Cape Town: The Old Biscuit Mill

When I shared with you the delicious Chocolate Pinotage cupcakes that I made for my birthday, I promised that I would share some more information on the long weekend we spent in Cape Town towards the end of September.  Cape Town is probably my favourite city in South Africa: a coastal city with beautiful beaches, an hour or two's drive from wine farms, whale watching and penguins. And the biggest draw: it has many of the top restaurants in South Africa. This will be the first of a few posts sharing all the eating and sight-seeing we did in our short visit.

I had been in Cape Town for work during the week and my boyfriend flew down on Friday evening. He arrived rather grumpy and exhausted after his flight was rather significantly delayed and the weather that evening was rainy and windy and miserable! However, nothing a good night of sleep wouldn't fix.

We started our weekend, on Saturday morning, at one of my favourite Cape Town destinations: the Neighbourgoods Market at The Old Biscuit Mill. This market combines everything, from boutique clothing and jewellery stores, to delicious meals and pastries, a large variety of cheeses and fresh breads and fresh produce . The market is only open on Saturday mornings from 9am until about 2pm. On days with good weather, it can fill up very quickly, so I recommend going earlier.You can also combine this with a visit to Chef Luke-Dale Robert's restaurant, The Test Kitchen. Booking at least a week in advance is essential to get a table. Lunches are less busy, but a booking will still be needed. Although we did not include this in our latest trip, we have been previously and I would highly recommend it!

I am definitely a creature of habit and there are certain things that I always get when visiting the Old Biscuit Mill: Mushroom Skewers, Macarons and Poffertjies. The mushroom skewers combine porcini, oyster, portabellini and other mushrooms on a skewer, spiced and grilled. Delicious! Macarons...need I say more! Pistachio, chocolate, granadilla (passion fruit), vanilla, cinnamon. Lastly the poffertjies. These are, I believe, Dutch in origin; They are small crumpet-like pancakes, made fresh to order, covered in butter, syrup and icing sugar. Heaven! I also got myself a glass (or two...don't judge!) or champagne (yes, it's technically sparkling wine), with pomegranate arils. I was in foodie heaven!

Sadly it was quite rainy on the morning we went, so taking photos was a significant challenge. Hopefully I'll be back there soon and I'll update the post! But even in the rain and cold, the visit to the market was definitely worth it. It possibly even worked in our favour as there were slightly fewer people than there usually are.