The frame
Cape Town's food scene is better than most visitors give it credit for, and the mistake is chasing a "best restaurant" list instead of eating by neighbourhood. The city's strength is range. Cape Malay, seafood, farm-to-table, Indian, and serious wine-pairing at every price point. Not one destination dining room.
Where to eat by neighbourhood
City Bowl for the serious dining rooms and natural-wine bars. Bo-Kaap for Cape Malay cooking (book a cook-along lunch, don't just photograph the houses). Sea Point and Green Point for casual, well-priced places locals actually use. The Atlantic Seaboard for seafood with a view at a price. Woodstock and the East City for the young, interesting kitchens.
The two tiers
At the top: La Colombe, FYN, Salsify. The destination rooms, world-class, book months ahead, worth it once. Below that, the city lives well: La Tête, Kloof Street House, a dozen seafood and Cape Malay places where you eat as well for a third of the price. Don't only eat at the famous ones. You'll miss what makes the city good.
A few specifics
- La Tête for the no-waste, nose-to-tail cooking that defines the current Cape Town moment. Book; it's small.
- Kloof Street House for the old-school room and the crowd that goes with it.
- Bo-Kaap Kombuis for Cape Malay with a view, if you can't get a cook-along.
- Mzansii in Langa, if you want township food done properly rather than a township tour with a meal attached.
- The Test Kitchen and FYN for the rooms that put Cape Town on the world list. Book weeks to months ahead.
Book ahead
Cape Town's best rooms book out weeks ahead in season, November to March. Reserve the day you book your flights. The casual places you can walk into, and they're often the better meal anyway.
The meal to plan around
A long Winelands lunch. The best single eating experience in the Cape is a farm restaurant at midday: Babylonstoren, Jordan, or Delaire, a few glasses, and the afternoon to recover. That's the meal people come back for, and it's the one a city restaurant list can't give you.