I heard when I sat down were from the Juno soundtrack, Kings of Convenience and Death Cab for Cutie made this place. Then the well-made flat white. Then there were the perfectly cooked scrambled eggs. So many places cook scrambled eggs so hard you could drop-kick them out the door. Ugh! Nook gets it perfect – and the bacon crisped just right.
Quirky art, a selection of magazines, old farmhouse memorabilia, booth seating, blah, blah, blah… Okay, the crowd is typical Stellenbosch mixed: a few old farmer types, some perky students and some overdressed housewives. This isn’t Jardine Bakery, folks. No wayfarers around here. Or skinny jeans. But I suspect it might change. A place this cool can only go unnoticed for so long.
Nook Eatery. www.nookeatery.co.za
I recently decided, after a long day (I woke up at 5am because of vinsomnia: difficulty sleeping through too much wine) and a good bit of exercise, to lastminute pop into &UNION for a quick prego and a beer for dinner. If you haven’t had a prego roll from them, you should. I could leave it there, but it’s worth going on. On the Official Portuguese Prego Rating Scale of 1 – 10 their prego rates somewhere between 10 and ‘fucking delicious.’ The beef option is lighter than the pork (the pork one literally squirts fatty juice out, sometimes on your white shirt, but nevertheless I reckon it’s a good thing), but both are exceptional. It comes on ciabatta instead of the Portuguese ‘puffy roll,’ and the meat sits on top layers of Black Forest Ham with some greens and chili sauce on the side, best when added all together. I’ve had prego’s from Mano’s, Diaz Tavern and Chippies (get your passport, they’re in Rondebosch or Observatory) and others, but this one is the finest. I think of the prego as like a European burger, something meaty to tuck into that fills the spot and isn’t too cerebral to get your head around. Meat, roll, sauce: check. Okay, destroy it!
And if you’re going to that, you might as well do it with a beer that cuts the fat and quenches the thirst at the same time. The Steph Weiss does all this. Fruity and fresh, light yet full-flavoured, with some good yeasty character, it slaps the tastebuds awake and into gear. It’s perfect with a prego for dinner. It’s also a great beer to sneak in with lunch. Or to enjoy in the evening. I’d even crack one at 11am. But only on weekends. Or holidays. Or Mondays.
www.andunion.com
There are times when you really feel like a great steak. And then there are times when you don’t: when you’re asleep; when you’ve just had a great steak; when you’re ill or when you’re doing a ‘vegetarian day’ to impress a girl. But otherwise, a great steak is ALWAYS appreciated. Anyone that tells you otherwise isn’t a real friend and is probably only pretending so they can get at your sister/girlfriend/mom. One time you certainly will want a steak is when you’ve had too many Corona‘s in the sun at your friends’ engagement drinks at The Grand Beach and followed this with a couple bottles of Rosé and now you’re really hungry and it’s almost ten o’clock on a Sunday and you realise you’re actually more than hungry – you’ve got the craving. So it was at this point someone suggested The Hussar in Greenpoint, and off we went. Rather quickly, after paying R500 for 8 shots of Patron Tequila, which I thought were a good idea at the time. Damn my parents for that Hedonism gene they gave me.
The Hussar is legendary in Cape Town. There are three of them (Rondebosch, Greenpoint & Camps Bay) and despite a bit of negative publicity last year about their Wild Boar Ribs just being regular pig ribs, the Hussar is still much-loved. Why? The place looks like a steakhouse should, with shelves of wine bottles, faded black & white photographs of butchers with their meat and of previous proprietors, plenty of stained wood and of course, tables set with steak knives so big and sharp they could make chainsaws extinct. They also have large goblets to gulp down bottles of red wine in. And this is good, because you can bring your own wine here – at NO COST. Yup, they don’t charge corkage at The Hussar, which is somewhat counter-intuitive since most restaurants make their money here, but hey, nobody is complaining. We didn’t have wine on us, so drank some Zandvliet Shiraz which is exceptionally tasty and smooth, though needed ten minutes in the ice bucket to cool a bit.
The Hussar also – and this bit is rather important – serves rather good steaks. Their Fillet Bernaise is tender, flavourful (for fillet) and they cook it to perfection (medium rare comes medium rare!) which so many other places get wrong. Their Chateaubriand is also recommended. As is the Hollandse Beefstuk. Though a plain sirloin with sauce on the side doesn’t nearly match up to HQ (I tried this once just to compare). However, their Spare Ribs are a wonderful, finger-licking mess of tasty charred barbecue pork ribs that you really should try. Go for the 800g option, since there are bones in there after all.Only once I’d turned the lovely white napkin into a brown and black smeared war blanket, I discovered there were warm moist hand towels available. Typical.
It was rather quiet on a Sunday night, but service was spot on and we didn’t have to wait long for anything. And we got parking right outside the front door, which is both good (you don’t have to walk far) and bad (struggling to get into your car after eating so much is embarrassing).
www.hussargrill.com
Okay, so the holiday roadtrip provided a few food highlights. These weren’t for long meals, but more like quick bites. Driving between Cape Town and Durban, and back, here are a quick four that made a lasting impression…
Windmill Roadhouse. Do you remember when you could pull outside the roadhouse in your ’57 Chevy and just order a burger, fries and a lime milkshake? Well, I certainly don’t. But I never grew up in California in the 60′s. Or East London, apparently, where you can still make use of this American-style concept TODAY! Yes, pull up outside this place, a waiter runs up to your car and drops you a menu before you’ve parked and within 15 minutes you’ve got your choice of burger, sandwich, wrap, pizza etc sitting on your lap and you’re ready to roll. And the burger is a good one. Awesome! Go out for dinner without getting out your car! Now you know why America has an obesity problem.
Windmill Roadhouse, East London.
Ile de Pain. Let’s not mess around. Ile de Pain is the best casual restaurant on the Garden Route. And they don’t even do dinner! There are other good restaurants, but nowhere matches the quality, attention to detail and passion of this place. Markus, the co-owner, exudes passion out his eyeballs. He even told us how he refers to complaints as “OFI’s – opportunities for improvement.” Hell. They are the best bakery in the country. They make the most killer coffees. Their breakfasts are legendary. And their location is serene. What more do you want? You’d actually feel comfortable wearing boat shoes and a stripey blue-and-white sailor t-shirt here. Nobody would notice because a) half the other patrons are wearing this yachting vibe and b) everyone is too busy stuffing their faces with scrambled eggs on campagna bread toast with smoked salmon and capers.
Ile de Pain, Knysna.
Knysna Oyster Co. Fresh oysters. A deck overlooking the Knysna lagoon. A bar that gets rowdy. Fresh oysters. Great beer on tap. What? How fresh are the oysters? They cultivate the oyster farms themselves! Hence the er, name. Shut up and go there! Now! Go!
Knysna Oyster Co., Knysna.
Spiga. A classic Italian trattoria with seating spilling out onto Florida Road in Durban. Good, but you’re not going to get something to cry about here, but everything is pretty tasty, and more importantly, they always seem to be open. Actually reminds me of the Mano’s vibe in Cape Town, since it’s also pretty social here. We had lunch there on a Sunday after driving two hours from Southbroom on the South Coast the day after a wedding where we drank pretty much until the sun came out. Wolfing down linguine puttanesca, I could swear I heard angels chanting in the clouds above…
Spiga, Durban.
For those that don’t travel out of Cape Town much, you should. As difficult as it is to leave this wonderful city, with everything it has going for it, sometimes the best weekends are those spent elsewhere. I know, you can get locked up for saying things like that about The Perfect City, but it really is great to “get away.” And if you’re getting away on the N2, you’re going to pass the Peregrine Farm Stall. It’s on your right just before you get to the Elgin turnoff. When you get there, keep driving. Don’t even look at it. Don’t even mention it. Because a short drive further on is the Houw Hoek Farm Stall, which is really worth stopping for. The Peregrine is really just the red herring. Not the pub, but as in the thing that distracts you from something else. The Red Herring pub isn’t anywhere near the N2 anyways. It’s in Noordhoek. Why even bring it up?
So aside from the farmstall, the Houw Hoek has a restaurant attached that serves reasonably decent roadfood (i.e. you wouldn’t really go there if it was in the city). But their actual farmstall is really impressive – well stocked with deli-type products (preserves, olive oils, nuts, etc) and with an adjacent wine shop that offers wines from the region. But there’s one thing you are stopping here for – their homemade pies and sausage rolls.
Okay, this really isn’t about the Houw Hoek Farm Stall at all. This is really an ode to the pies and sausage rolls they serve. I ate one of the sausage rolls this past weekend and when I finished the last bite I thought God might reach down and give my stomach a little rub himself. It was almost spiritual. It was THAT good. It was ridiculously good. Just silly. If every bite of food gave as much pleasure, we’d all be moaning uncontrollably in our restaurant seats before being restrained and carried away. I’ve also had a chicken pie and the chicken & mushroom pie here, which are almost as good, but the sausage roll takes first prize. And it doesn’t even have bacon in it!
How is this possible? Good mince, well spiced and fresh – that’s how. They make them daily and they sell them out. There are enough hungry roadtrippers buzzing past to clean their pie rack out several times a day, well, on weekends for certain. There really is nothing like a good pie when you’re driving. The crumbs sticking to your face and spilling all over your legs as you manoeuvre the pie out the packet to your mouth. And when you’re done you just hurl the packet out the window. Whoa! Okay, never do that! Firstly, you’re littering. Secondly, if you’ve left any pie residue in the packet, it could land on someones windscreen and cause a serious traffic accident. Death by chicken & mushroom pie! Do you want that responsibility? Me neither. Eat responsibly, people.
www.houwhoekfarmstall.co.za
This place is brilliant. Run by no-nonsense husband and wife team of Jacqi and Stefan Kruger, out of their little house in Pringle Bay, Hook, Line & Sinker serves the most perfect battered fish and crispy chips for lunch Tuesday through Saturday. And when I say no-nonsense, I mean it. Ask Stephan if “it’s any good” and he’ll respond with a polite “fuck off!” Seriously. He’s also the size of a Super 14 prop-forward with hands so big his fingers look like pork sausage – you really don’t want to argue with him.
For dinners and Sunday lunch they cook a selection of fresh seafood. You can order from the blackboard or just ask them to prepare a platter – highly recommended. Sunday dinner is a steak and prawn affair. You don’t come here for the scene (plenty of lycra tracksuit tops up in this house) or the decor (scribblings on the walls). But the fish & chips served on newspaper for lunch is something special. It is possibly the best in the world. Yes, in the whole world. They use palm oil, which is supposedly better for you cholesterol-wise, but you wouldn’t believe it based on how tasty it is.
This dish is the kind of thing that gourmet chefs can’t beat with fancy recipes that involve reductions and the like. It’s the hamburger of the seafood world. It always satisfies. It’s just freaking fantastic. Eat it with a cider from Birkenhead* and it’s even more amazing. And it makes a nice daytrip – just remember to book, especially if you’re going on weekends.
www.hooklineandsinker.co.za
* – Birkenhead badly need a packaging consultant. Their cider is called Troop Ship Cider and on the front of their poorly-designed label, it reads: “Women and Children First.” This is fine for abandoning a ship, but this is an alcoholic beverage here. Maybe they mean “women and children get drunk first, then the men,” which is kind of truthful…
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.
