South Africa (Cape Town)- Day 9- From Folding Samosas to Scrambling Rocks

Slight change in plans to start the day since it was really cloudy outside.  We were going to hike Lion’s Head which is across from Table Mountain, but the “tablecloth” of clouds meant we got to sleep in for the first day in a while which was lovely.  Day got back on track quickly though as we headed over to the Bo Kaap neighborhood and did a walk through the Bo Kaap museum before our 10:30 tour.  One of the things we’ve been most struck by is that apartheid wasn’t just whites vs blacks; it was actually four groups of segregation: black, white, colored, and Indian. The Bo Kaap area is historically a more Islamic neighborhood, centered on Cape Malay—so think of the Indonesian people who came over as part of the Dutch East Indies “refreshment station” that Cape Town was to serve as.

We had such a great time on the Bo Kaap Cooking Tour—it was centered around cooking, but Zainie, the woman running it, talked us through the history, walked us through some very cool spice shops, etc and then taught us how to make traditional Cape Malay chicken curry, Daltjies, Samoosas, and Rooties in her house.  So, so delicious and an absolute blast! She’s a fascinating lady who opened and has run the few restaurants in the area, has worked with international chefs, had a tv program etc—just so great to hear about her childhood in the neighborhood, raising her children here, how things have changed, how her career path evolved, etc. Can’t rave enough about this awesome part of the day!

After our scrumptious lunch, the clouds actually started to clear so we ran back to the hotel, changed and headed up to Lion’s Head to do our hike after all! It was between 2h30 and 3h roundtrip and was definitely a bit more of a rock scramble in parts than we anticipated (along with a few ladders and chains at a few points!). Weather cleared up partially though so it ended up being worth it, and thankfully it’s about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday—thank goodness we didn’t do it in the 95 + sun!!

Cleaned ourselves up and went down to Pot Luck Social Club for dinner in the Old Biscuit Mill, actually owned by the same people as Test Kitchen. Amazing dinner not surprisingly—more of an Asian small plates feel and absolutely scrumptious (one of the highlights was an awesome pineapple chili martini that I asked for the ingredients for: vanilla vodka, lime, simple syrup, muddled chiles, fresh pineapple puree). Great date night in a very cool place!!