beachbums

Hi - I'm the guy whose wife won this sick trip to SA (2 nights at Lionsands - Ivory Lodge, 3 nights Table Bay Hotel - CT). But aside form our fixed itinerary which includes day tours throughout CT area when staying at Table Bay Hotel we added on another 7 nights (best we could do). I think we have done well based on all the reccomendations here for our add-ons booked in Franschhoek & Stellenbosch (4nights total).
My only question is really what are the hot restaurants in Camps Bay area - we are staying at the The Bay Hotel after just missing a reservation at AtlanticView - so upset!! My wife and I love the beach/water (i know its frigid) and thatwhole scene. Can anyone recommend great dining in Camps Bay assuming its all walkable once there...?
We leave Feb 8th - very excited

Oipuka

Hi Beachbums, my parents-in-law have a house in Cape Town so we visit there a few times a year from Namibia and I love it there. If we want to stay local in Camps Bay, we normally go to Blues (just next to The Bay Hotel), Primi Piatti (for pizza/pasta) or the Bayside Cafe (for seafood). There's also a number of little cafes facing the water where you can go for breakfast or a light lunch. Sounds like you have a fantastic trip planned - have fun! Kristin

Kavey

We enjoyed a meal in Camps Bay during our May visit. Here's what I wrote about it:
<i>
For dinner we drove to Camps Bay and, after a walk along the shore, selected the Tides restaurant which my sister had recommended. I particularly enjoyed stopping for a drink in Traders Bar, just outside the restaurant, an elegant and peaceful bar with a view over the ocean. We enjoyed drinks with complimentary snacks of feta cheese and olives and perused the menu.

The menu works on a prix fixe basis, 125 for 2 courses or 155 for 3 courses. Very hard to select from such a tempting menu. Before our choices were served we were presented with amuse bouche mini starters of spinach and brie parcels with raspberries and raspberry coulis. We were also given a light fruit sorbet which I think was before our main starters but may have been between starters and mains. I opted for a roast butternut and apple soup with papaya salsa and deep fried camembert. Pete went for the smoked ostrich with roast beetroot, wild rocket, parmesan shavings and horseradish dressing. For my main I had the pistachio-lemon crusted line fish (fish of the day) which was Cape Salmon, served with ginger scented rice, winter vegetables and a lime butter sauce. Pete had pan roasted loin of warthog with bacon and sweet potato gratin, red cabbage-apple saut&eacute; and a balsamic sauce. Unfortunately the excitement of the day started to catch up with me, not to mention the full meal and I suddenly crashed. Instead of dessert and/ or coffee we paid the bill and made a swift exit and drove home for an early night.</i>

The food was very nice but certainly not the best we had in South Africa (or even Cape Town) but the ambience was a little disappointing as there was only one other party of two in the entire restaurant. That said, service was excellent and the view from our window table was lovely.

beachbums

Kristin &amp; Kavey,
thanks for the info. we'll add your points to our notes. one follow-up though - is it absolutely necessary to have reservations at most restaurants during high-season (Feb)?

Kavey

We were there in low-season (May) so I'm afraid I can't comment.
I'm sure others here will know, though.

Oipuka

For places like Blues and Bayside Cafe, I would say yes, you should book your table ahead of time. The exception is Primi Piatti as I don't believe they take reservations.