I’ve been living in Cape Town for the last 3 or so years and it has been a great experience. The city has it’s own “feel” and, at first, this takes some getting used to. One of the first things you notice when you move here is the mountain. I’ve seen photo’s of it before I moved, but when you live hear you realize that it really has a presence in the city and that you can see it from all over (there is a joke that Capetonians get lost the moment they don’t know where the mountain is). Then the next thing was the food.
I’m not even talking fancy restaurants. There are just so many places to eat out and everything is so well priced! I don’t have to keep a lot of food in my place because of how convenient it is to just eat out or go buy cooked food from the local Spar/PicknPay or where ever. I’ve also become a regular at some places without it bankrupting me. Other than the restaurants there are also a ton of coffee shops, bars and markets that sell just about any food you can think of from multiple cultures.
One piece of food stood out for me, and that is a Gatsby. I learned very quickly that you can share one of these with 4 other people. If you are just one person, only order a quarter (and even that might be too much). This is basically a large bread roll with potato chips and meat on it… lots of it. Mariams Kitchen in ForeShore is the place you should go for the “real” experience. Just make sure you are ready to take a nap after all that food, because you won’t be doing much else after you try it.
If you ever visit the city, I recommend trying different places each day. A good place to start eating is Kloof Street in the city center. The move from there. You won’t have to look for a place to eat on that street. Then it’s easy to just ask around. Most people here are pretty passionate about their food and will be more than happy to tell you all about their favorite place to eat and even what to order.
This was my first longer post, hope it is helpful to whomever finds it!