What about food?

Photo taken at Moyo, Spier - Stellenbosch.

Update 2005-01-24: There are a couple of specific places linked here, as well as links to sites you can search for restaurants on. This article is by no means a critique on individual places or cooking styles, more a very general view on what a visitor might expect meal wise (for those who might be concerned enough to bring tinned food along).

South Africa does food pretty well really. Aside from the fact that visitors get pretty good value and quality for money (you need to please not do that money conversion thing so loudly and visibly - it just upsets us locals who earn a pittance) the choice of food is pretty impressive too. Restaurants and cafes that focus on 'globalised' fare are literally in every mall and high street - from burger variations to the obligatory pastas, there is something for almost everyone.

Vegetarians (in all their various guises) are the exception to this rule. Get used to eating a salad (you'll swear that damn salad follows you from restaurant to restaurant) or anything with spinach and feta. You probably also wont be able to get a satisfactory answer if you want to really get the food contents laid open for your inspection (What type of gelatin do you use? Is there vegetable rennet in the cheese?). There are some speciality vegetarian places and Col'Cacchio pizzerias make a good effort.

We are surrounded by ocean and by default, seafood. Price-wise, its pretty good. Not as good as subsidised meals in Las Vegas, but the next best thing. Again, quality and quantity rule. A prawn in England is flea sized when compared to what we call a prawn (you need two hands to hold it). As we haven't really yet mastered the art of completely polluting our national waters, the seafood is safe to eat - but always make sure its fresh!

You'll note that we also do chain-restaurants very well and we're big on franchises here. A News Cafe in Blouberg will be the same quality and standard as a News Cafe in Menlyn. They provide hearty fare at a reasonable rate.

If you're in the Cape, really make an effort to eat at some of the wine estates. They're not as instantly visually gratifying as dining in Camps Bay and surrounds, but the food is generally excellent and you could be forgiven for thinking you were dining in genteel Tuscany.

Supporting the Pink community, Cafe Manhattan is popular and offers a nice bar area for some post dining cruising. You'll find that many of the bars and restaurants in the Waterkant area will be more than happy to have your patronage. Its such a nice, friendly area! Essentially, the food scene is more 'integrated' rather than 'ghettoised'.

Comparing the food scene in Jo'burg and Cape Town is difficult. Both offer a great choice and good quality and somewhat iffy service. Noticeably, Jo'burg gets comatose around 21:00 regardless of which day. Its a bizarre thing, but Johannesburg restaurants don't have that packed till 2am feel that you get in popular restaurants in big cities. You'll be eating and next minute you notice all the customers have disappeared, the chairs are all stacked away and the two remaining staff are smoking by the front door, waiting for you to finish that two litre bottle of mineral water.

If you happen do have fidgety offspring with you, Spur Steak Ranches are a good choice as they thankfully embrace what other restaurants dread. Many of the drive-thru variety burger type chains will have kids entertainment areas too - so mom and dad can calorie restock in relative peace.

Check out Restaurants.co.za or Dining Out for South Africa wide restaurant listings.