After the Blue Train, here we are on for four nights around Cape Town before being back home for a few days. Lately all trips to Cape Town have been part of way longer trips. So now that we have a short stay, lets splurge a little for once. We spent our first night and last night in Cape Town...and 2 nights in between in gorgeous Franschoek.
The food on the Blue Train was decent, but far away from any top restaurant you could dream of. Definitively nothing you could call a Michelin experience. We are actually glad that the little Red Book hasnt made it to South Africa yet. We would probably have lots of stars in the country, but with quite often the price tag. Over the next few days, we are going to enjoy some amazing food. Three of those meals, one after the other one would easily qualify for one or two stars Michelin. So lets start by the more normal culinary experience...
A visit to the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town is always an excuse for us to eat at the Belgian restaurant Den Aker. Here its South
African mussels cooked the Belgian way, and not with wine, but a biere blanche. Next, there is our preferred ramen place in Sea Point for dinner...we dont have those kind of places anywhere around where we live! Just outside CT, we also made a stop for a speedy but delicious lunch at Steenberg wine farm.
Than in Franschoek, we went all way out for 2 dinners and a lunch. First stop, the 6/8 course dinner at Le Coin Francais. Simply super fun! None of these top places has had to shut down due to Covid. But prior to Covid, if you wanted a table, specially for dinner, you would have to book three months in advance. Today, a week or a day ahead could be more than sufficient.
The pleasure here is not only for the palate, but for the wallet too. A dinner, inclusive of tip but without that rink will settle at 60 to 70 usd per person. Thats 2 stars Michelin level, a solid bargain for hours of fun! Just bear in mind, wine pairing in all those top restaurant is pretty poor and actually way too expensive. So make
Next lunch...after a good night and some wine tasting, I call La Petite Colombe. That morning we actually started with a decent breakfast, and by 9.30am, it is vino time. Only two wine tasting that morning, Holden Manz and there solid Chenin Blanc was our first stop. I must have gone through 12 of their wines with them. Next, shorter stop at Chamonix....worth the stop for their bordeaux blend red.
Now, let speak about our lunch at La Petite Colombe, that was something. This is the little sister from La Colombe in Constantia. The restaurant just received an 81th ranking on the World Best Restaurant ranking. Try to get a booking here was close to impossible. Well, not an issue these days. Some go to restaurant bringing their own wine. Here...we went two step further, we brought our winemaker...and few of his bottles! I name Simelia, one of the top raising Syrah in South Africa. They produce today 20,000 bottles per year across their range of mainly reds. So this lunch was a little more lengthy. We arrived at 12.15....and we only left 4 hours
later. Great time with Simon and Celia...that was some experience and a lot of fun! And yes, I do hold a booking at La Colombe Constantia for early November!
So we left lunch at 4.15....to reach dinner at Protege at 7pm. Little short nap in between, and ready for some more super fun meal! Bear in mind, all those places have a fixed menu...you just choose the number of dishes you want. We went most of the time for the 6 to 8, but this dinner at Protege will be more simple with only the 4 courses meal!
Big advantage of South Africa, this is one of the only countries where you can fly with liquid, I name wine, on domestic flights. Argentina is the same and I believe Chile could be so! Do we speak about wine? So it was soon time to get back home, and we had only 17 bottles of wine between two of us on our way home, Im not kidding...and pretty heavy
Obviously some golf was involved too.
