As Dan and I are preparing to return on safari next month (verrry exciting!), I am finally finishing up my posts from our last safari trip in South Africa. This post reviews a delicious food and history tour that we took through Cape Town, South Africa. The tour was truly great and a highlight of our time in Cape Town! If you cannot make the tour, each spot is worthy of a visit on its own.

Cape Town from Table Mountain.

And quick back ground, Dan and I spent almost two weeks in South Africa, spending five nights on safari near Kruger National Park and four in Cape Town, one of the two most beautiful cities I have ever seen (the other being Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In Cape Town, we toured Cape Point, went on a wine tour in Stellenbosh, and spent the better part of a day on a food tour exploring Cape Town’s city center and Bo-Kaap neighborhoods.

Dan & I in Bo-Kaap.

STOP ONE: STELLSKI COFFEE

The meeting point and first stop of the tour was local coffee shop, Stellski Coffee. We met at Stellski’s Bree Street location (right in the city center) and went inside for a meet and greet and, of course, coffee. Stellski Coffee apparently gained a lot of popularity during Covid when it delivered coffee around town via moped, but my favorite thing was its logo – an adorable dog riding a pink moped!

Stellski’s adorable logo.

Stellski’s Bree Street location.

At Stellski’s we ordered coffee of our choice, a pour over for Dan and a cappuccino for me. Both were really great. We also tried an egg cooked in bacon and the most delicious banana bread. I didn’t quite finish my coffee before leaving, so I got one of my very own cute little to go cup! It was painful to through it out when I finished…. I would recommend Stellski to anyone in center city Cape Town or Woodstock (the other location) for coffee, breakfast and lunch (their lunch menu looks delicious).

Dan’s pour over. I was impressed that they permitted a pour over on a food tour.

Danny’s drip coffee in the glass.

Eggs wrapped in bacon. Very tasty! These were made especially for our group and I’m not sure these are on the daily menu.

Fantastic banana bread. I would absolutely order this again.

After our coffee, we walked through center city Cape Town and learned some history about the city. This was mid-morning, the sun was out and center city seemed pretty safe. I would use more caution walking alone and/or at night. We later returned to do some souvenir shopping in this area.

Center City, Cape Town, South Africa.

A cool art exhibit in Center City Cape Town.

Table Mountain views from center city Cape Town!

STOP TWO: TEA TASTING IN THE COMPANY’S GARDENS

The second stop on our tour was a tea tasting inside the Company’s Garden. The Company’s Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa and its located right in center city Cape Town, only a few minutes walk from Bree Street. The Company’s Garden was created in the 1650s by the Dutch East India Company to grow fresh vegetables for the area (at that time a Dutch settlement) and passing ships  Today, its a free public park swanked by some swanky business, including the French Consulate and numerous museums. The Company’s Garden would make a good stop for those needing a break or a snack when exploring Cape Town. Don’t miss the oldest pear tree in South Africa (from the 1650s) and the beautiful rose garden from the 1920s.

The Company’s Gardens.

After taking numerous pictures of the Company’s Gardens, we entered the Heritage Shop for a tea tasting! Tea is quite popular in South Africa and South African grown rooibos and honeybush teas are quite good. At the Heritage shop, we tasted a variety of teas on the most beautiful china (seriously gorgeous). We also tasted two very tasty desserts, flavored salts, and a homemade salad dressing. Unfortunately I cannot recall everything about the various teas, but the tasting was informative and interesting. We stoped at the Heritage Shop’s shop after the tasting, ad we bought some great South African souvenirs.

Ready for a South African tea tasting!

One of the delicious teas.

A cheese cake and a fried donut slathered in a sticky sugar.

Biscotti.

Another tea.

Homemade salad dressing; it was delicious.

Various flavored salts on yet another beautiful plate.

This was the most amazing salad dressing. I bought some home!

Ending with another delicious cheesecake on the most beautiful plate!

Cute cookies at the Heritage Club gift shop.

STOP THREE: ATLAS TRADING COMPANY

Our third tour stop took us from Center City to Bo-Kaap, which are neighboring neighborhoods. Bo-Kaap is the Cape Town neighborhood with the colorful homes! Our first stop in Bo-Kaap was not to eat, but to peruse a spice shop – Atlas Trading Company! Due to its location, South Africa cuisine has lots of include from other cultures, including those popular in India and other parts of Africa. As such, spice shops selling all sorts of spices for cooking are common. We walked around and smelled some of the spice mixes at Atlas Trading Company, which has been operating since 1946, and picked up some piri piri spice to take home. This stop also allowed us to take so many photos of the famous colorful houses in Bo-Kaap. Pro tip – put Atlas Trading Company in GPS to get a good location for photos. Second pro tip – Atlas Trading Company spices make good gifts to take home. I recommend putting your spices in the Atlas packaging in a ziplock bag to transport home, just in case the original packaging breaks en route.

Atlas Trading Company.  Soooo many spices! Great prices from my POV.

Some of the many, many spices for sale. I suggest brining ziplock bags to hold the pre-packaged spices in your luggage in case Atlas’ packaging breaks.

Bo Kaap from just outside Atlas Trading Company. That’s Table Mountain in the background.

STOP FOUR: FAEEZA’S TEA GARDEN

Stop four is a super casual restaurant from one of my favorite shows, Somebody Feed Phil! Yes, he visits this exact shop on his Cape Town episode. The restaurant is called Faeeza’s Tea Shop and its set behind the famed row of colorful houses of Bo-Kaap (pictured above) amongst gorgeous flowers and more colorful houses. In fact, Faeeza’s Tea Shop is located in a stunning purple building. At Faeeza’s, we were treated to three Indian inspired foods.  First, a samoosa, which is the triangle shaped dish in the food picture. This samoosa was perfectly fried and filled with a vegetable filling. It was very tasty. Second, a chilli bite, or the round shaped food, which is a chickpea base, rolled, fried and mixed with some vegetables. Both of these dishes were served with a slightly spicy sambal sauce. Our final dish was a dessert called Koesiester. A Koesiester is South Africa sticky donut, and my is it sticky! We finished our tasting with some homemade sour cream chips to takeaway. Of everything at Faeeza’s, the chilli bite was my favorite.

Faeeza’s Tea Garden is set in the most beautiful location.

Faezza’s Tea Garden – what a beautiful building!

From left to right: koesiester, samoosa, sambal sauce, and chilli bite.

Sour Cream crisps! AKA my dream come true. I love sour cream chips.

STOP FIVE: GRUBB & VINE

After all the eating, it was finally time to move on to some adult drinking. Our next stop was at an adorable wine bar on Bree Street called Grubb & Vine. Grubb & Vine has an adorable interior and a menu offering lots of South African wine and food. Tres chic. At Grubb & Vine, we tried three South African wines. The first was a Chenin Blanc called Spider Pig, which our group loved since three of us with to Richmond (Go Spiders!). I’m not a big white wine drinker, but A+ for the label and name. Our second glass was another white called Culture Nouveau. Our final tasting was a red from Boschendal, which we later visited in Franschoek. I really enjoyed the red. Our wine tasting was paired with some arancini bites topped with a lovely sauce and fresh grated cheese. Had we had a free dinner, I would have returned to Grubb & Vine for dinner. Grubb & Vine is also a good place to taste South African wine, especially if you cannot make it out to Stellenbosh. 

Back on Bree Street.

Grub & Vine.

I really loved this painting.

The chic interior of Grubb and Vine.

Arancini.

Spider Pig!

Another white.

A red from Boschendal, which we later visited in Franschoek.

The Boschendal red.

STOP SIX: ZANNE’S FARE IN YOUNG BLOOD ART GALLERY

Our sixth stop was at a pop-up restaurant called Zanne’s Fare inside the Young Blood Art Gallery, which restaurant I understand is no longer located there. Too bad, because the art gallery is really cool, focused around this larger than life wood sculpture of a man diving. Aside from that sculpture, the gallery housed some normal size sculptures and amazing modern paintings. After perusing the gallery and wishing we could bring everything home, we sat down for some true South African fare. To drink with our meal, we were served a Dragon Ginger Beer, which is a somewhat fizzy ginger beer with 5% alcohol. I really like this drink, and its apparently quite popular in Cape Town. For food, Zanne’s served us traditional Cape Malay cuisine. Cape Malay cuisine is a style of food unique to the Western Cape of South Africa, which fuses cuisine of Malaysia, Indonesian and African slaves. The Cape Malay cuisine is still popular in Cape Town, especially amongst the Muslim population. At Zane’s we tried Dragon Ginger Beer, which is a low alcohol drink (similar to a seltzer) that was all the rage during our visit. For food, our first Cape Malaly dish was a tomato and corn chowder (for lack of a better word) served with rice.  Our second Cape Malay dish was Bobotie, which is a minced meat dish falvored with a sweet curry and baked with an egg on top. Heavy! Ours was served with a variety of toppings and some bread. Both dishes were excellent and gave me some Indian vibes.

The main art installation at the Young Blood Gallery. Its definitely worth a stop.

Dragon Ginger Beer.

Bobotie with lots of toppings. I *think* they are tomato sambal, mango sambal, apricot chutney, and crispy onion bits. I cannot recall the  name of the white sauce.

STOP SEVEN: QUICK STOP TO SEE THE OLDEST WINE VINES IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE!

We next made a quick detour to walk under the oldest grape vines in the Southern Hemisphere. While there was no accompanying wine, this stop excited me because I love wine. Located in a courtyard in Heritage Square, this vine was planted in 1771 and a Chenin Blanc is still being made with her grapes! You can read more here if interested. Heritage Square has cute restaurants, in addition to the vine, so its worth a stop if you are looking for a casual bite to eat.

As a wine enthusiast, I was very excited to see these!

STOP EIGHT: CHOCOLATE HONEST CHOCOLATE.

Our final stop on the food tour was at a chocolate shop! Located on Wale Street in the heart of Cape Town, Honest Chocolate describes itself as “a small artisanal Bean to Bar chocolate company,” and this stop was the perfect way to end our food tour of Cape Town. While the premise is creative and interesting, Honest Chocolate may be better known as being featured on Somebody Feed Phil (yes, another celebrity restaurant on this tour!). Honest definitely cares about its product, and this is a good stop for anyone in Cape Town. It is also a good place for chocolate bars to bring home. At Honest, we tried a chocolate brownie with walnuts that was SO good. We also tried two chocolate bars made in house – a dark chocolate one and a milk chocolate one. Both were very good, and I brought a couple to bring home.

Honest Chocolate!

Honest Chocolate’s coffee bar.

A very chocolaty and nutty brownie with dark chocolate.

Another chocolate bar – this one milk chocolate!

Looking back, this was a really great food tour from a company called Eat Like A Local. All of the stops were delicious, but also meaningful in that each had a special connection to Cape Town. I felt like we saw a lot of the City Bowl area, and we left totally full (don’t eat breakfast before this tour!). Our guide was lovely and, as a Cape Town local, had so much knowledge of the city. I would 100% take this tour again in Cape Town. And no, this post is not sponsored in any way (I wish, lol!).

Our tour group!

STEAL OUR TOUR

Stellski Coffee: 129 Bree St. Cape Town. Open Monday – Friday 7:00 – 5:00, Saturday 8:00 – 5:00 and Sunday 8:00 – 3:00. Another location at 34 Salisbury St. Woodstock.

Heritage Shop at the Company’s Gardens: 17 Queen Victoria Street, Cape Town, South Africa. Open Tuesday – Sunday 9:00 – 5:00, Monday 9:30 – 4:00. Closed Sunday. Great souvenir shop!

Atlas Trading Company: 104 Wale St, Schotsche Kloof, Cape Town, 8001, South Africa. Closed Sunday. Open during the week from about 8:15 – 5:00, closing midday on Saturday and for lunch on Friday. Reasonable prices. Anyone can go in to shop.

Honest Chocolate: 64A Wale St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa. Open daily 9 – 6, until 9 on Friday and closing at 5 on Sunday.

Eat Like A Local: We took the City Bowl Tasting Experience for R2070.pp. The cost included all food and drink tastings, in addition to a cute totebag! HIGHLY recommend this company and this tour.