It’s 420 So Let’s Talk Munchies: Cape Town Edition

420 is my second birthday!! I wait for this day kwa hamu na ghamu. Yes I know 4:20 occurs twice a day if you want to get technical about it, but there is only one April 20^th.

I love everything about weed as it deepens all sensory experiences: My creativity is heightened. TV is so much better, it feels like you are watching in 3D. The music is better, the food is better, the sex is better. I just have to take a minute here and reiterate that weed sex is the best sex; that is all.

Quite simply:

I am a believer in trilogies, so for the last post on my Cape Town (CT) trip I am turning the spotlight to one of my favourite aspects of 420: munchies.

I do not think I can sufficiently explain just how awesome munchies are so I will not even bother. All I will say is, if you know you know.

I used to think that Nairobi is pretty far ahead when it comes to dining out, and I suppose compared to a lot of our African counterparts it is. But CT absolutely runs circles around Nairobi when it comes to the restaurant scene.

The main reason CT is miles ahead, IMO, is because every single meal we had was top-notch when it came to both quality AND quantity. In Nairobi most mid to upmarket establishments focus more on quality and less on quantity. And I am not talking about fine dining restaurants; that is a topic for another day. I am talking about restaurants where the average price for a meal is KES 1500 – 2000. You will find that the food is really good, but not really filling. That may be okay for some people, but why choose when I can have it all.

Last year on this day I put up the first Instagram post that had nothing to do with my mum following her death on December 13^th. Today I am putting up my first Head Over Meals post. It has taken me a long time to get around to it – almost eight months since the blog was launched – but here we are thanks to some major inspiration from CT.

And that is just breakfast!!

I wish I could say more about those meals, but I am not a breakfast girl per se so only two of those photos are mine.

What I am going to talk about is the V&A Food Market where we ate most of our meals, The Codfather and Cape Town Fish Market.

1)V&A Food Market

V&A Food Market is located at The V&A Waterfront. Our first visit to the Food Market was on Saturday, and it was unlike anything I had ever seen.

At first I was not sure what it was. It looked like people sitting outside some warehouse, eating, drinking and watching different live acts play music that varied from Afrobeat to stuff Ed Sheeran probably played at similar venues before he became famous.

It turns out that the Food Market is housed in The Old Power Station that was established in 1882, hence the warehouse vibe. It boasts 42 vendors who showcase trend concept food stores and bars. As per their website, they delight on average 6,000 patrons every day and 2.2 million market visitors per year.

Once we realised that the food was coming from inside the building, my peeps and I decided to take a look. We were immediately spoiled for choice. Majority of the vendors are downstairs but there is also an upstairs I did not see until the next day when I was deciding what to buy for the sunset bus picnic.

“So much to eat, so little time” is the best way to describe the Food Market. They had sushi, oysters, a juice bar, Mexican food, burgers, a chocolatier, gourmet samosas and everything in between. It took me so long to decide what I would eat that Saturday because I wanted it all.

I was glad that as we were doing the Hop On-Hop Off tour we would pass by the V&A Waterfront three days in a row. Meaning I would get to eat at the Food Market three days in a row. So of course this was me:

Day one I ate from Stack That which specialises in Hungarian lángos flatbreads with toppings.

On Sunday I ate from Vagabond Kitchens which specialises in healthy wraps, sandwiches and game plated food. They had truffle parmesan fries that I was not going to come back to Nairobi without trying.

On Monday we had lunch at The Codfather, which was incredibly filling, so I picked up some gourmet samosas for supper.

On Wednesday I ate from Vagabond Kitchens again, and seeing as I would be experiencing Ed live in concert in a matter of hours I decided to treat myself. So I bought six oysters and a bottle of rosé from Knysna Oyster Company that came to less than KES 2,000. At a similar establishment in Nairobi that would either be the price of the oysters or the wine, definitely not both.

Sadly I did not take any photos from the Food Market except the bottle of wine. I guess I was overwhelmed by this place that is a mix of eclectic, cosmopolitan, historical and modern. Overwhelmed by the cornucopia of scents and sounds, particularly on the weekends when they have live music. So I will share my people’s pics instead, though they barely took any as well.

2) The Codfather

This was number one on my wish list. First of all, being a writer I love a good play on words. Second, I love love love seafood. It is probably my favourite thing to eat, closely followed by beef. And when I say beef I do not mean ati beef stew. I am talking about a good steak, cooked medium to well-done, but more medium than well-done. Hmmm, actually a good steak probably ties with seafood as my favourite thing to eat. But, I digress.

The Codfather is one of the best seafood restaurants in CT, and it is located at the breath-taking Camps Bay. I was simply not coming back to Nairobi without eating one of my favourite “food groups” at one of CT’s most stunning locations.

We were four of us and this was our bill at the end of the meal.

Practically half of that was mine as my total came to ZAR 1,150. I did say I love seafood and the restaurant was number one on my list. Lol.

The only thing I did not enjoy was the scallops. I had not heard of them before (the only scallops I knew were the stitches) but my people were keen to try them because of those Gordon Ramsay cooking shows, so being a foodie I was down to try as well. They tasted like nothing. That is the only way I can describe them. Not bad, not good, simply not anything at all. It made me think of chicken in the sense that chicken without any flavouring is boring AF. It absorbs any additions quite well, but in and of itself, chicken is terribly vanilla. Which is why even though I am Luhya chicken is my least favourite thing to eat.

3) Cape Town Fish Market

It is located at the Canal Walk Shopping Centre and I was keen to try the place as it came highly recommended by a few people.

This was where we had our last dinner and almost everything on the menu was highly enticing. It took me quite some time to decide on what I want, more so because there was a lady eating a Poke Bowl that was whispering my name, but in the end I decided on the Executive Surf & Turf. I ♥ seafood. I ♥ steak. Put the two together and we have a winner.

Three of us had a Surf & Turf while my sister had … something else. I really do not remember. Lol. My cousin ordered a bottle of Pinotage that cost ZAR 99. Methinks I need to move a wine country ASAP so I can spend less than KES 1,000 on a bottle of wine at dinner.

I ordered for a cocktail that clearly said “for two” but I was not worried because in Nairobi when things are indicated for two I usually finish by myself.

Then the cocktail came and I saw that there was no hyperbole, it was indeed for two.

I asked my cousin to take a pic of me sipping my cocktail and a few tries in she told me that I look like I am sneering. I replied that it was because the glass was really heavy to hold so it was difficult to look cute at the same time. Clearly I can never be a model. Lol.

The cocktail was so huge I had to take away what I did not finish by the end of dinner. In my 31 years never have I ever been unable to finish a cocktail before that night. Whoever said size does not matter was simply trying to make themselves feel better about their small package. Lol.

And that concludes my first Head Over Meals post. I had a wonderful week in CT filled with fantastic food and I look forward to visiting more countries and exploring what they have to offer. Lawd knows CT has set the bar so damn high.