South Africa: Cape Town and Dinner at The Silo

Article by guest author Peter Brooker

"We don’t call it Americano, it’s an 'Africano' here," said one plucky assistant at the coffee shop at the airport in Cape Town. It's a 15 minute Uber ride to the V&A Waterfront where we were staying. The Uber driver was not interested in small talk. When I asked for the best restaurant in town he said with a sigh, 'all of them are not bad.' 

On the left side of the carriage way we pass Khayelitsha, the largest and fastest growing township in South Africa. It ran for miles, shacks upon shacks made out of cinder block and corrugated tin. On the roofs the MTN satellite dishes peak out like wacamoles. Not every sink house will have a TV but MTN ensured everyone got a free satellite so the people in the townships could watch the sport on the weekend.  

70% of people in South Africa live like this. There's no way to control the temperature inside. When it's hot it's boiling, when it's cold it's freezing. There is no running water and the toilets are communal concrete portaloos that the government comes 2-3 times a week to clean. Still I'm told the happiest people, live in townships. 

A three lane carriage way leads you round the east side of table top mountain, over the brow of the hill it gets more civilized and a small club of palm trees belie the concrete jungle that awaits. 

Once we reach the wharf we drop off the bags and walk to the Harbour House where we watched the boat hires come and go. From there we walked to The Silo for dinner. I mentioned in a previous article the Silo as being one of the most stunning buildings on the Waterfront. 

What used to be the old grain Silo back in the day, is now a five star hotel with the cost of its luxury suites going at £1200 a night.

But the hotel prices are not consistent with the food prices at the Granary Cafe. For starters I ordered the Rocket, red onion, pine nuts with lime dressing, moving onto the Coconut lemongrass rice, cucumber pickle, with lemon yoghurt as a main. 

All paired beautifully with a Chardonnay, the Chamonix Unwooded from the Franschhoek area which we would visit later in the week. 

Afterwards we took a short detour home to stop off for some nightcaps at the One and Only Resort.

It was not the best preparation for the hike up Table Top Mountain which we would endure the next day.