Ilanga Travel explores Cape Town on foot

At 08h30 the Ilanga Team was greeted & collected from our office in Cape Town by our guide, Pam. We were then driven to a mobile coffee shop called “The Fix” in a small park in the Higgovale area. The coffee shop sells Deluxe Coffee, which is a very popular and delicious brand of roasted coffee in Cape Town. We sat down in the park and had a brief introduction to the tour whilst looking straight at Table Mountain. A freshly baked Pain au Chocolate was given to each of us to enjoy with our coffees while we had our introduction. We also met the owner of the coffee shop, who explained his desire to transform a very unused area into a pleasant place for locals to stop on their way to work or  school, or just a nice little outside spot to hang out.

After we finished our breakfast treat, we drove to our next stop – Our Local in Kloof Street. It is a beautifully decorated coffee shop that sells exquisite breakfasts and is extremely popular amongst Capetonians. They sell amazing coffees, breakfasts and drinks. Here we got to know Pam a little better and she gave us some insight to the everyday life of Cape Town locals by people watching. We finished off our “Our Local” experience with 2 simple, but delicious toasted sandwiches and a very homey Shakshuka. Definitely would recommend it for anyone looking for a quick bite to eat!

From here we started our walking part of the tour. Our next stop was a 5 minute walk down Kloof Street to a small family owned baker called Oswald’s. This was something that even we locals never knew about, but immediately became obsessed with! The freshly baked breads are all made from a homemade sourdough recipe, that was started during the Covid pandemic by a father and son who became passionate about baking sourdough breads. We had a slice of this magnificent bread and also had a sweet treat (Cinnamon Twisties), which are essentially a combination of Cinnabuns & bread stick – DELICIOUS! We were also briefly introduced to a small Biltong shop next to Oswald’s and were given a  very informative breakdown of how the meat is cured and dry aged.

From here, we continued our way down to the Elgr Restaurant on Kloof Street, where we met one of the owners. Pam described the amazing food that is made at the restaurant. It is very diverse and caters for both fine dining as well as casual menu styles. This makes it the perfect spot for lovers of good food wanting to go on a romantic night out, or equally for a family looking for a quick bite to eat.

Our next stop was a bit further away – about a 15 minute walk – and was the Company Gardens. The Company Gardens is a history-rich location in Cape Town with art galleries, the Jewish Museum and Cape Dutch colonial mansions of the early settlers all being within walking distance of one another. This, however, is not the only reason people come to the Company Gardens. The little tea garden owned by Anzia is a hidden gem which offers light meals. It offers a very cute little Rooibos Tea tasting with some home baked goodies including Anzia’s Cheesecake, Rusks and Melktert. It was a very cute excursion, where we all learnt a bit about Fynbos – flora indigenous to the Western Cape – and its medical benefits for the consumer.

Once we finished our little tea tasting, we made our way down a small walkway heading towards Green Market Square. We stopped at Mariam’s Kitchen, which is very well known locally for their amazing Gatsbys – a large roll or sandwich traditionally served with hot slap chips (soft fries) and other yummy ingredients. We had a Full House Gatsby, which we divided into 5 pieces – filled with slap chips, masala steak, lettuce, tomatoes and a BBQ sauce. This was an absolute hit amongst the team!

To take a little break from eating, we continued down the pedestrian walkway towards Green Market Square, where we stopped at Heaven’s Coffee. This is a proper hole in the wall in one of the oldest churches in Cape Town – a beautiful Church built in 1879. This coffee shop even offers guests the opportunity to sit in the beautiful church while enjoying a fresh cup of coffee.

From here we continued walking up towards Shortmarket Street,  where we stopped at The House of Machines – a well known bar with amazing cocktails and beers. Their speciality is their oak barrel aged Old Fashioned and oak barrel aged Negroni. Both of these cocktails are barrelled for at least 6 months before being served to customers. This offers a different take on the Negroni, which is usually served as a freshly prepared drink. Both cocktails exceeded expectations and were presented with “flair”, which is a flashy way of preparing a cocktail. This was very impressive and fun to be around. Our bartender Thendai is one of their longest standing staff members. He told us about their American / South African owned business model, and how they have managed to branch out all over the world including cities such as Paris, Tokyo and Kopenhagen. This is an absolute must for any tourist looking for a local bar with good drinks.

While we were having our own little party in the bar, Pam went to fetch our transport and parked it in the Bo Kaap. She fetched us and we walked to Faeeza’s Home Kitchen, a very well-known home in the Bo Kaap with exceptional, traditional Cape Malay food. Faeeza’s Home Kitchen offers a beautiful outside sitting area with an a La Carte Menu for sit down guests to enjoy some of the best Cape Malay food available in Cape Town. Faeeza also offers cooking classes in her home, where the customer can learn to make traditional Samosas, Chilli Bites, Rotis and Cape Malay Chicken Curry. This was a truly amazing experience and we got to meet Faeeza in her home as well. She was lovely and very inviting and chatted with us for some time, which added to the amazing ambience. We were served lovely Cape Malay food and were sent off with a traditional Koeksister, which is similar to coconut dusted donut. An absolute MUST for anyone that goes to Faeeza’s Home Kitchen. We were then dropped back at our office around 16h00.

This was a really fantastic day and we all learned so much about the food offerings and history of our home city!