Food
I've had so much good food and so many fun dining experiences on this trip, and I've written about some of the more notable ones at the Mt. Nelson High Tea, Frankie's Dinner, the Old Biscuit Mill, etc. but I thought I'd consolidate some of the rest into this one post. Warning: Do not read on an empty stomach.
Let's start with breakfast. During the week we get a free breakfast "buffet" at Primi, a restaurant right next door to our room. We can choose from toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, Spanish omelette, oatmeal, yogurt, and granola, and the food is pretty good, but the people there are incredibly annoying. In particular, the lady who runs breakfast is so overly nice to a fault (I know how to scoop yogurt into a bowl, but thank you for making sure I am capable of doing it for the 5th time.) About 2 weeks in they started making us choose between "hot" (everything except yogurt and granola) and "health" (just yogurt and granola), which honestly makes no sense and I've chosen to ignore the distinction for the most part. As a result the main lady doesn't like me so much either. Anyway, on the weekends we're on our own for breakfast, and one good place I've been is Bootleggers, a nice little cafe about a mile walk down the beach, right on the water.
We're also provided lunch by Barclays at our internship, and those meals have included quite the variety. They're a little cold after being delivered by the catering company, and a little small (a theme common to most of the meals I've had here. The American sizes I'm used to are probably jut too big), but overall pretty good.
The rest of the time, we've been on our own for food. During the 4 weeks of classes, I usually got lunch at the Food Mart located right next to the Watershed. They have a ton of options and everything I've had there, from the biltong to the samoosas, the flatbread to the lamb wrap, the quesadilla to the rice wraps, the zebra to the warthog to the ostrich to the crocodile (all in 1 meal!), and the ice cream waffle to the chocolate biscuit, has been delicious. Probably my favorite restaurant in the Food Mart however is Woodies, which is basically a 5 Guys. The burgers are greasy and cheesy and delicious, and they just throw fries in the bag until there's no more room, all for R70 (~$5.50) for 2 patties and chips.
I tried packing lunch a few times, but the ingredients I got from the Pick N Pay grocery store were pretty gross, especially compared to the amazing other options I had, and while buying lunch everyday does start to add up, most of the time I'm able to get something for $5 or $6 (Live Update: I just ran to Pick N Pay to get a bunch of bananas, a bag of raisins, and a quart of yogurt - because I wasn't following my own advice about reading about food while hungry - for a total of $4).
For dinner, I've been to a bunch of different restaurants and I'll list a couple of recommendations here. El Burro Taqueria has a really good vegetarian taco, Hussar Grill has extremely slow service and delicious steaks, Kloof Street House has a unique, fun atmosphere and fresh osso bucco, and Tiger's Milk has a nice rack of ribs.
iXperience has also organized some events around food. "Dining with Your Senses" was not actually dining with your senses like we expected it to be, eating blindfolded or in a dark room. Instead it was just a really average bowl of curry that took way too long to be served. On the other end of the spectrum, the "Cape Malay Cooking Class," which took place in one of the colorful houses in Bokapp, was a lot of fun. We learned how to make chicken and corn samoosas, roti bread, and a chicken curry with all the spices. The lady who taught the class was funny, even if the other 2 girls and I were a little quiet.
I don't usually Instagram my food (how un-millennial of me), but I did take a few pictures before eating:
The dinner I'm most excited for though is happening tomorrow. I made a reservation for 10 at Gold, a place that serves 14 courses of traditional South African food, paired with live performances, all for R350 ($27). Stay tuned for that post.
Let's start with breakfast. During the week we get a free breakfast "buffet" at Primi, a restaurant right next door to our room. We can choose from toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, Spanish omelette, oatmeal, yogurt, and granola, and the food is pretty good, but the people there are incredibly annoying. In particular, the lady who runs breakfast is so overly nice to a fault (I know how to scoop yogurt into a bowl, but thank you for making sure I am capable of doing it for the 5th time.) About 2 weeks in they started making us choose between "hot" (everything except yogurt and granola) and "health" (just yogurt and granola), which honestly makes no sense and I've chosen to ignore the distinction for the most part. As a result the main lady doesn't like me so much either. Anyway, on the weekends we're on our own for breakfast, and one good place I've been is Bootleggers, a nice little cafe about a mile walk down the beach, right on the water.
We're also provided lunch by Barclays at our internship, and those meals have included quite the variety. They're a little cold after being delivered by the catering company, and a little small (a theme common to most of the meals I've had here. The American sizes I'm used to are probably jut too big), but overall pretty good.
The rest of the time, we've been on our own for food. During the 4 weeks of classes, I usually got lunch at the Food Mart located right next to the Watershed. They have a ton of options and everything I've had there, from the biltong to the samoosas, the flatbread to the lamb wrap, the quesadilla to the rice wraps, the zebra to the warthog to the ostrich to the crocodile (all in 1 meal!), and the ice cream waffle to the chocolate biscuit, has been delicious. Probably my favorite restaurant in the Food Mart however is Woodies, which is basically a 5 Guys. The burgers are greasy and cheesy and delicious, and they just throw fries in the bag until there's no more room, all for R70 (~$5.50) for 2 patties and chips.
I tried packing lunch a few times, but the ingredients I got from the Pick N Pay grocery store were pretty gross, especially compared to the amazing other options I had, and while buying lunch everyday does start to add up, most of the time I'm able to get something for $5 or $6 (Live Update: I just ran to Pick N Pay to get a bunch of bananas, a bag of raisins, and a quart of yogurt - because I wasn't following my own advice about reading about food while hungry - for a total of $4).
For dinner, I've been to a bunch of different restaurants and I'll list a couple of recommendations here. El Burro Taqueria has a really good vegetarian taco, Hussar Grill has extremely slow service and delicious steaks, Kloof Street House has a unique, fun atmosphere and fresh osso bucco, and Tiger's Milk has a nice rack of ribs.
iXperience has also organized some events around food. "Dining with Your Senses" was not actually dining with your senses like we expected it to be, eating blindfolded or in a dark room. Instead it was just a really average bowl of curry that took way too long to be served. On the other end of the spectrum, the "Cape Malay Cooking Class," which took place in one of the colorful houses in Bokapp, was a lot of fun. We learned how to make chicken and corn samoosas, roti bread, and a chicken curry with all the spices. The lady who taught the class was funny, even if the other 2 girls and I were a little quiet.
I don't usually Instagram my food (how un-millennial of me), but I did take a few pictures before eating:
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| R35 ($2.75) Lunch |
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| Truth Coffee - I got the "Instantaneous Clairvoyance" |
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| Fish and Chips (orange due to the heating lamp) |
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| Bokapp - Cape Malay Cooking Class |
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