If I mentioned Five Flies or Savoy Cabbage I don’t suppose it would inspire you too much but along with Bravado, Magica Roma and Salty Sea Dog to mention but a tiny percent, they form the long list of quality restaurants to be found in and around Cape Town, South Africa

Such is the competition in the area that restaurateurs are being aggressively creative with their marketing in addition to coming up with the goods on the plate.
I’ve had a look at just a few of the menus and can hardly wait to go on a gastro-tour of the region; of course I can also bank on not falling out with my bank manager too as dining out in South Africa is not the sport of kings but superbly affordable.

‘If you don’t eat with us today, we’ll both starve’ is the slogan outside Salty Sea Dog, a lively little restaurant overlooking the historic harbour of Simons Town; a lovely story is attached to place which was formerly a fish market. Nowadays it caters for lovers of fresh fish such as Snoek and Calamari which it cooks to perfection and serves with an almost compulsory local wine!
The award-winning Savoy Cabbage appeals to all ages and is a great venue for families with its quirky cabbage chandeliers and salt dishes; it is an exciting venue which enjoys a great ambience helped along by its open plan kitchen and un stuffy yet impeccable service

If you want some serious Fine Dining then you could take a look at Five Flies, any menu that mentions caramelised cashews, gooseberry-lime atchar and lavender tuille on one page is either showing off or is extremely good! I suggest the latter as the Five Flies is renowned as one of the most prestigious eateries in the region – yet the beauty of South Africa is that even here you are unlikely to get indigestion from the bill!

I tend to gravitate towards restaurants that change their menus with the seasons, specialise in dishes of the day and always mention aubergines in the starters; so Aubergines in it then, complete with pale purple print menu and rare-fried Ostrich fillet with carrot & lemongrass puree and accented with black and white Szechuan pepper, naturally.
The joy of dining out surely has to be the thrill of eating something that a)you would not dream of cooking at home yourself and b)has taken the chef literally hours to create; I’m not a total scare in the kitchen so flashing a steak in the pan really doesn’t do it for me when I’m paying good money. There’s also the thrill of freshly-caught something that you have never heard of cooked in something else that you cannot pronounce – sheer joy.

So if, like me, dining out is part of a cultural journey of discovery and time meandering then Cape Town will have you hooked in no time.

Enjoy!