Happy Easter, etc
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:
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!
A lot of coffee and hispterish places
So having visited Oranjezicht City Farm Markets, it was time to do other hipster things, like chase food trucks and find new cool places. Managed to visit Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants which is an amazing place as there's a room full of carcasses. They specialise in meats, however on the day I went, a food truck called El Burro was also going to be there at night - so why not! It was especially enticing because they had ceviche on the menu as well.
Breakfast at Superette was quite tasty, though there was too much zucchini spaghetti for me. Juices were served in flasks, and there are a lot of communal tables.
Then came the coffee! Rosetta Roastery, which was featuring Hacienda La Esmeralda geisha and three other origins, done as an espresso as well as filter. It's been a long time since I've consumed a lot of coffee so I was out of practise - I could only drink three before calling it quits. It's definitely an amazing place because their icon is everywhere - the terrariums are in angular glasses that look a lot like their branding, and it's all over the seats and even their coffee machine! I really love the look of this place - lots of lines and angles.
Oranjezicht Organic City Farm
Whenever I talk about my discoveries, the locals actually seem confused about how I come across fantastic things such farmer's markets, food markets, talks about string theory at steampunk themed cafes, and vintage markets. Well, I seem to have a hipster sense about me.So, it's not surprising that I found this gem of a market in a wonderfully picturesque place that's not too far out from the city - a place that I remember because it sounds like "orange" - Oranjezicht City Farm.
Yep, the hay bales did it for me. So totally hipster! It was such a beautiful and vibrant place too. It didn't feel like Cape Town at all, but rather my own little piece of market heaven. I really need to revisit because it's just so pretty - I could spend a day here just sitting and eating as long as I came prepared with sunscreen!
It's so pretty that other people were here with filming gear and/or taking pictures. And of course I love taking pictures of people taking pictures of things. Or something like that.
Mmm cold pressed pomegranate juice! I love this stuff because it tastes so much better than anything in the shops. Plus, I have enough pains making my own from hand, especially since I don't have a juicer.
And my particular haven, the fruits and vegetables. I love the sight of all different seasonal produce! You could simply choose your own and then get them all weighed/tallied at the end. Since it's hard to get the opportunity to consume large amounts of salad, I collected some radish, lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, mushrooms, red capsicum to get my nutrient boost. And then figs, blueberries, raspberries and pomegranate juice!
They also had a set of stalls for prepared food, where I purchased some kefir milk and this little hipster looking jar of muesli and yoghurt. There were plenty of cakes and baked goods, but my self restraint came through for me so that I didn't collect little sweets. I did however, fall for the ice cream stand and got myself a mango sorbet that I happily licked like a kid as I walked back with my massive bag of fruit and veg.
It was a really great place that if I lived here, I'd return weekly. There's so much variety, and the place is larger than the Adelaide Farmer's Markets - though I still think the Adelaide markets do have fresher produce - since my radishes were a little on the soft side with wilty leaves and some blueberry punnets had fuzzies.... Anyway, that's my super picky-analytical side showing.Next time, I'll be sure to spend more time here and chill!
What a different world
Before I came here, I was reassuring everyone that Cape Town wasn't that dangerous and wasn't plagued with ebola. This is still true! It is a pain having to be so much more cautious and placing a curfew on myself so that I'm not alone outside after the sun sets, but I'm still having a lot of fun!I am starting to get a little over high end food though, but because of how spoilt I've been, I continue to cringe when I receive badly prepared food - which means I have a very narrow range of places to visit that will satisfy me and not break the bank.
Valentine's Day was my secret excuse for seeking out once-off treats from cafes - and I wasn't disappointed! This special cronut was from Jason's Bakery - a marshmallow cream cronut with chocolate and turkish delight - I liked it so much better than the previous week's cronut.I can also confirm that they do in fact make the best pies - I was lucky enough to sample a braised wagyu beef, potato and bean + pea pie, and wow. Wowowowowow. THAT is a pie! I was so used to pies being pastry with half goo, half stuff - but this was pastry stuffed completely full of actual food! All the sauce was absorbed by the meat and vegetables so that the full flavour was there too. I don't think I could eat any other pie ever again - but I'm always happy to be proved wrong.I also had a ramen craving, and I only found one noteworthy place according to good old Google. The place is called Downtown Ramen, which was inside a place called Lefty's Dive Bar. I was incredibly lucky that some other people wanted ramen too, because we walked through some pretty shady looking streets. It turns out my sense of direction was also pretty perfect as well, having lead them correctly and not having to backtrack, which is a common occurrence when I'm left to my own devices.
This pork bun was actually quite large! It did have good flavour, though I was hoping for a better tasting pickle sauce - this one actually had a lemon dressing to it, and the pork belly was cooked very nicely.
Pork belly shoyu ramen with thick noodles. This place only had two ramen choices - shoyu pork belly and a vegetarian ramen. It was actually better tasting than I thought - and that pork belly was actually one of the tastiest I've had! However I would have loved a richer, fattier broth and better cooked noodles (I have a strong preference for thin and "harder" noodles). For a lack of Japanese presence though, I'd say this was pretty good experience.This is where I'll go on a little bit of a rambling about some observations I've made during my time here...First of all, it's quite interesting the number of things that we take for granted in the developed, Western world. For example, the humble lemon lime and bitters. They don't have it here. A few of the restaurants we visited, and the hotel bar, didn't know what it was, to the point where we had to show them how to make one.There was also a time when a colleague had ordered a raspberry iced tea - 3 times, and each version arrived with very different sweetness levels, as well as significantly different garnishes - mint versus orange! We were slightly bemused that this kind of inconsistency existed for a single drink.There's actually a lot of small inconsistencies in a lot of the average places, I think it might be due to the fact that a lot of the people who work in the hospitality industry don't experience the lifestyle that their customers do - the socio-economic divide is so large that I can appreciate that they don't necessarily have the same standards and experiences. I'm just an overly spoilt wannabe hipsterish snob, and I admit to it, so my expectations of waitstaff, service and consistency are insanely high. Luckily, I'm also incredibly nice and patient so while I notice it, I don't actually mind, since that itself is an experience.That being said, the top end restaurants are distinctly different. I've been to a couple of "expensive" places now - like Chalk and Cork, and the service levels are much higher. The staff and clientele are also vastly different. You get many more international customers - in fact I hear a lot of German conversations between the customers and staff. Since I'm not sure if I will do a revisit for the following restaurant, here are the pictures and experiences of Chef's Warehouse and Kitchen:
Tempura vegetables
And I thought Japanese restaurants knew how to make and plate tempura! Chef's Warehouse and Kitchen does a set tapas menu for two, however easily accommodate for single diners by halving the cost, and then reducing the set 8 dishes to a choice of 4 from the list. Research indicated that there is a heavy Asian influence on the dishes, though many other cuisines and techniques are present - in fact, one of the dishes I chose was a mushroom risotto which was so good, but again I experienced the sad confirmation that I simply don't like risotto.
Salmon togarashi
What I assumed was a twist on nigiri, this was a great dish! The wasabi was amazing, and the crispy skin fragment had great crunch. The rice wasn't great though, since I've had very good sushi rice. The salmon and the seaweed made the whole dish a classic sushi experience for me.
Deep fried squid
Yes, the menu description said squid, though I'm still convinced it was octopus, with some calamari. It was on sriracha and a bed of finely shredded cabbage dressed in vinegar. This squid was cooked so well! It made me happy and reminded me why I love fine dining so much. The presentation was so good and was so delicious. I am more than likely going to revisit this restaurant because it's been my favourite so far.
On the topic of pretty and well cooked good, I totally didn't realised there was a San Pellegrino Top 50 restaurant in Cape Town by the name of The Test Kitchen. I realised too late that it was something I had to cross off on my list, so alas, there were no tables available. I do kind of regret being indecisive as there was a chance for me to have booked a table, but I know I'll be better off saving money for other adventures.
One thing I've been very proud of, while remaining on the topic of food (when do I ever not talk about food!), is that I've now had ostrich, zebra, springbok, warthog, and even a mopane worm! I am quite enjoying the different kinds of game here, and what's even crazier is that I had some of the game as marinated meat at a Korean BBQ! It did make it impossible to tell the different meats apart though. I was actually surprised that zebra meat was lighter than I thought - it was closer to white meat than red, which I wasn't expecting. Regardless, it was a great experience. I still have kudu and whatever other interesting food I can get my hands on. For example, this sheep's head, which someone brought to work. I think I shocked a few people by agreeing to eat it, while eagerly asking questions about brains, eyeballs and various parts of sheep head anatomy. It was quite tasty and I was happily getting my hands dirty to claim some amazing cheek meat.
The final bit of my food adventures for this post concludes with what else, but coffee! There's a great market place called The Old Biscuit Mill that's especially vibrant on Saturdays, so I had my mini coffee crawl there. There's a lot food as well as jewellery, clothes and other knick-knacks for sale. Even though I vowed not to spend money, I did end up buying some earrings and a necklace. That's what I get for listening to my hipster-on-the-inside.
Espresso Lab micro-roasters, which is a hugely popular place that uses two La Marzoccos. They have a really cool espresso menu - which is that periodic table to the right. I tried their Costa Rica Los Lajas as an espresso and it was actually really nice and cherry. I was glad they had that particular one as their single origin because I've previously had it as a filter at Switch Coffee in Tokyo.
It's a very white and clean space, with an awesome roaster at the back as well as a brew bench. Due to how busy the place was, I didn't ask if they served any filter coffee - but it is a pretty cool setup regardless! They also sold Fool magazine, which was pretty awesome.
I found this little syphon at the Origin Artisan coffee roasters stand, but didn't actually have it - for me it was an espresso here of their house blend. I enjoyed the shot back at V&A Waterfront a lot more than the one I had here, but I believe it was a different blend.
The final coffee stand I visited was the Rosetta brew bar, where only filter coffee was sold. They had a choice of a Costa Rica or Yirgacheffe if I remember correctly, and I chose the Yirgacheffe upon asking for the barista's preference. It was also roasted really well and super tasty!
I've also finally figured out why the flat white is a predominant drink here - it's because the biggest roaster/wholesaler, Deluxe coffeeworks, was founded by a New Zealander! It all makes sense now! However I still feel that a lot of the beans are roasted too dark for my liking - I have too much of an Australian palate when it comes to how I prefer my coffee prepared. It's still great talking to all the baristas to learn how they treat their coffees though!
While I've been to Truth Coffee Roasters, the great big steampunk cafe, I haven't decided to post any pictures yet as I'm yet to take better pictures and form a better opinion - but I wanted to mention it as it turns out I do actually have a "slayer" sense, but I failed to recognise that beautiful machine on my first visit :(. I first spotted their Synesso at their takeaway window and took a picture of that as it's the first Synesso I've seen. I figured that coffee machines are relatively expensive for the average cafe owner, which is why there aren't many. It could possibly be due to the cost of such a machine, but it might also be due to the repair and support available for the brand. Or it could be as simple as a Visa versus Mastercard/Coke versus Pepsi kind of situation.
I did notice a flashy white coffee machine that I at first thought was a Slayer, however for some reason, even though I checked out the sides to verify, didn't actually 100% recognise, so I walked away thinking it was a second Synesso. Am I crazy??? It was only later when I related to my surrogate baristas over at Flat Mountain Coffee Roasters that I'd paid Truth a visit, that they indeed confirmed that a Slayer lived there. So now I have to go back and then talk about how the decor and waitstaff are all very steampunky!
Anyway, enough about coffee.
The other day I finally said yes to climbing a mountain - Lion's Head. I wasn't sure if I could actually complete the adventure since though I was confident in my walking abilities, if it involved any other physical strain, I knew I'd be in trouble since I'm the most unfit person ever. I often make jokes about not knowing how to breathe and even that I forget to breathe, but this is actually true! Normal breathing is actually quite shallow, and you don't notice until you take deep breaths.
So the initial uphill walk was a small challenge, but doable and I could keep up with my super fit colleagues. However, it then became quite rocky and steps and climbing were involved. Wow, I haven't had my lungs hurt like that since cross country in primary school! (which I hated), and they were still sore the next day. I didn't even know lungs could be sore. It was well worth climbing to the top where I took plenty of photos - though it was too bright up there so I had trouble checking my panoramic shots - so half of them turned out having colour issues halfway through the picture, but they were so breathtaking so that it didn't actually matter. They way down was actually really fun and confirmed that my muscles could cope with the exercise, it's just my lungs that can't. I'm going to stick with the theory that it's because I smoke candle fumes (i.e. put myself in an enclosed room and start burning masses of candles at least once every winter).
As these three pictures are all panorama shots, they've been hyperlinked so that you can actually see them.
EXPLORATION
Hello, Cape Town
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.