Eating & Sleeping on the Waterfront

Sidewalk cafes:
Some of the most pleasant meals were sitting outdoors or in an open air cafe. The waterfront is a very colorful area constantly buzzing with activity and there is a nice sea breeze that keeps being outdoors quite pleasant. Plus local music groups often perform near the cafes so there is live musical entertainment.

Two words--Mango Frulatta:
At this little cafe in the atrium in the Victoria Wharf shopping mall called Da Capo one can sit in wicker chairs and sip on a mango frulatta (vanilla icecream in mango juice). Divine!

Quick Tips:

Costs:
The V&A waterfront is one of the most touristed and therefore expensive areas in the waterfront. Still expect to pay less than for a 3-course meal at a sit-down restaurant and no more than twice that at a nice sit-down restaurant. Hotels have a wide range of prices. We paid around /night for a double room at a 3* while friends of ours paid /night to stay at a 5*. Then there's the Cape Grace, where the Clinton's stayed which is /night.

Easy Access:
From the waterfront shops you can get about everything you need. There are banks and after hours ATMs (with guard), souvenior shops, 1-hour photo developing services that will also put digital pics from your memory card onto CD for you (very convenient but a bit pricey at ), pharmacies, and even a grocery store in the mall. There are also tourist information kiosks and places to arrange boat or helicopter rides.

Best Way To Get Around:

Safe Place to Walk:
There is loads of parking in the waterfront and most of the area around the shops and restuarants are pedestrianized making this a great place to explore on foot. This is also one of the best areas for those in wheel chair to explore since most of this area is handicap accessible as well. At night, while I would still not recommend walking alone, the area is covered by a high police presence keeping crime to a minimum. It is also possible to walk to the downtown area from the waterfront during the day. It took us about 25 minutes to walk from the green market to V&A forum at the center of the waterfront.

Getting Around:
The city tour buses leave from the waterfront and allow you to hope on and off at different tourist spots in the city. This is a good deal and the double decker buses are great for seeing the sights. There are also many lines of taxis here. We took a cab to the cable car for Table Mountain for R70 (with tip) which worked out to be around or divided between the 7 of us.

The Breakwater Lodge is in a former prison but offers comfortable and clean, albeit small, rooms right on the waterfront for the lowest cost.

The Breakwater also houses the UCT Business School (which is held in the more prison-looking parts). The staff of the hotel are also students in hotel management. This can result in a slow check-in/check-out process, (as it did for us--about 45 minutes on each end--no kidding) but otherwise the hotel was very well run and maintained.

Our room had two twin beds, a night stand and generous cupboard space, (although that left little floor space for our suitcases). A little kettle and tea making supplies were provided as was a color-TV with remote. We shared a shower room and a toilet with the room next door so that when you came in from the hallway you were in a little foyer with four doors (one to your room, one to the room next door, one to the shower, one to the toilet). This is great if you have friends staying next door, but really weird when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and run into a sketchy man wearing only a towel. For a little bit more, you and a friend could each have your own room and share the bath or you could have a larger room with two beds and a private bath. Because we shared a room and shared a toilet with another room, we each paid only $15/night.

The location can't be beat for this price. There is a cafeteria in the business school where you can get breakfast for less than $2. Just across the street from the hotel is the aquarium, crafts market and IMAX theatre. It's about a 10 minute walk to the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island or the entrance of the Victoria Wharf shopping center.

The Spur is a Cape Town chain with a great waterfront location on the upper deck of the Victorian Wharf mall. The restaurant offers horseshoe-shaped booths and normal tables with a western flair, along with a great view of the waterfront--especially from the outdoor picnic tables at night.

The fare is Tex-Mex which seems sort of strange being over 10,000 km from Mexico but with cheesy names such as "Eeta-fajita" how can you resist? The quality, being on par with chain restaurants in the US like Chili's or Carlos O'Kelly's makes The Spur an easy choice if you are looking for a sit down dinner without too many confusing choices. The dessert selection is quite extensive as well, with the recommendation from my friends being the large brownie a la mode.

Although The Spur was busy the Sunday night we ate there, we didn't have to wait for a table (even though we had a large group) because they have quite extensive seating if you are willing to sit indoors. The wait staff was very helpful although a bit busy and therefore less attentive.

The Spur also serves as a good meeting place because it is very near the waterfront amphitheater; an outdoor amphitheater that is marked on tourist waterfront maps as a convenient and safe place to meet up with your friends in the evening. The Spur is also a convenient three minute walk from the hotel for Table Bay residents and 10 minutes for guests of the cheaper Breakwater Lodge.

Harry's Pancakes is conveniently located near the clock-tower (big red clock-tower in the waterfront) and the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. The cuisine is Dutch Pancakes filled with either savory or sweet fillings.

We chose to sit outside under the shaded comfort of the umbrellaed tables in the wicker and wooden chairs. We had 10 people in our party which the charming waiter accommodated quite quickly. I had smoked trout in my pancake while others had minced ostrich, biltong (some kind of dried sausage), and chicken in theirs. A real treat came when we found out they had fresh strawberry juice. For less than $1, it proved to be the highlight of a good lunch.

Our lunch also proved to be quite entertaining, as a traditional African singing group came and performed in front of the bistro--(while selling their CD's) and our waiter was very entertaining as well. When we called him over to ask for the bill, he innocently ask what we wanted; when we said we wanted the bill, he produced it from behind his back where he'd been hiding it along with about a dozen mints. I had ordered the most expensive pancake on the menu and with my strawberry juice I only owed $5.

Panini is an excellent sidewalk cafe with plenty of shaded seats, as well as a few indoor ones. They serve--(surprise!) paninis plus a variety of other sandwiches, pasta, and salads. We had mozzarella, tomato, and pesto paninis with grilled chicken on toasted ciabatta. We were surprised to find that these paninis were about 4" x 10" (roughly) long, making for a hearty lunch. They were only about $3. The restaurant also has a full selection of drinks, juices, and milkshakes (the mango shakes are excellent but I was disappointed to find that the strawberry milkshake had a very fake strawberry flavor).

Panini is conveniently located right in the middle of the waterfront by the bank and Victoria and Alfred forum. We ate here three times and each time there was a singing or musical group performing nearby. It is located in the same building with a number of shops, including a photo place making it quite convenient--(if you are eating with a group) to take turn running errands while you are waiting for the food.

Da Capo was my favorite place for breakfast and lunch. The mango frulattas (vanilla ice cream in mango juice) were fantastic ($1.50) and they had great toasted mozzarella and tomato on croissants, hefty Greek salads, fried calamari with rice, and a variety of heavier foods as well.

Most of the cafe is in an atrium of the mall where natural light filters in from the skylights two floors up. The tables are a dark wood and the comfortable dark wicker chairs are perfect for relaxing and enjoying your food. Breakfast here will be less than $3 and even a big lunch no more than $5. The service was quite good and we usually left generous tips.

The African Experience certainly has a cheesy name, but if you have no time to explore the markets in the seedier parts of the city, this market is a chance to see a variety of local crafts, meet the people who make them, and sometimes even witness the craftsmen/women at work.

Inside a large open building, local artisans sit by the booths they've rented and sell everything from drums to necklaces to pillow covers to wooden carvings. In one place a guy had a wood working machine set up and he was making merchandise while waiting to sell what he already had. Others had sewing machines in their booths and worked away while they were waiting for customers.

Some of the more unique items I was tempted to buy were little pottery chickens enameled with a beautiful speckled blue. There was also a place with handmade hammocks that I just wanted to crawl in and take a nap. Then there was the store that all my friends commented upon independently where one could get a massage. Something for everyone. The prices here are of course higher than in other parts of the city but then one pays for the convenience of having the store on the water front. A big draw back is that few--(if any) take credit card. Fortunately there is an ATM inside near the entrance from the Portswood parking garage.

The Victoria Wharf is a glitzy high-end mall that actually connects (at the ritzier end) to the second floor of the Table Bay Hotel. The mall is on two floors and is enormous. While it doesn't have any big department stores it does offer many name brand shops (both South African name brand and from other places in the world). There are also numerous restaurants (both fast food and fine dining), wine shops, photo places, coffee shops, pharmacies, a grocery store, two movie theaters (one with Hollywood blockbusters and one with independent non-American films), and numerous shops selling everything you could imagine. Things are of course at the highest price possible, but since the devaluation of the rand, it should be affordable to westerners. Also the mall offers a relatively safe place for shopping and is conveniently located by the waterfront.

One of our favorite place inside was a coffee shop called "Love, Revenge, and Cappuccino"--just for the name. We had a quick breakfast of muffins/croissants and tropical fruit milkshakes since it opens quite early. They have both smoking and non-smoking sections which is nice.

Although this store is obviously poised to be a tourist trap, it's actually not a bad one to fall into. Offering a wide range of merchandise, from very inexpensive gifts such as wooden hair sticks (R5) or shell necklaces (R15) to more expensive items including pottery, housewares, and painted ostrich eggs. The prices are more expensive, but not so much more than the markets where one can do bargaining.

I came here twice and enjoyed sorting through the "wood" section. They had masks, carved animals, little bowls with giraffe handles, photo albums, statues in one room. Another room had table clothes, necklaces, and beaded jewelry, while in another room drums; in another room eggs; in another room clothing. If you only had a short time to do shopping this would definitely be an easy place to pick up a variety of gifts.