YOU LOVE YOUR GUESTS, you really really do, but how good does it feel to reclaim your space after they leave? So it is for Capetonians when the holidaymakers go back home in January. Here are some ideas of how to make the Mother City yours again. And don’t worry dear departed friends of Cape Town, you can enjoy them next time you visit
This might just be the best way to spend two hours in Cape Town. Check it out, along with our other discoveries below
FABRIC TO DYE FOR, DARLING
‘Waterlilies’, one of the fantastic fabrics you can unearth at Muizenberg’s bbellamy & bbellamy
IT’S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT Muizenberg’s bbellamy & bbellamy has Cape Town’s most misleading shopfront ever. How could anyone guess that inside its tattered exterior lurks the most extraordinary treasure trove? Here, in a creative semi-shambles, nestle the most gorgeous textiles from top English fabric houses such as Liberty, Sanderson and Colefax & Fowler, regularly sought out by fabric devotees from all over South Africa. How beautifully Capetonian.
The studio is a labour of love for David Bellamy, ‘artist, scientist, designer and environmentalist’, who’s collected the fabric rolls over the decades. And just as alluring as the English fabrics he sells are his company’s own contemporary designs, handmade nearby. Based on the natural world they’re doing nicely globally, it seems, and are pretty hard to resist, especially when you discover their eco credentials: low-toxicity, water-soluble inks set onto convincingly heavy, biodegradable base cloth.
Nothing’s cheap but fashion just one cushion or light shade from these fabrics and it’ll probably perk up a whole room. Other pluses: one-of-a-kind covered chairs and ready made light shades and cushion covers that may (if you’re that kind of person) make you scream, ‘I love you!’ There are also a few fabulous shirts guaranteed to dispel the nerd in you: buy off the peg or have one made to size.
Another lovely thing if you’re lucky enough to find him in: Andrew. He works in the shop and contemplates subjects such as Whither America and What’s It All About, but is sensitive enough to stay quiet if you prefer to nurse private creative thoughts.
bbellamy & bbellamy, 51 Main Road, Muizenberg, 084 314 5741, open Monday to Friday 09:00-17:00, Saturday 09:00-16:00, www.bbellamyandbbellamy.com
Don’t let the tattered exterior put you off: inside is fabric heaven
PADDLE YOURSELF HAPPY
AWE AND GRATITUDE ARE THE HEALTHIEST HUMAN EMOTIONS and we know where to find them: a kayak tour around Cape Town’s shores. Paying R400 to paddle on a small floating device in the Atlantic may not initially appeal, especially to novices, but consider these seductive possibilities: nature, peace, gentle exercise, fabulous views of Table Mountain and the ultimate thrill: a school of dolphins (see the one-min video above, filmed in December 2017).
Marine life sightings aren’t guaranteed, but there have been many encounters with dolphins, seals, penguins, sunfish, sometimes even whales. How humbling to experience nature and its creatures up close. The price includes all the equipment – kayaks, paddles and life jackets – plus a two-hour trip with a safety-conscious guide along the Atlantic Seaboard and past the Mouille Point lighthouse. Sounding a lot more worth it, right?
First time in a kayak? No need to feel nervous. The boat’s very stable and no previous experience is required. You just need to know how to swim (and, of course, have no known health issues, be older than 12 and physically able to paddle). So, can we go now?
To book or find out more, visit www.atlanticoutlook.com or contact manager and tour guide Jordan Zeelie on 082 788 5053 or by email: Jordan@atlanticoutlook.com. The office and starting point for the tour are at Granger Bay Boulevard, V&A Waterfront (between the Oranjezicht Farm Market and The Lookout)
RAWLICIOUS
The Super Bowl at Scheckter’s Raw in Sea Point. Follow it with a pancake (hooray, at last they’re healthy)
CALLING ALL FOODIES with a health bent! If you haven’t already discovered Scheckter’s Raw in Sea Point, you’re in for a treat.
The food, as you might just work out, is largely raw: but our undercover diner reports that it tastes fab. Breakfast is served all day and lunch involves ‘Super Bowl’ salads with ingredients you’d never get round to buying yourself, wraps and zucchini pasta along with an array of pressed juices (Ginger Ninja for us, please). Just want a drink? Go for a superfood smoothie (try the organic ‘Snickers’), or if you insist, a coffee.
Virtually inhaled by our hungry sleuth were Intros (sweet potato fries with wasabi aïoli), and a number of the ‘frees’: no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, no guilt (ahem Kaz, that’s unless you eat too many…)
Décor is as fresh as the food. Order your thing to go, or sit at the counter and savour Sea Point’s buzz. ‘A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips’ goes the old saying, but now it can go to a corner and lie down, defeated.
Scheckter’s Raw Gourmet Health Food, 98 Regent Road, Seapoint, 021 434 1364. Open Tues to Sun 7:30am – 4pm, www.schecktersraw.com
ETHICAL BURGERS
Well, if you weren’t already hungry (and the great thing is the more you eat, the healthier you get)
OK SO YESTERDAY YOU HAD SOME FAB RAW STUFF at Scheckters’ (see post above). Now you’re craving something trad. Here’s the deal: healthier-than-average burgers trying to minimise their environmental impact, and yours too, hence recycled burger boxes, chips made from organic potatoes, locally sourced food and beers, and water served in jam jars.
It’s all so eco you fear for the taste, but oh no! The burgers, made of grass-fed beef (or veggies if that’s your thing), are fabulously juicy, served with a great roll, or ‘bunless’ with a glamorous salad that bears no relation to the ubiquitous iceberg and cold tomato. This, people, is real food.
Venue? Hip, small, bright and breezy. Recycled wood dominates, with plants growing out of the centre of most of the tables. Generous jugs of help-yourself water crammed with cucumber and ice. Cheerful, willing staff (sure, they forgot to bring us knives and forks, but then there aren’t many places where the waitress offers to get you a takeaway coffee from next door). You’re meant to tick your choices on a recycled paper slip but they’ll do it for anyone whose eyes or concentration levels won’t allow it.
The burger-intolerant will rejoice in other options such as pork belly cubes and spiralised salads, and there’s vegan cheesecake to top it all off. We’ll be back.