Look, a squirrel! Plus some
First thing's first - a cronut!
"French toast" - smoked bacon, apple, maple pecan, mascarpone, butterscotch - Jason's Bakery
Jason's bakery is making me go back every week just so I can take pretty pictures of their doughssants. I really need to resist, but their pastries are simply too pretty and tasty! I'm actually still discovering new places so there's still; plenty for me to do.
Hash and eggs - Clarke's Bar and Dining
Sundays are quite tricky when it comes to food, as most places are closed - but my keen senses keep my days off quite varied! Clarke's Bar and Dining is fast becoming a favourite of mine though - not only do they serve kombucha on tap (which is seriously now my drink of choice here), but also do the most interesting burger - buttered bun, beef patty, cheese - with pickles on the side and a choice of chips or salad. Where's my tomato and lettuce?? Who needs it! It's the perfect hangover food. They also do some killer breakfasts, like hash and eggs. That was so tasty!Sundays aren't great for exploration, but luckily I have gained a food exploration buddy who eats just about anything - including some traditional African fare that includes beef tripe and tendon.I've started trying out some of the Japanese places here, but I'm simply not satisfied with the sushi, especially having so recently visited Japan. For example, the phrase "generous servings" ends up providing pieces of jumbo nigiri that can't be eaten in one bite. Plus all the sushi rice I've had here, I haven't liked. Then again, it is hard to impress me when it comes to rice, my carb nemesis.
Sushi special - Takumi Sushi
I did stumble across a humble Japanese restaurant that was nicer, but I didn't take any pictures because it wasn't as pretty, plus it was dark. It turns out the wasabi here isn't that strong either - or I've been developing a better tolerance to things like wasabi and chilli while here. I can never really tell, since I seem to gain an extra point of independence every time I go travelling.
Well hello my white slayer! So in a revisit to Truth, I finally managed to take a picture of this lovely machine - though in my opinion they need to show it off more, instead of having so much of it obscured by the counter and plates. My experience with the coffee was super tasty this time, though when I asked what kind of single origin my coffee was, the waitress only pointed out that it was from India. Perhaps I should have been more chatty with the barista!
They seem to all love french toast croissants here - but they are really, really heavy (and yes, I've tried this at two different places) and aren't very glamorous to take pictures of. I probably have high expectations of french toasts because I make my own, and I like it crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside with a nice maple/agave sweetness, then stacked with fruit, maple syrup, and bacon on the side.
Speaking of bacon and maple, I also did sample some chicken and waffles here - very tasty but I believe I am still biased towards an old memory of having some at Roscoe's back in America that was just so much more awesome!
And here is the spiffy steampunk spruiker! And of course the sleek synesso :)
Food aside, I paid another visit to Company Gardens for more squirrel feeding and pictures of adorable ducks! My camera really didn't like the shadows on a bright day, so I did have to mess around a little bit so you could actually see some squirrel faces.
There are also some pretty weird things in Cape Town - for example, the LOL LENS FLARE on this funny looking statue:
And then a "Broken TV Shrine", which sits opposite a forever incomplete bridge.
Yep, this is an amazing place.
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.