It’s almost time to return home, and I feel that I have eaten through Cape Town with a valiant effort. I finally found some mindblowing places – the first being Hemelhuijs. It’s a weird name that I can barely pronounce, but I had noticed a crowd around the place during my explorations, so I decided to pop in for a visit. The decor is visibly posh, and even has a cute little deer head with leaves sprouting from its head as a piece of wall decoration. The other thing I noticed straight away was the black salt in petri dishes at every table.

I decided to order a flat white, having no expectations of their coffee, which was a good thing… it tasted like coffee, but nothing delicious or super fantastic about it. How it was served, on the other hand, was quite interesting indeed. This came in a handmade ceramic mug that was lined with gold, and there was no saucer. Instead it was placed on a serviette, with a spoon on the side, and was accompanied with sugar cubes in yet another petri dish.

It was super fancy and classy, and would impress most people – but here I was, being the snobbish fake hipster that I am, judging all of these elements and then sadly sipping away at my average coffee.

I ordered a potato rosti and was offered a side of smoked trout, which I accepted. It turns out the side of trout cost more than half of the cost of the dish itself! The breakfast was already seasoned as well, so I wasn’t actually able to use the salt, which was a shame. The waitress came back with a pepper grinder when I was halfway into my food, which I thought was a little silly. This post sounds a little harsh, but hey, I’m allowed to judge when a cafe decides to be as opulent as this.

Afterwards, decided to do some exploring by myself again – I counted about 73 different cafes and restaurants visited during my stay, which I’m hoping is an impressive feat, however I don’t really have anyone else’s experiences to compare with, since I assume everyone else stayed in their hotel rooms or visited the same places over and over again. I too had several revisits to some places, but I have a feeling I have a better feel for the food here.

As part of my exploration, I managed to witness some people waving guns about just outside where I was staying. At first I had no idea what was happening, it was just people shouting at one another. It wasn’t until I heard a fairly loud click that I decided to see what was happening, and lo and behold, there was a person pointing a gun at someone down the street. He turned a corner, and the pursuer jumped into a car, also holding a gun and occasionally pointing it at this other person.

Funnily enough, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I really hoped I wouldn’t jump if there were shots fired. I had no idea how loud it would be, and I wasn’t interested in finding out. Luckily, nothing actually eventuated. However, I can now say that I’ve seen people waving guns about on the street for real!

After that excitement, I did some research on a Japanese restaurant I spotted while on a quest for yet another cafe on my foodmap and getting my hot dog fix while there. It turns out there’s this wonderful little spot called Kyoto Garden Sushi, which is rated very highly!

A quick glance at the restaurant indicated it was no ordinary sushi shop, and no other sushi place compares to this. Scallops, abalone, crayfish were all on the menu, and they have a small list of Japanese whiskies. So why not, I figured I’d step into this horrifically expensive looking place.

Lo and behold, Nikka single malt Yoichi, 15yo. I asked for it neat after agonising over which one to try, and I figured this one looked good. I did worry a little when I heard them playing with some ice, but then when I saw how the whisky was presented, I understood why. I call it “MYO whisky” – water and ice to your preference!

I ordered a small sashimi plate, and if I recall, the white fish might be kingklip. My desire to re-confirm the fish types fell away as soon as I saw the wasabi. It wasn’t the standard green tube paste, it looked very different. I started wondering if this was real wasabi – it had quite a punch to it, something I was pleased with as every other place I’ve eaten at had the same weak green goo that I had to pile on with no effect. I eagerly asked the waiter about it, who then explained it wasn’t real wasabi as it was too expensive to acquire, instead this was made in-house by their chef. A very nice touch!

I finally found scallops in Cape Town! And these were perfectly cooked.

The last savoury dish I ordered was known as “the sea” – mixed clams, scallops, octopus, prawns, seaweed. It was so tasty and I loved all the different clams in it. It was seriously raising my happiness level as the food was amazing as well as the service – after asking once for a water refill, the rest became magic. That’s my kind of restaurant.

They also had a very interesting dessert; a fried tofu and ginger ice cream, but I chose the cherry blossom ice cream and chocolate instead. Too bad that my choice tasted like a cherry ripe without the coconut – I would have liked to have had the tofu instead, but nonetheless the whole experience was still fantastic.

I would now say this is the best restaurant I’ve been to in Cape Town – and simultaneously the most expensive I’ve been to.

Now I simply have to save up money as I plan to spend big when I go back to Sydney…