Food Food Food

I am a big fan of food! I think that one of the most important things to do when abroad is to try new foods and new flavours. This post shows pictures of tasty looking food I've eaten along with some information about local foods and stories of where I've been eating and what I've been doing.

BIltong

I'm going to start with one of my favourites - Biltong. Biltong is a cured meat usually made from beef or game. It is created by adding spices to raw meet and drying it out. It might sound gross but I find it to be a very convenient tasty snack. It comes in different flavours and different cuts, my favourite is when it's moist and red in the centre.

Sliced biltong

Extra moist biltong from the Old Biscuit mill market

Padkos - Beef chips from Peregrine farm store

In South Africa, when snacking on a journey, they call it Padkos. Above is biltong we bought for Padkos on our way home from EE staff camp from a farm store near Hermanus.

Winelands

The winelands outside Cape Town are very popular for both tourists and locals. They make delicious wine and are beautiful places to go and visit. My friend Eve took me on a lovely day out exploring the winelands. We tasted a variety of reds, whites and roses and learnt all about the wine making process and their flavours. We then had a lovely picnic outside accompanied with a carafe of sauvignon blanc. 

Eve sampling wine

The winelands

Fresh bread and Snoek paste 

Snoek is a common fish found on the coast of South Africa and is full of flavour. In the Wine farm we had a really creamy Snoek Pate on thick slices of grainy brown bread.

Eve and me picnicing

My picnic platter

Coffee and other beverages

In Cape Town you will not find a Starbucks on every street corner, in fact there is a wonderful lack of chain restaurants and cafes. I have really enjoyed trying out small eateries and discussing where to find the best Coffee in town.

Coffee from the Sidewalk Cafe

I've had many a delicious meal from the Sidewalk Cafe, including their October special where I enjoyed a 4 course meal for around £5 including a steak main course. It resembles a chain in that there are several other restaurants and cafes around town owned by the same people, though each has it's own menu and unique style.

Coffee and a muffin from Bread, Milk & Honey

Bread Milk & Honey is a cafe in town, next door to a building we often use for EE events and seminars. This was a savoury muffin  with carrots and pumpkin seeds.

Coconut Mocha

I took a break from camp along with my colleague Daniel and our camp themed reading material. We headed to the Worcester mall and I enjoyed this coconut  mocha so much, I came back for another one the next day.

Bos Peach ice tea

A glass of chilled ice tea on a hot summers day. Bos makes its ice teas from Rooibos, it means Red bush in Afrikaans which is a type of Fynbos (I will try to take some pictures of Fynbos for a future blog because I think it's a really interesting plant.

Steri Stumpie chocolate milk

Steri Stumpie makes flavoured milk, including coffee and green cream soda. This is a chocolate milk Steri Stumpie which I enjoyed on a long journey to Hermanus.

Breakfast and French Toast

I've really got into breakfast recently, i've been sampling lots of local breakfast eateries as well as cooking it at home. French toast is a new favourite of mine as I've now discovered just how versatile it is, you can make it from a variety of breads, you can stuff it and you can put toppings on it.

Strawberry filled French toast on a Saturday morning at the Cottons'

Breakfast in Noordhoek - French toast with Brie and berries

Breakfast at Cafe Paradiso on Kloof St - French toast with haloumi, tomatoes, basil and pesto 

Bircher muesli with fruit and nuts at a cafe in Mouille point

Eating out

I seem to find myself eating out a lot here, I cannot turn down an invitation to go to a restaurant and I love trying new food.

Snoek fish and chips

Cat at Kalkies

My friend Cat and I enjoyed a day trip in Kalk bay. We went souvenir shopping, watched the fisherman at work, walked to the lighthouse and then ended up in the local fish and chip shop - Kalkies. Here we shared a battered fresh Snoek fish and chips.

Me, Kim G, Lynn and Carla eating Meze in Camps Bay

Some of our Meze plates

Billie and her birthday pizza

Cheesecake at Arnold's

For Billie's birthday we went to Boccini's Italian restaurant on Kloof st, followed by dessert at Ardnold's. As you can see above, she had fresh avocado on her pizza. It is most commonly simply referred to as "avo" and I have discovered its true delights here. It is often used as a substitute for creamy substances such as butter, cheese or mayonnaise.  It's great spread on toast or as seen here added raw onto a cooked pizza.

Dan, Carla, me, Adam, Gaby and Ryan at Down South on Long street

Mississippi mud pie in a jar

Mississippi mud pie

Beef salad with horseradish dressing at Rafiki's on Kloof st

Dinner at Quay 4 in the waterfront

Prego roll and chips

I went to a restaurant at the waterfront with my friend Lenoy to see a band she recommended called ShenFM. They sang the night away with their repertoire of cover songs. I enjoyed a prego roll which is a Portuguese cuisine and is a steak in a bun with a spicy sauce.

EE Staff lunches

Working in Khayelitsha I have learnt a lot about Xhosa people and the way they eat. The other day at work I brought in a hearty salad for lunch with lentils and spinach and two of my colleagues asked "what is that?" as they just couldn't understand that that was a meal. Every meal they eat contains meat and usually a lot of bread. Every Friday all staff get together for staff lunch. People come from all departments including volunteers and part time members. It's the one time in the week we all get to spend together and we usually see at least 40 people dining together. With the staff mostly being Xhosa and with us being based in the townships, we eat their cuisine. this usually contains some sort of greasy oily meat and few vegetables.

A packet of Chicken and chips from Pick n Pay supermarket at EE staff lunch

All EE staff packed in the wendy house for staff lunch

Fancy staff lunch to celebrate the end of the year

End of year dessert

Markets

Markets are becoming more and more popular around Cape Town. They are not just a place to shop, they are a place to hang out and to eat. I have spent many a Saturday or Sunday morning sampling a wide variety of delicious fresh food.

Selection of cakes at the Old Biscuit Mill

Beetroot, apple and ginger juice at the Hope St market

Gourmet sandwiches

The Old Biscuit Mill bustling on a Sunday morning

My decadent breakfast waffle at the Old Biscuit Mill - Eaten off an old door as a table

Lunch at Charly's bakery

Charly's is a famous bakery in Cape Town and it even has it's own TV show. Oprah Winfrey once ate there and apparently spoke very highly of it. The shop looks and smells amazing with an array of brightly coloured cakes and fresh baking odors. We went there for lunch and enjoyed light pastries and quiches, saving space for some of their delicious desserts. We shared a variety of desserts so we didn't have to miss out.  

Nutella Cheesecake

Cupcakes on display

To celebrate Cape Town winning the award for 2014 design capital - Each layer represents a different area of Cape Town including city, beaches and townships and is all edible

Spinach and Feta quiche

Red velvet cake, Nutella cheese cake and chocolate cake

Orly and her cupcake

Outdoor cooking and eating

In the summertime eating outside is almost essential. The most common way to eat in the summer is from a braai (Afrikaans for barbecue).  When I arrived in Cape Town it was National Braai day and I've enjoyed many a braai since. Common braai foods include: Boerewors - a really long sausage often sold in a spiral, cooked whole on the braai and then cut into portions for eating and mealies - corn on the cob, cooked in foil. We spent a Sunday afternoon in the township of Gugulethu at their famous braai place - Mzolis. Up to 2000 people can be seen there on a Sunday afternoon, enjoying fantastically flavoured meats, cool drinks and dancing. Jamie Oliver once visited there and wrote this article about it - http://www.jamieoliver.com/core/images/magazine/mzolis.pdf. 

Another popular outdoor cooking method is the potjie which is a 3 legged cast iron pot put over a fire. You can cook any sort of stew in a potjie pot by simply throwing in meats, vegetables, liquids and flavours.

Potjie at camp - dinner for over 200 people

Cooking potjie

A Sunday afternoon braai with marinaded chicken and mealies

Choosing our meat to Braai at mzolis

Long strings of Boerwors

Adam holding our bucket of meat to take to the braai

The final result - our bucket of cooked meat

Beef and horseradish sandwich on Clifton first beach

Working our way through a box of litchis by my pool

We stopped by a fruit seller on the side of the street in down and bought this large box of litchies for around £4. We took them to my rooftop pool for an afternoon cool off looking out over the city. 

Kirstenbosh gardens

Picnic in Kirstenbosh

I am still continuing to enjoy food and try new places to eat here in Cape Town. I have discovered new flavours and developed a love of food photography. I hope you've enjoyed looking at my photos as much as I enjoyed eating over the last few months.