I don’t feel that I did too much over the last couple of weeks – it was a lot of rewatching Person of Interest and thinking up more characters for my amazing world. I also found out that there’s a thing out there called technological singularity, and it’s scarily close to what I was doing for my cyberpunk story, at which point I discovered that I really should read Neuromancer by William Gibson because it sounds amazing!

In food news, I had my first shakshuka at Origin Artisan Roasters – it wasn’t as salty as I had imagined it, but it had a lot of flavour so I really liked it and felt it was a healthy dish:

There was a visit to Camps Bay, a beachside with some very crazy winds. A group of us spent way too much money on tapas, and I was running to the beach every 10 minutes to capture the waves and the sunset. What made the waves particularly interesting was the fact that the wind was so strong and blew towards the sea, that the waves would be splattered with sand particles, making for some cool pictures, so here’s some wave spam, courtesy of me discovering the continuous shooting function on my camera:

I also discovered the colourful area of Bo-Kaap and its bright, bold and even pastel coloured houses:

 
 I remember when I first came to Cape Town, there were a lot of sushi places, but I didn’t hold them in high regard – even some that were run by Japanese people. I then finally came across a few that were indeed Japanese, and didn’t have massive pieces of nigiri and actually looked nice. Food for me is all about aesthetics as well as taste afterall, so I was super happy when I came across Izakaya Matusri.

It had a cute little setup, and I managed to spot some nice soft shell crab which was quite costly relative to everything else on the menu, but was worth it!

Finally, a place that served bite sized pieces of sushi! This made me super happy, and all the white fish I’ve had here has been fairly tasty. I still miss Sydney and Japan’s sushi like crazy, but this made do for now.

In terms of fine dining, I managed to find a few places in lieu of The Test Kitchen (I’m still crying over the fact that I missed out on booking a table – I found out too late that it’s a San Pellegrino Top 50 restaurant but then decided to employ my snobbishness of having visited Dinner by Heston at #5 on the list) – places like Bizerca, Fork, and Borage Bistro. Bizerca was a really nice place with prompt service, Fork passed my magical refilling water service test, and Borage’s chef worked under Heston.

  

Tuna tartare, pork belly, sticky date pudding – Fork

I had my eye on this place since my early days in Cape Town, but I wanted to avoid if if possible because it’s situated on a main street, and I’m too hipster for that. I found it weird that they always served their food in portions of four, but in terms of flavour, it was all very nice!

Seared tuna and tuna tartare, beef tartare – Bizerca Bistro

I only had one issue with Bizerca, and that was their presentation of their beef tartare. Sure it’s chopped steak with spices, but I felt that this was presented like an uncooked burger rather than a dish that is intended to be eaten raw. It was very nicely flavoured though! This visit was when I realised I do eat a lot of raw things…

 And here’s Borage Bistro, where I managed to get pictures of every dish I ordered:

Beef tartare – parsley, quail egg yolk, gherkins, onion, croute

This beef tartare had a much nicer presentation than Bizerca. I still miss my little sculptured blobs with spices trailing out from the centre and mustard condiments on the side, but hey, this was pretty decent!

Chicken Livers and Foie Gras Parfait – “Gluehwein” gel, sourdough

This parfait had a lovely flavour to it, and I love the garnish of figs and what tasted like a red wine gel. I guess I’ve eaten so many nice things at nice places, this was very nice, but I’ve had better – but that just makes me sound like a snob. I guess I am one, but every now and again I feel bad for being so judgemental.

Duck – pomme dauphine, brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, spiced duck sauce

 I love duck, and haven’t consumed any recently, so this was my perfect chance since I’d eaten a decent amount of game here. The legs were nicely cooked, though the second piece was either a little overcooked, or I was getting very full with the two entrees I’d already eaten. I was also glad to finally eat brussels sprouts, since I hadn’t had it for at least a decade.

Sticky Toffee Pudding – homemade vanilla ice cream, honeycomb

They seem to call these sticky toffee puddings here, though I’m sure they’re sticky date puddings. Quite delicious indeed! If I may be snobby yet again, I would have liked the ice cream a bit smoother, as it broke off in chunks. Yep, I’m so judgemental with my food here. But overall, it was certainly a lovely place to dine – the others I took here definitely enjoyed the meal!

I discovered one more cafe recently, a place called Loading Bay, right next to Origin Artisan Roasters. The most hipster and trendy place I’ve found yet – a cafe, clothing store and the only stockist of Aesop in South Africa!

They use Microlab roasters, and have a very nice espresso. I love the lights and the plants! It’s also considerably less busy than Origin, so I’ve taken a liking to this place – they also do burgers and have kombucha on tap.

And finally the end of this post. With a Hot Cross Bomb  from Jason’s Bakery – hot cross bun with bacon, cheese and egg! A sweet and savoury special easter breakfast.

My other bonus today was a savoury and a sweet bunny chow in a single day! Above – lamb curry bunny chow in brioche from Jason’s Bakery, and below – banana bread bunny chow with chocolate sauce and ice cream from Honest Chocolate. I love special holidays!