Hello from Cape Town! We have been here for a week and have had an extreme time. We have been to the extreme end of Africa, seen extremely lovely art, eaten the most extreme meal that ever was served, and generally had an extremely good time.
We started out in Cape Town by going up to the top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain both overlooks and divides the entire city. On a clear day you can see forever and on a cloudy day you don't even realize there is a mountain in the middle. You can hike to the top but we're not that extreme so we took the cable car* to the top.
Once on top you could see all the way to the Cape of Good Hope, through the entire mountain range, and to the city below.
I walked around the top of the mountain which is like a tabletop and super flat. The sky had been crystal clear all morning but in the early afternoon the clouds started to roll in and engulf the whole mountain.
After seeing the Cape of Good Hope from the top of the mountain, we also toured the peninsula of Cape Town and went to the place itself. The city is not at the southern tip of Africa but the suburbs and surrounding area take you to the actual cape. The cape is where the Atlantic Ocean ends and meets False Bay before becoming the Indian Ocean. It was incredibly important for the spice trade in the 1500s and onward. We started out along the beaches of Cape Town and drove along the coast. Stops included: obnoxious photo sessions, an ostrich farm, and a lighthouse at Cape Point overlooking the Cape of Good Hope.
Not pictured is the incredibly terrifying lunch we ate following the lighthouse visit where we were constantly protecting our food from diving birds.**
We reached the Cape of Good Hope and had no troubles navigating our ship around the rocks. It was the end of the world as we knew it.*** ****
From there, penguins. Specifically Boulders Beach and African penguins and a jolly holiday for us all. There's no reason for those little birds to be this extremely cute.*****
Back in the city, we visited a few different museums. The District Six Museum shows the history of the District Six neighborhood that was completely relocated during apartheid. It is extremely tragic but the museum did a wonderful job of sharing personal stories of the people and families. Former residents of the district are the tour guides in the museum.
We visited two art museums--the Zietz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) and the South African National Gallery. The MOCAA is a building of renovated silos that is super modern and a show in itself. It features artwork from all over Africa and is the largest collection of contemporary African art in the world.
The South African National Gallery features artwork by South Africans from a range of time periods. The current exhibition showcased more modern artwork and specifically looked at artists that have been underrepresented by the museum in the past.****** These were some of my favorites.
Oh, and street art!!
Oh, and neighborhoods that are entirely street art!
The Bo Kaap neighborhood is a pre-dominantly Muslim neighborhood that is populated by brightly colored houses. We did a walking tour through on our last day here. The neighborhood is up on a hill and has Table Mountain in the background. One spot was touted by our tour guide as being the cover of the Cape Town Lonely Planet books for years.
*******
Our final tourist hot spot was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardents, AT's******** #1 must-do for Cape Town. The gardens are massive and sit right on the edge of Table Mountain. There were a lot of plant things to learn but I did none of that and instead mostly looked at pretty things with a vista in the background.*********
We have now reached the "Extreme Food" portion of our blog. Let me preface all of this by saying that we have only eaten extremely well for our entire month in Africa. This is, of course, due to our family philosophy of No Meal Left Behind combined with my extreme passion for reading restaurant reviews and menus. But our meals in Cape Town have been over the top. Extreme highlights have been:
The Saturday food and craft market with this large pile of food that we still don't know what all was in it or how we ordered it:
The Test Kitchen- rated in the 50 best restaurants in the world, a list I heavily stalk after eating at Pujol last summer.*********** This meal was so crazy town that, from the moment we walked in, I felt like we were in an SNL sketch. We started in "The Dark Room" and had seven different "snacks" from all over the world. We were not given a menu but were given a map with our 'route'. Every course was elaborately explained by two servers that would stay with us for the entire 4+ hour evening.
My approximate guesses at what we ate going clockwise from top left:
Root vegetables that we dipped into the sauce which itself had been sprinkled tableside with some sort of thing?
Coconut lobster on a delicious tiny cracker on the leaves in front that we were specifically instructed to eat before we ate the tandoori chicken which was still roasting on an open fire.
Pork cracklings reconstructed as bacon that we were to dip into the beer cheese-flavored foam that was foamed (?) into the mug (tableside, obvs) on top of a gelée that we were specifically told not to penetrate.
Something on a cracker that was straight up delicious that we were supposed to eat first in its entirety and then take the spoon and scoop up the stuff on the other bowl that was some type of sheep's cheese that tasted like heaven.
Center picture: mushroom flavored goodness on a pastry with gold leaf meant to look like a millionaire pastry that mirrored the very last thing we were served hours later.
Then we were taken to "The Light Room" and the meal could actually begin. I should say, we were escorted by our server to a door where he knocked three times, a man on the other side opened a porthole and looked out to confirm who we were, and then we were taken through.************
Once in the light room, we had menus with an embossed stamp and a whole new world.
We then had so many courses of delicious elaborate food. Everything had instructions, everything was explained. We ate all of it and retained very little information. Oftentimes, mid-course, we would ask each other what we were eating and would have no answer.
My attempt at reconstructing is as follows:
From top left and going clockwise:
Bread! I know this one!
Lobster salad served with coconut, in a coconut, delivered from a coconut on dry ice that included a bowl we only smelled from before the plate was served and then was sprinkled with flavored ice.
Beef tartare that had a foam and crispy bread thing that when eaten all together (as instructed) tasted like the best Yorkshire Pudding you've never had.
Somehow in a 15-course tasting menu prepared entirely to order there were also specials and this was one of them and I have no idea what it was.
I forgot to take a picture but it was bibimbap and it was so delicious.
Of the first three photos: one of them is kingklip with a chestnut jam, one is rabbit and ham both served two ways, and one of them is another special. I don't know what's what anymore.
Dessert Course #2: quince, jerusalem artichoke, something we had watched burn five minutes ago that was added for essence, and the two wedge crisps you see were "dehydrated foams" which almost gave me the church giggles at the table because if a foam is just the essence of the thing and then you dehydrated it, why is there something left?
Dessert Course #1: rhubarb trifle, elderflower, mascarpone. It was so cold and so good.
As you have gathered, it was insanity. I wish I could describe it better but I don't know enough words and I don't even know if there are enough words that exist that I don't know that could accurately describe it. I would blame this on the wine pairing that went with it except AT did not have the wine pairing and also had no words. I can say that I was no match for the wine pairing and it was a real red wine pile-up by the 4th course in.*************
All in all, it was the most beautiful performance art I have ever experienced and then also gotten to eat.
You would think every other meal after that was a letdown, but, fortunately, it was not so. We had some normal meals but two other elaborate meals worth noting. The first was a luncheon at Foxcroft that also somehow became a multi-course affair and included two dishes with "dust".
The last was our actual favorite meal of the entire trip- dinner at The Pot Luck Club. The meal was Asian-inspired tapas************** and every dish was my new favorite dish. I'll continue to describe things since you're still here.
From top left and going clockwise:
Beef tataki that was THE BEST next to a fish taco that was crispy perfection
Ash-roasted vegetables all in a plate-scraping honeyed goat cheese
Tuna with kimchi and deliciousness
Top right: Chickpea parmesan fries!
Middle: Cape Malay fish served with a brioche bun that we only ordered after the table next to us got it. It tasted exactly like Thailand.
Bottom: Mint and chocolate ice cream sandwiches. Because we're not quitters.
All this to say, I'm really going to have to step up my explanation game the next time I serve myself chicken and a baked potato at home.*************** On that note, we head home tomorrow!
Southern Africa, you have been beautiful and extreme and I can't wait to come back,
-KT
**EXTREME BIRDS. I've had PTSD for the past few days whenever I have seen a pigeon. I think I'm afraid of birds now.
***And we felt fine.
****Though, really, isn't everywhere the end of the world? Get back to me on that.
*****BUT THEY ARE
******Like art museums all over the world, they mean women and black people. But they're working on it. Aren't we all.
*******NAILED IT.
*********Well, mostly I watched this and grilled her on plant names. Someone needs to keep her on her toes, you know.**********
************Absolutely none of this and yet all of this is a joke. A delicious, elaborate, mind-blowing joke.
*************Here you can see the actual first course which was a scallop with a mushroom burger served in extreme perfect miniature.
**************My favorite way to eat a meal because, yes, I do just want a few bites of eight million different things.
***************And you can bet I'm describing Kraft Mac and Cheese from now on as being flavored with "reconstituted cheese dust."
