It is past the middle of August now, and we’ve been in Cape Town for over two months. Despite such necessary distractions as safaris, whale watching and sight seeing expeditions, we’ve still had enough time to delve into the really important aspects of the region … its epicurean configuration.

We are somewhat handicapped in addressing the subject. Joyce has been desperately torn between an epic battle to maintain her girlish figure and not taking full advantage of the culinary temptations offered by Cape Town. But she’s finally capitulated, and has decided to end her days here emulating the models of female pulchritude that Reuben has made so famous. After all, this is completely consistent with the Dutch heritage with which this region is endowed.

For my part, the problem is very different. Since the second safari, I have been afflicted by a mysterious ailment that makes it impossible for me to chew without unbearable shooting acute pains attacking my lower left jaw. (An aside here from Joyce … it really didn’t stop him, just slowed him down a bit, occasionally actually leaving something on his plate – and wine seems to totally alleviate the pain!). The doctor was not surprised, however, after I told him that this condition began after I ate some “biltong”, a form of venison jerky, during a game drive “sundowner”. He diagnosed the condition as an inflammation of the fascia which covers the trans-mandible joint. After six weeks on anti-inflammatory medication and the welcome loss of about ten pounds, I can chew again if I am really careful.

Despite these constraints, we’ve tried most of the notable eateries, enjoyed two outstanding formal wine tastings at appropriately exclusive venues and thoroughly enjoyed our day-to-day discovery adventures in all four corners of the Cape Region.

For us, the quintessential sybaritic experience is to sit, bathed in incredibly bright sunshine, overlooking the whales frolicking in False Bay, while sipping a cool local Sauvignon Blanc, waiting to be served a broiled Crayfish the size of a 1 1/2 pound lobster. A good place to experience this is the Black Marlin, an eatery on the way to Cape Point overlooking False Bay where, on a sunny day you sit outdoors and it feels like you are on a high bank overlooking the Rhine in Germany.

To address the subject of gastronomy here is a complicated matter, as it is impossible to do so without, at the same time, sinking into the maelstrom of the region’s wine industry. Wine and food in the Cape region are inseparable. A meal without wine is simply irrelevant - there is always time and room for wine. A single glass of wine is equally irrelevant; at least one full bottle is required! But the story, when it comes to wine, is, of course, much larger than that.

South Africa’s wine industry, now the ninth largest in the world, began here in the 17th Century. It currently covers the Cape Region with over 200 wineries and over 6,000 individual wines, which are nurtured and marketed by their producers with the pride of a national heritage. In fact, we were told by the cellar master of Waterford Wines (one of our very favorites) that new wineries are opening on the average of one every day!

Every type of wine is represented: Red, White, and Rose; full-bodied, light, dry, sweet and sparkling. These wines are derived from virtually all the grapes in the universe, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage, Chardonnay, Semilion and Chenin Blanc. The Vintners also produce pretty good ports, brandies and champagnes. The real art, however, is in the blending game. Sauvignon blended with Chardonnay, for example, is a wonder, and the combination of Shiraz with Merlot and Pinotage has proved very pleasant as well. Somewhere in the middle of all this, one finds a wonderful Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Sauvignon Franc, and every time we go somewhere, we become acquainted with yet another type of wine or wine region. All of the wineries provide tastings, and many have developed first class hospitalities on their properties. In fact, some of the very best eateries in the region can be found in wineries.
At first, I found the universe of South African wines bewildering. So many wines and all of them excellent! I dare not judge. In the course of the few months I’ve been here, I have found some favorites, but as soon as I do, we find another which is better yet.

At the risk of having to contradict myself tomorrow, I am going to take a chance and crown the Meerlust Rubicon as my favorite Red, and the Constantia Uitsig Chardonnay and Semilion blend as my favorite White. But, as I am sipping a delicious Veenwouden 2003 Merlot, (a kind of wine I wouldn’t dream of touching at home), I realize that this Merlot is rapidly overwhelming me, and I suddenly wonder if I may have been premature in my judgment.

The most amazing fact about South African wines, however, is that they are obscenely inexpensive…if one consumes them here. Typically, a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet Sauvignon will run the equivalent of about $10.00 in a first class restaurant. These prices do not seem to be reflected by American wine retailers, who seem to have been remarkably successful in protecting their trade, and who charge at least four times that amount for the same bottle. (Another aside from Joyce … oh, did he mention that all our meals are drenched with wine, thus contributing to my diet woes and making it HIS fault?).

Cape Town’s location - two oceans coming together and cliffs and mountains everywhere - has created an endless coast which provides the setting for countless seaside restaurants right on the water. It is no coincidence therefore, that the dominant fare at all these eateries is seafood. The Atlantic provides large quantities of sole, which is just as delicate as those found in the north Atlantic. There is a lot of yellowtail, which bears little resemblance to its namesake in the US. Snook is also plentiful as is Dorado, Hake and Swordfish. The novelty for me is something called Kingklip. This fish, if indeed it is a fish, has no bones. It has a flaky textured and white meat somewhat akin to Sea Bass. I found out later, after I had cooked it on the braai (BBQ), that it is actually a kind of sea eel. None the less, it was delicious. The mussels here are fat and succulent. Oysters are found everywhere and served in every conceivable way. Our favorite is tempura. As one would expect, fried Calamari is found everywhere and “fish and chips” is a highly prevalent fast food commodity. Our favorite seafood, however, is Crayfish. This is neither a Maine nor a Florida Lobster, nor is it the Louisiana variety. The Crayfish here are the size of small lobsters and just as sweet. Only the tails are served. They are marinated, split and broiled, drenched in butter, usually on a braai. Nothing else is required. The taste is exquisite.
Early on, we noticed that every restaurant featured “Linefish” on their menus. As we were mystified by this kind of fish, which we had never heard of, we ordered some and asked the waiter to enlighten us. After giving us a funny look, wondering what planet we had descended from, he finally explained, speaking very slowly, as to a retarded tourist that Linefish simply means “fish of the day”. It could be anything that was caught that day and took the chef’s fancy.

Adjoining Fish Hoek, where we are staying, is Kalk Bay and its quaint Harbor. Like Fish Hoek, it fronts on False Bay. But Kalk Bay differs significantly in that it is a harbor, and protected by a large concrete pier and breakwater which shelters the fishing boats. As a result, the harbor is a beehive of waterfront activities, including a just-off-the-boat fish market, a very campy and busy fish and chips place called Kalky’s where we buy our crayfish - fully prepared for the braai, and three ocean front eateries. One, known as Live Bait, overlooks large boulders that are furiously beaten by humongous waves that crash into the shore and, while its menu is not extensive, offers all kinds of fish. The food is excellent, they are open all the time and it is wonderfully informal. You sit on pillows near windows that open on the ocean and observe the play of the turbulent waves. It is one of our favorite places for breakfast.

The second of the three restaurants in the harbor is the Harbor House. It sits above Live Bait in the same building. The crashing waves seem even more dramatic there, as more of the rocky and boulder-strewn shore is exposed to the walls of water. The spray sometimes reaches as high as the windows that surround the restaurant. It is more formal and more expensive than Live Bait, but just as friendly and accommodating. We’ve adopted the place for yet another reason; it’s winter here and, while there is no snow or ice, it tends to get chilly and damp. Many restaurants, mainly those that cater to the local population, stubbornly refuse to accept this reality and do not heat their dining areas. The Harbor House is sensitive to this concern and provides a circular wood burning fire in the middle of the main dining area. We have now eaten there three times at a table huddled up against the fire, as close as the fire marshal will let us.

The third restaurant, in the Kalk Harbor bouquet of eateries is a renovation work in progress. The name is Polana. We’ve been told that it will be even more upscale than Harbor House and that its location underneath will bring the guests impossibly “up close and personal” with the violent surf. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be open until after we leave Cape Town, as the main reason for its renovation is causing a delay - extra thick glass so the windows won’t shatter from the force of the waves like the last ones did!

But before we leave Kalk Bay, it is necessary to cite another two restaurants in the neighborhood.

One of these is called Cape to Cuba. The place defies description. If the exiles from the Castro Regime got a hold of the place, they would burn it down. The roof is painted with a Cuban flag. The interior of the ramshackle building is filled to the gills with Cuban memorabilia, including a large number of antique chandeliers, candelabras, vases, furniture and other paraphernalia. All this is distributed haphazardly among the shaky chairs and tables where the diners feast on MEXICAN (not Cuban) food. The walls are covered with paintings and photos of Havana, the vintage cars found everywhere there and portraits of Castro and Che Guevara. The waiters are attired with Che Guevara T-shirts and berets – only the cigars were missing!

When asked about some of these objects, we were told that the owner, who is not Cuban, travels to Cuba quite often and ships it back. We were then informed that everything in the place was for sale.

We ordered a Mojito, and it was actually pretty good. The same, however, could not be said for the food. It really wasn’t Mexican any more than it was Cuban. It was just plain bad. But the spirit and the festive mood, coupled with the campy feel of the place more than made up for this, and we’ve been twice just because it makes us giggle.

The other restaurant in Kalk Bay that we found interesting, just outside the Harbor, is called Winesense. As implied by its name, the cuisine is completely incidental - the focus is wine. Yet the food turned out to be excellent, and we have already returned twice to sample the tapas and dishes from its main menu. On our first visit, we soon realized that we had stepped into a wine tasting laboratory. The entire back and one of the side walls of the restaurant are lined with wine bottles, aligned behind a glass panel. On the outside of the panel, underneath each bottle, are three buttons and a spigot. Upon entry, you are supplied with a plastic smart card which is activated in your name with any amount of Rand you specify. Once the card is inserted in a slot located in the wall of bottles, you can press one of the three buttons under your bottle of choice. One button feeds a “tasting” sized sample of the wine into the glass held under the spigot, another feeds half a glass and the third gives you a full glass. Every time you push a button, you must reinsert the smart card. A computer monitors the process and, like a bank account, debits the amount of wine consumed. There are 48 bottles behind the glass case, providing a broad range of the wines produced in South Africa. Winesense is, therefore, a wonderful way to taste, compare and appreciate the spectacular wines produced here, as well as sample a variety of wines before choosing which one to have with your food selection that night. The system is actually a franchised operation which seems fairly wide-ranging. There are three of them in Cape Town alone, and we’ve been told of one in Miami.

There is yet another little restaurant that fronts on, and overlooks False Bay, that deserves mention. It is located on what is called Boulder Beach, which happens to be the habitat of the African Penguin, also known as the “Jack Ass Penguin” because of the braying sound they emit. We ate there and were delighted with an oyster tempura dish that the little restaurant served, while a quintet of locals serenaded the visitors. It was a delightful experience!

Back to wine – one can never get away from it – we went to a wine tasting in the charming little ocean-front town of Hermanus, which lies about 100 Kilometers east of Cape Town on the Atlantic whale coast. Since the event was at a splendid Relais & Chateaux hotel called The Marine, we decided to spend the night there.

It turned out that the Marine was one of a trio of hotels developed by a most remarkable lady, Liz McGrath. The other two hotels which form what she has identified as “The Collection” are located in Cape Town - the Cellars-Hohenort Hotel - and the other, the Plettenberg, some 300 kilometers north of the Marine in Plettenberg. All three are part of the Relais & Chateaux family. All three are extremely luxurious; ranking comfortably with the prestigious “Leading Hotels of the World” hegemony. When we checked out of the Marine, we launched ourselves to Plettenberg, aided and abetted by the staff and management of the Marine who were curious to hear the unbiased guest opinions about their sister property. Indeed, the “Plett”, as it is called, reflects a comparable level of quality in its general level of hospitality. Its setting, virtually at the edge of the ocean, is equally dramatic. The rooms are replete with same amenities, and the staff is as friendly and personable as the Marine’s. We judged the food to be better at the Marine, but that may have been influenced by the fact that we had been there for a wine tasting, which induced the chef to outdo himself for the occasion.

There was, however, a far more important reason for us to undertake the long drive to Plettenberg Bay. Joyce had bought a fancy belt with some furry cow’s hide as part of the buckle configuration, and she now wanted a handbag to match. Somehow, maybe as a consequence of what seemed to me a marathon of chit-chats Joyce was having with the lady manager of the Marine gift shop and the lady manager of the hotel, she got the notion that the sister hotel in Plettenberg might have exactly what she was craving. When we arrived in Plettenberg a day later, she made a bee line for the gift shop and she was thrilled to see just what she wanted….but she did not buy it! No, her sense of loyalty to the ladies from the Marine, by some mysterious code of honor between women, dictated that Joyce should give them another chance to make her happy; after all, we were to spend another night at the Marine on our way back to Cape Town. Unfortunately, the Marine did not have this particular handbag. The next chapter in this saga is either a testament to the commitment that this Collection of Relais & Chateaux hotels have to uncompromisingly serve their guests’ needs, or it illustrates the extent which women bond with one another. In either case, the staff of the Boutique at the Marine hotel in Hermanus communicated the dilemma to their counterpart in Plettenberg. The latter had the spa lady drive the purse to Hermanus, and the Manager from that hotel brought it to the Cellars-Hohenort hotel in Cape Town, where we finally picked it up. Now I finally understand why they call these hotels Relais, which translates to “relays” in English! (An aside from Joyce … oh please, it wasn’t nearly that dramatic - we were planning to go to Plettenberg for a few days to see the garden route anyway, so I couldn’t make up my mind … big deal!).

We had now seen, experienced and slept in two of Liz McGrath‘s bouquet of hotels. The business with the errant purse provided the opportunity to become acquainted with the “Cellar”, namely the third in her collection. We were so overwhelmed by the charm of the place, the beauty of its setting and the manicured condition of the extensive and flowery grounds that we decided to come back at the earliest occasion and have breakfast there. This is exactly what we did and we were not disappointed. The experience was like sitting in the middle of a Cezanne tableau. We sat in a fully enclosed glass gazebo-like space and we ordered what was described on the menu as “Eggs Benedict with a Twist”. The menu lied; there were in fact many “twists”. The sauce was not the traditional Hollandaise; it was a much lighter Beure Blanc. In lieu of a slice of Canadian bacon under the poached egg, the Cellar used a very thin slice of Parisian boiled ham; and the English muffin, which usually defines the foundation of the dish, a scone, like the kind served with clotted cream, completed the arrangement. The whole thing was delicate and delicious…I’ll never enjoy eggs Benedict again!

The wine tasting at the Marine which was what had originally lured us to Hermanus, was sponsored by Waterford Estates, one of the leading wineries in Stellenbosch and one that distinguished itself by pairing its wine with chocolate. It was, therefore, no surprise that every course of the sumptuous dinner not only paired wine with food, but more remarkably, each course contained chocolate!

In the course of the pre-feast phase of the event, when the participants were milling around and sampling hors-d’oeuvres, we monopolized the Waterford Cellar-Master, Francois Haasbroek. Cellar Master is a highly distinguished position in this wine obsessed nation. He is the creative arm of the operation, in charge of blending the various wines produced by the Waterford Estate to please the range of tastes that the winery has pegged as its particular market. As one would expect, he invited us to visit the Estate. And so, a couple of weeks later, we met him for lunch in a charming restaurant in the middle of a nearby winery called Kleine Zalza before proceeding to the Waterford Estate, where Francois gave us a private, behind the scenes, tour of his domain.

This may sound sacrilegious, but the huge space that contained the blending and aging operations of the winery was somehow reminiscent of a brewery fermentation space. The large immaculate hall where the bending occurred - Francois’ laboratory – was filled with shiny stainless steel tanks, each filled with a type of wine and the ingredients that would make up the blend. Adjoining this hall, we toured an even larger area filled with oak barrels that contained the end product of the process. As we wandered around the rows of barrels, Francois uncorked one and, using a pipette, shared samples of the contents with us. Though a work in progress, the wines were already outstanding and clearly hinted at the excellence of the bottled end product.

The actual tasting came next. We moved from the industrial scale buildings to the winery’s formal entrance. It opened into a baronial space with an impressive hearth where a most welcome wood fire was burning to take any semblance of chill out of the air. Japan has its Tea ceremony and France its cheese mystique. But this was something else. On a coffee table in front of the fire, Francois carefully laid out four glasses, each filled with a different Waterford blend. In front of each glass he placed a different piece of chocolate, including one that was salty at the one extreme, and a mild milk chocolate at the other extreme. The salty piece was matched with a gutsy Waterford Cabernet Sauvignon and the milk chocolate was paired with a soft “late harvest” white, somewhat reminiscent of a good quality French Sauterne. Lunch was such fun and the wine so delicious, we agreed to meet again before the end of our stay, only this time at our house so I can cook a Coq au Vin and Francois can choose the wine. (Aside from Joyce … wasn’t just the wine and the chocolate - Francois is quite delicious too!).

To say that we visited every restaurant in Cape Town would be an exaggeration. However, we are getting a pretty good sampling. We have enjoyed three spectacular Michelin-Star quality meals. One in a small French restaurant called “Bon Appetit” in Simon’s Town, just south of Fish Hoek where we live. The cuisine is classic French and the meal follows Michelin traditions with elaborate “Amuse-Bouches” preceding the meal and equally elaborates “Mignoneries” ending the repast. The second memorable meal was in a restaurant called La Colombe (the pigeon) located in the Constantia-Uitsig Winery where I had earlier become acquainted with the Sauvignon-Blanc Semilion blend that I had crowned as my favorite white wine. La Colombe had all the accoutrements of a Michelin starred restaurant as well and, needless to say, the cuisine in both restaurants was exquisite. Comparably high, if not higher on the Escoffier gastronomical scale was the meal we enjoyed at the Quartier Francais where we celebrated Bastille Day. The restaurant is in a Relais & Chateaux located in Franschhoek, an appetizing wine region town settled by the French Huguenot in 1688. In 2005, Restaurant Magazine voted the eatery the world’s 35th best restaurant and the best in the Middle East and Africa. Our meal there certainly confirmed the validity of this vote.

We also ate at a number of other excellent restaurants which were all delightful but which remain in our recollections as “members of the pack”. One was Beluga where we had an excellent but not memorable meal. What I found interesting, however, was the fact that this very large restaurant was one of the better examples I have ever seen of an adaptive re-use of an industrial building. The various levels that must have been required for the manufacturing processes were used to advantage in scaling down the otherwise cavernous space into more intimate environments. The place was also remarkably quiet, considering its size and the brutalistic style of its architecture. In this respect, it was far more successful than similar eateries in New York’s Soho and Tribeca, where the adaptive re-use of such spaces have a way of turning into fashionable but unbearably noisy echo chambers.

Also worthy of mention in the gourmet class of food were the meals we enjoyed during our two-day Rovos Rail trip from Pretoria to Cape Town. The tale of that trip is for another day, but the food and the elegant, yet friendly service we enjoyed while the train was gliding by the magnificent scenery of the surreal Karoo landscape will for ever stay with us as a fond memory. Incidentally, Rovos Rail is also a Relais & Chateaux, as was Bushman’s Kloof, a resort on the western coast we visited last week for a few days.

On an ethnic food note, I was happily surprised that, buried in the middle of Downtown Cape Town - what is called here the “City Bowl”, there is an Indian restaurant, Bukhara, which is the same as its world famous namesake in Delhi where we had the best Tandoori Chicken and the best Dahl (lentils) ever! We had lunch there and sampled both of these dishes. We can’t wait to go back.

While on the subject of Indian food and flavors, it is essential to mention a very popular fare here called Cape Malay Cuisine. It is unique to the Cape, and it really isn’t Malaysian. It is an intriguing mix of Indian, Malay and Dutch styles that originated in the earliest days of European settlements in the Cape region, brought here from Asia and Micronesia by the slave traders and their human cargo. The flavor of Cape Malay dishes marries pungent Indian spices with local produce. The result is a taste like a very mild curry…which does very well when paired with a robust South African Shiraz. The most common Cape Malay dish we’ve encountered is Bobotie, similar to a shepherd’s pie made with lightly curried beef or lamb mince, topped with savory egg custard, served on a bed of turmeric-flavored rice with a side dab of chutney and bananas. Joyce fell in love with the concoction; I, on the other hand, much prefer unabashed Indian cuisine. C’est la vie!

Near the foot of Table Mountain, there is an Orient Express Hotel, the Mount Nelson, which is a stately formal affair, very colonial in style both as to the architecture of the building, its furniture and furnishings, as well as the design of the English garden that surrounds the property. As one would expect, the Mount Nelson is famous for its High Tea extravaganza.

Naturally, we had to try it. We did so on a day when the weather was inclement and a tram ride to the top of Table Mountain was out of the question. Needless to say, the high tea service was fabulous. It was so elegant we were thoroughly ashamed of the fact that we were dressed for urban exploration and not an affair of State. But no one seemed to care, after all, TIA (this is Africa). And, looking around, we noticed that the only ones formally dressed were the waiters.

But our attention quickly shifted to far more important matters. Once the tea was poured with all appropriate ceremony, we ambled to the pastry and food table. Joyce’s diet was history! We started modestly with scones, accompanied, as tradition requires, by clotted cream and jam. But then the little cucumber and egg salad canapés proved irresistible. By the time we were done with these elegant High Tea traditions, we could no longer resist our animalistic urges, and we started to gobble up éclairs, cream puffs, chocolate and other kinds of mousses until we were filled to the gills. I am sure the Cape Grace Hotel, a Leading Small Hotel of the World, has something similar, but I’ll bet that the combination of the opulence of what we had just experienced and the quintessentially English Colonial character of the “Nellie”, as the Mount Nelson is dubbed locally, would be hard to beat.

Then there is Fogey’s (like old foggy). This an eatery housed in an old, but still active railroad station, not five miles down the coast road from where we live. During lunch, you can munch on a full menu, hear Jazz on Sundays and watch as tons of surfers take on False Bay’s humongous waves that come crashing on the beach on the other side of the railroad tracks at the foot of Fogey’s. At night the place turns into an outrageously campy night club where you can enjoy a pretty good meal, while enjoying small bands and singers do their stuff for hours on end. The restaurant is decorated like a Christmas tree with blinking multi-colored lights and a revolving mirror ball. Unlike Madame Zingara’s, however, as described in the first “Cape Town” Journal entry, where the entertainment morphs from a Cirque du Soleil acrobatic mode to unabashed Disco, Fogey’s is quite mellow, with the main fare represented by live music from the 60’s and 70’s plus a smattering of Norah Jones for a more current flavor. The owner often chimes in with his own guitar, which adds a quaint dimension to the camp environment. We’ve enjoyed Fogey’s on three occasions; once for Sunday lunch and twice on a Saturday night.

There are so many places here where excellent meals are served. To fully describe all of those we experienced would overwhelm the little corner of cyberspace that I can manage. My capacity to recollect would also be taxed beyond its limits… So I will leave such elaborate and encyclopedic epistles to the travel writers and professional foodies. I will close this sybaritic perambulation by reminding all prospective visitors to the Cape that wine and seafood are the predominant determinants of comestible well-being here. Don’t be lured into other kinds of edibles. Veggies, sweet potatoes and squash concoctions are all OK, of course, but never forget that it is the crayfish, kingklip, sole, mussels and other fruits of the sea…accompanied by a marvelous Sauvignon Blanc…that’s the real show.