Cape Town, South Africa

Does anyone have recommendations for Cape Town Restaurants. Most recommendations in guide books and other food related sites seem to focus in on high end hotels and wineries, which is not what I'm looking to experience. Local hot spots, dives, and small family owned favorites would be much appreciated.

Just emailed a friend in Capetown & hopefully will get a reply soon. When are you planning your trip?

Aagh. I'm so jealous . . . I love Cape Town and South Africa in general.

And you gave you an opportunity to pull out my Smythson travel journal.

My husband and I were there in 2002, so obviously some of the restaurants that we ate may not still be there. The places that we ate at that I would recommend are as follows:

Beluga, very she she with excellent food. It looks as though it could be a hip restaurant in a major American city, however, it'll certainly have springbok and local prawns on the menu. This was a hot spot, but I don't know if it would still qualify as this.

La Petite Ferme in Franschhoek in the Winelands, a family owned restaurant since 1984. Food is exquisite, matched only by the unbelievably breathtaking views. Make sure to get the cookbook, it's really pretty great. I recently adapted one of the recipes for a dinner party.

Africa Cafe. Get the full shooting match, I think 25 different dishes, which was an incredible value when I went.

Eat with the Penguins at Penguin Cafe on the road to the Cape of Good Hope. Nothing culinarily special, but spectacular views.

And then, on the waterfront, there are a number of good dining options, even though it's pretty much a mall. I recall specifically a Belgian restaurant and a seafood restaurant with outdoor seating. Shall I again point out the spectacular views?

South African food has a good bit of diversity given the ethnic variety of the country, see http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 24342.html, . Do make sure that you eat lots of springbok and seafood and then biltong and a bobotie at least once.

I would recommend emailing the concierge and explaining what you are looking for. Another way that we found places to eat was from our wineland guide. And if are you are planning to tour the winelands, which I highly recommend, definitely use a guide. Ours was the owner of Vineyard Ventures, an incredibly charming woman.

Thanks for the information. We are not traveling until September, however I spend an obscene amount of time planning lunches and dinners. Penguin Cafe is a must.

Not about restaurants, but Sunday's Chicago Tribune had a great picture of Table Mountain in the Perspecitve section. The photo actually was of Africa correspondent Laurie Goering in a boat on Table Bay.

The caption didn't say it, but it was obviously Table Bay with a beautiful view of Lion's Head, Table Mountain and Devil's Peak in the background. Made me want to return.

Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact name but I believe it's called Villamoure(villamore?) and it's overlooking the bay(of course I can't remember which bay either). If you contact your hotel I'm sure they can steer you to it. Mention that a restaurant had been bombed almost next door to it about 7 years ago. No need to worry about that now. It may be Table Bay. It was a hot area when I was there a few years ago. They have a balcony with some tables overlooking the water, which is just charming. Their specialty is seafood, and it's incredible. All we ordered was a mixed platter of prawns(still had their heads on), lobster(fresh south african lobster-I guarantee you'll never want another frozen rock lobster tail again), and some other local seafood. We ate there twice it was so good. Another place we enjoyed and I hope it's still around was Five Flies, near the Mt. Nelson Hotel. It was contemporary South African cuisine in a beautifully renovated old bank building. I'm sure there's been many new restaurant openings since our trip however there's no substitute for amazing seafood you'll never find here.

Four Flies was still there when I when. Regrettably, we didn't make it there. It sounded really great.