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5 unforgettable Cape Town foodie experiences

Have you ever travelled to a lodge or area without checking on the quality of the cooking, only to be seriously disappointed after a few days of bland cuisine? We certainly have! With the exception of dedicated foodies, this detail can often go missing in our travel planning. Amazing food brings the local culture to life beautifully, allowing us to engage with our environment in a more meaningful way. Seasonal foods connect us to the local ecosystem, and inherited recipes reveal much about the history of the people creating them. For visitors to Cape Town, foodie experiences are varied and absolutely delightful. Ranging from pared down farm-to-table meals right through to world-class fine dining, there really is something for everyone in this cosmopolitan city.  Here is a selection of our ‘Top 5’ offbeat food experiences. Veld and Sea foraging Foraging in the wild for foods is a way of rewildling and connecting to a more primal part of ourselves. Founder Roushanna Gray curates her signature ‘Veld and Sea’ foraging experiences with brilliant authenticity, revealing how to discern poisonous plants, identify edible fynbos, and pull it all together with amazing recipes. Her Coastal Foraging workshops educate participants on edible seaweeds, identifying edible seafood in rock pools, and harvesting algae. The Veld and Sea workshops and events are run according to season: the coastal forages are strictly a Summer time experience; fynbos, mushroom and land foraging takes place in Winter time and in Spring time their focus is on edible flowers. Cushy gourmet picnic on a secret beach or mountaintop Cape Town has so many natural wonders to share with visitors; it can be hard to settle indoors, even in one of the many stylish spaces scattered around the city. Souk Events curates an incredible picnic experience complete with Moroccan style low-slung ottomans, side tables and lanterns with a Bento Box Meal (vegan or nomal options) full of tapas type snacks. Choose between a picnic on mountaintop, forest, or beach and Souk will style the experience to ideally suit your needs. Private pop-up dining in a boutique vineyard Travellers need not venture further than the Cape Winelands, just 15 minutes away from the city center, to enjoy gourmet dining in a spectacular vineyard setting. A dedicated team will set up a cosy private table in a secluded boutique vineyard, where guests sit under the dappled light while sampling farm-to-table cuisine. Most of the produce is grown at the farm or carefully selected from the neighbours, and wines are chosen to pair perfectly with the seasonal meals the chef creates for your private table. An unforgettable way to experience fine dining in the winelands! Traditional Cape Malay cooking course Cooking local foods teaches us a lot about the local culture. A Cape Malay cooking course reveals a connection of sorts to the ancient Eastern origins of this local community. Learn how to fold a samosa like a local and bake a decadent malva pudding in the charming setting of the chef’s own Hout Bay home. Champagne and canape tasting by sailboat in Table Bay Sailing is an invigorating way to experience the Table Bay coastline. Imagine the wind in your hair, filling the sails while you speed over the sea, with Cape Town sparkling in the background. Add to this a bottle of bubbles, then pair it with ‘matching’ canapes, and you have an absolutely delightful afternoon! Brilliant for celebrations of any kind – honeymoons, anniversaries, milestone birthdays, and the like. Willow Constantine is the Founder of Bespoke Safari Co. Bespoke Safari Co. is a boutique travel agency offering cutting edge curated travel experiences in Africa. If you would like to be a guest blogger on A Luxury Travel Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.

Willow Constantine

Willow Constantine is the founder and director of Bespoke Safari Co., a travel agency specializing in curated African experiences. Bespoke Safari Co. designs itineraries as a synergy of craft and travel, including private villa retreats in which clients escape the din of daily life to enjoy slow travel while observing wildlife in its natural habitat. As part of the Bespoke Safari Co. family, clients enjoy the privilege of travelling like a local. Whether exploring the hidden corners of Cape Town, camping with primates in Mahale, or quietly tracking leopard through the kopjes of Southern Tanzania, a Bespoke Safari experience will remain etched in one’s memory forever – we only curate the most unforgettable travel experiences. Willow researches each destination thoroughly for recent weather patterns, discovering any changes to wildlife migration and behavior. She also personally visits each lodge and villa she recommends, ensuring lodges are delivering only the best – at every price level.

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14 Comments

  1. More and more as I travel, I’m coming across cookery courses. If I get to Cape Town I would want to book the Cape Malay course.

    I’ve done quite a few cookery courses in different countries, in fact in different continents.

    It’s a really good way of getting a handle on the local people and their culture. Usually there are a few minutes to chat with your teachers. I like to ask them about their early memories of food, what their favourite childhood dishes were and how they came to get a career that involved food.

    1. Hello Abbie,

      I agree the Cape Malay cooking course would be the most closely linked to a culture unique to the Cape Town area. Besides, if you’ve ever had a samosa, you would definitely want to know how to create that for yourself at home and bring back a delicious part of the local heritage. Let me know if you want suggestions for cooking courses if you ever make it to the Mother City!

  2. I would like to have a go at the “Veld and Sea” foraging adventure. I did something similar up in Aarhus on the Danish coast a couple of years ago, though obviously there wasn’t any veld in the experience!

    It made for a fun morning and makes you take a micro approach to the shoreline, making you see details that you would normally just walk by.

    1. I agree – I love engaging with nature in a more meaningful way, of bringing the lands we take for granted to life. And what better way to do this, than to explore foraging for food sources in your own environment?! I’m doing this soonest myself!

  3. I must cook for about 330 nights every year so I would go for the luxurious picnic, especially as I love everything about Morocco – it’s decor, it’s food and it’s style.

    1. I agree! I love to be treated to a break from routine when I travel, especially if I know the food will be better than home. Let us know if you ever want to do a picnic like this

  4. For me a visit to the Cape Winelands sounds like heaven. I’m a big fan of South African wine.

    Eating at one of the vineyards would be brilliant. Wine is always best when it hasn’t travelled too far. Moreover, the local vintners will now exactly which food and wine pairings work best.

    1. Food and wine pairing really can change the taste of both and become an immersive experience. When enjoyed at a private table in the vineyards, it becomes a memory that will last a lifetime!

    2. That’s what I think with tasting experiences, rather than dining per se. You’re more heightened to the experience and you savour it. I’ve been to food tasting and tours before and felt the busier they are, the less I savour the experience so I do like the appeal of these here being quite private and fully immersive.

    3. I agree that the quieter experience of being with a winemaker on the land which grew the wine, and pairing wines with food in that environment, really brings the food and wine to life. Contact us if you want help creating such an experience!

  5. Those Veld and Sea workshops are such a brilliant idea! Really good for children too I think so they can discover an interest in natural food. I imagine Souk Events is a popular choice not just for families looking for some quality time together but for couples too, as a picnic on a quiet beach or mountain top would be so romantic. Likewise the canapés and champagne, though I’d happily partake in that alone if I had to! Great idea for celebrations, it’s certainly a memorable experience and a novel way to spend an anniversary or birthday.

    1. I am going to take my children to do Veld and Sea this summer! They will love it. Food and travel are great ways of celebrating milestones. I hope you can make it to Cape Town for your next milestone, and enjoy one of these amazing foodie experiences.

  6. Even more reasons to head for Cape Town. For an obsessive foodie like me it looks like one of the world’s great food destinations.

    I’ve been to Jo’burg for business and to Durban to watch cricket. I’ve heard so many good things about Cape Town that it would be good if I could divert one of he Jo’burg trips to Cape Town.

    1. Jeff, I would say that Cape Town is a food and adventure paradise. There is so much more to offer compared to the scope of the blog. I have written a free Cape Town City Guide, so please let me know if you would like to receive a copy for your diversion to Cape Town!

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