With a charming setting in a 19th-century house near Company’s Gardens (founded by the Dutch East India Company to supply its passing ships with produce), this is one of the most reliable and refined restaurants in Cape Town. Try dishes such as teriyaki-style wildebeest with oyster mushrooms and apple-sesame seed compote, and duck breast with pumpkin seed couscous.
Overview
From Andrew Harper
The distance between Southern Africa's highs and lows is both literal and figurative. Its landscapes range from coastal flats to cloud-covered peaks; the region includes stunning, world-class cities and a wealth of natural resources, yet suffers from widespread poverty, corruption and disease. There is a certain uncanny quality to the flora and fauna, which have a textbook recognizability, even for the first-time visitor -- Southern Africa feels both deeply familiar and intensely exotic.
A safari should be the focal point of a South Africa trip (Kruger National Park is the country's gem, and the adjoining private reserve, Sabi Sand, offers extraordinary game-viewing and a host of luxury lodging options). But if time allows, set aside several days to explore cosmopolitan Cape Town, the region's oldest city, whose history is reflected in its mélange of architecture and its diverse residents. The Garden Route highway traverses hundreds of miles of the southeast coast, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. Winding past spectacular forest and marine preserves, it makes for stunning coastal driving.
Botswana, Namibia and Zambia also are full of spectacular safari destinations, and offer equally memorable accommodations. Botswana's 1,200-square-mile Moremi Game Reserve represents one of the finest wildlife destinations in Africa (and a favorite filming locale for National Geographic). Namibia is an otherworldly landscape dominated by forbidding mountains, monumental rock formations and towering red sand dunes. It is also the last great bastion of the endangered cheetah. Zambia, despite its patchy infrastructure and widespread poverty, possesses superb national parks and some of the finest game-viewing in Africa.
Hotels
All recommended hotels in Southern Africa
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Abu Camp Completely rebuilt and refurbished camp, known as the preeminent place to ride African elephants, on a 500,000-acre private concession in the heart of the Okavango Delta. Overlooking a tranquil lagoon and shaded by hardwood trees, the six exceptionally elegant and relaxing, individually decorated accommodations are idiosyncratic canvas-and-beam structures that are part tent, part cabin. |
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Jao Camp Deluxe camp secluded on its own palmstudded island, accessible by boat, with spectacular lagoon views from open-air living and dining lounges. |
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Mombo & Little Mombo Camp Lavish enclave facing a picturesque savannah floodplain in an area teeming with wildlife near the northwest tip of Chief’s Island. The camp consists of two separate facilities connected by elevated walkways: Mombo, with nine stylish guest quarters, and Little Mombo, with three. |
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Sanctuary Chief's Camp Luxury camp amid a shady grove of trees overlooking an immense lagoon on Chief’s Island. |
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Great Plains Conservation - Zarafa Camp Classically styled new safari camp in the private 320,000-acre Selinda Reserve. |
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Jack's Camp Unique, extremely well-run camp on a low island at the edge of the Kalahari’s Makgadikgadi salt pans, an hour by air southeast of Maun. Enormous canvas main tent, filled with iconic objects, is lined by a voluptuous canopy of pale raspberry-pink cotton. For those of a romantic and adventurous spirit, Jack’s Camp cannot be recommended too highly. |
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Kings Pool Camp Comfortable camp overlooking an oxbow lagoon in the Linyanti Wildlife Reserve (on the western boundary of Chobe National Park), with excellent wildlife-viewing and a large elephant population, especially during winter. |
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Azura Luxurious and ecologically/community-sensitive new lodge on Benguerra Island in the pristine marine reserve of Bazaruto National Park, a 10-minute helicopter ride from Vilanculos. |
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Matemo Island Resort Idyllic resort along a sublime white-sand beach on a 10-mile-long island known as one of the best diving and fishing destinations in the country. |
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Vamizi Island Lodge Community-minded eco-resort set on an eight mile- long coral island at the northern end of the Quirimbas Archipelago. |
Villas
All recommended villas in Southern Africa
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Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate - The Owners Cottage Discreetly luxurious and superbly staffed Cape Dutch villa flanked by lovely gardens and vineyards on the 65-acre Grande Provence estate near Franschhoek. Franschhoek |
Dining
All recommended restaurants in Africa
Aubergine
39 Barnet Street
Cape Town
8001
South Africa
US$70
Bukhara
Come to this very popular restaurant downtown for outstanding Indian food, excellent service and a courtly welcome from owner Sabi Sabharwal. The tandoori seafood dishes are delicious.
33 Church Street
Cape Town
8001
South Africa
US$50
Caveau
This is a wonderful spot for lunch downtown, thanks to its seasonal contemporary Capetonian cuisine. The menu changes daily, but runs to dishes such as grilled sardines with potato croquettes and spicy tomato sauce, and a delicious raisin-flecked bread-and-butter pudding. It is accompanied by a superb selection of top-notch South African wines by the glass.
92 Bree Street
Cape Town
8000
South Africa
US$35
La Colombe
Of the three superb restaurants at the beautiful Constantia Uitsig winery 20 minutes outside of Cape Town, the one we like best is this pretty blue-and-yellow dining room overlooking a courtyard. The cuisine tends to Asian-inflected Mediterranean-style dishes by new chef Scot Kirton. His menus follow the season, but run to dishes such as scallops and pork belly in Black Forest ham velouté and springbok with spinach, foie gras, figs and potatoes in truffle jus.
Uitsig Farm, Spaanschemat River Road
Cape Town
South Africa
US$130
SALT
This mecca for seafood lovers has a spectacular setting above a boulder-lined shore. Begin with one of the signature starters, maybe snoek (a local fish) and potato samosas, or mussels steamed with fennel and saffron, and then try the delicious Cape Malay-style lobster curry, or the superb risotto with shrimp, chorizo sausage, peas and saffron.
Ambassador Hotel
34 Victoria Road
Bantry Bay
South Africa
US$60
The Test Kitchen
Luke Dale-Roberts spent four years as the much-heralded executive chef of La Colombe. In November 2010, he opened a 30-seat restaurant located in The Old Biscuit Mill, home to an eclectic range of markets, designer stores, studios and galleries. Diners can choose between a formal à la carte dining experience and an informal menu served at a bar facing the open kitchen. Representative dishes might include a starter such as foie gras, Jerusalem artichoke and lemon chicken tree with rosemary streusel and leaves, while a main course could be pan-seared lamb fillets with beetroot and jagermeister jus, braised fennel, sweetbreads and macadamia and cauliflower stuffing.
375 Albert Road
Woodstock
South Africa
US$60
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