Having a job that takes me places is super cool, so here I am on my 5th continent visited. I had no idea what to expect in terms of costs, people, food, or anything, since my decision to visit was a very spur of the moment thing. Being the wannabe foodie that I am, I was super curious to go cafe hunting – restaurants not so much. Since I have a goal to save money, I was more interested in the mid-range food bracket than high end. Turns out there are some tasty places here!
First thing’s first – Table Mountain!
It’s an amazing view and you can see the mountains from pretty much anywhere. It’s especially pretty when clouds form and you see these white wispy sheets spilling over the top of the mountain. The British/European influence is strong in the city, though how the flat white ended up being so common is something I haven’t found out yet.
Coffee wasn’t actually at the top of my priority list, mainly because we were recommended not to go out and about by ourselves. Even though it’s probably the most developed city in South Africa, it’s still quite dangerous – after sunset the beggars and dealers come out. An interesting sight in itself. Instead, it was time for squirrels!
It turns out these squirrels aren’t afraid of humans – the ones in London were more timid. These ones run right up to you looking for food – in fact they get really close and I think they thought my camera had food! Even though I was silly and forgot to adjust my shutter speed I still managed to get some nice shots.
And we can’t forget about the ducks! Those ducklings were adorable!
Our first day there involved exploring a place called V&A Waterfront, a touristy place but was definitely a good place to start. I found a coffee stall there that I liked a lot, and at the docks there was this cute little sailboat. I also managed to buy some tea so that I can stay a hermit and drink tea in an effort to save money, so we’ll see how that goes.
I can also confirm that the pigeons and seagulls look the same as those in Australia! The crows here sound more like the ones in Japan though.
And now, coffee time! Flat Mountain Coffee Roasters is one that is near work, and actually has a really nice roast. I’ve found that a lot of the roasters here roast the beans much darker than Australia, so getting used to it takes some time. The decor here is lovely and reminds me of home. Since this is the only cafe within walking distance of either walk or home that I like so far, I’ve been taking my time to chat with the barista and learn more about Cape Town – so that I have more places to explore later!
A cafe that stocks Monocle! Super hipster, especially when you see the bikes mounted on the walls at the back of the cafe. The issues here are more expensive than Australia, so I decided not to get a copy to pass time with – I have books and drawing for that!
A few other cafes I’ve been to include: Deluxe CoffeeWorks, Bean There Coffee Roastery, The Eye, but I’m still not a 100% fan of coffee here. From chatting to my temporary barista, he mentioned that people in Cape Town are still drinking milk coffees and haven’t quite moved onto espressos and filters yet.
I managed to find a tapas place called Chalk and Cork which served some pretty amazing stuff – a cured salmon ceviche, some sirlion with creamed spinach, and a creme catalan with figs. There was plenty more on the menu but the place is really expensive (relative to other places) even though it was still cheaper than if I paid for the same items in Sydney.
An open steak sandwhich from a cafe called Lola’s. This was so tasty! They really seem to love sirlion here. This is an awesome cafe, and I had their tuna nicoise salad the other day as well which was brilliant. I have to convince myself that it’s worthwhile forgoing the free hotel buffet breakfast to get more tasty stuff. It’s difficult since a lot of places open and close at the same time that work starts and ends. There’s a bakery called Jason that I need to visit more as well.
So far I’ve done a fair bit of exploring as well as being a hermit, and there’s still more to do!
So to end the post here is a picture of Eden on the Bay, with Table Mountain in the distance.