Nothing tells a story like this off-the-radar African Food and Storytelling Tour in Cape Town

Surely at some point you will tire of yet another Western Cape wine farm experience, some or other world-renowned chef enveloping their gourmet meal in liquid nitrogen or the use of “nestled” to describe an eatery’s location? Deep down you know you have had one too many meals from classically trained French chefs and their imported experience. Even if this is not the case, how about you try something new and different in the heart of the Mother City?

The African Food and Storytelling Tour, booked via Airbnb Experiences, offers the intrepid and inquisitive guest a three-hour walking tour involving less celebrated African food, drinks, heritage, culture and the most incredible stories.

The sessions are hosted by expert German storyteller Dennis Molewa — who not only married a South African, but fell in love with her so much he took her surname — and South African tour guide and musician Sindile Kamlana, better known as Khofhi The King.

The immersive experience starts at the Labotessa hotel, which serves one of the most delectable breakfasts in Cape Town's city bowl. After learning that nearby Church Square was once a slave market, you walk less than a kilometre to an unnamed, hole-in-the wall Somali eatery in Plein Street.

As an appetiser, shaah (traditional Somali tea infused with cloves) is served with chapatti (crispy and flaky flatbread) and beans. In Somalia, chapatti is regarded as a weekly treat, often served with goat or lamb stew. At this community kitchen in the middle of the CBD, it is served every day to the fussiest foodie critics, who just do not have time to eat a bad meal: Uber drivers.

The culinary safari continues to the old Post Office in Adderley Street, where Durban Spice, an inconspicuous spice shop, reveals the impact of the Cape’s colonial history on the region’s food scene, resulting in what is now referred to as Cape Malay cuisine.

This style of cooking fuses traditions from Malaysian, Indonesian and east African slaves, brought to Cape Town by Dutch settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, relatively unknown spices (starting from R5 a packet) originating from Durban, including green elachi, methi seeds and alcha, continue to ensure the fiery flavours of curries and stews evolve, attracting South African and international foodies.

Some of these spices are generously used at Nobantu Restaurant, at the Grand Parade. In this tiny space, cooks from Cape Town townships such as Langa, Khayelitsha and Gugulethu put their heart and soul into making traditional dishes like tripe, umngqusho (samp and beans), pap and wors, spicy chakalaka, and sweet and sour beetroot salad. For as little as R30, you savour the soul of African food at its best.

Molewa and Khofhi the King take the mundane, research it and then proceed to contextualise its significance in such a way it leaves you thinking, why did I not think of that? Case in point is Fatima’s restaurant in Long Street.

One would think that jollof rice would be best served by a Nigerian outlet, but the pair challenge you to savour Mali's version, promising the most addictive dish in the whole of the Western Cape. Paired with yasa (Senegalese onion and chicken), indulgent west African peanut butter sauce, seasonal greens and east African spaghetti, it takes a few minutes to be convinced that the Nigerians have a lot to learn from Malian cooks when it comes to jollof rice.

Little Ethiopia in Shortmarket Street has you throwing out any preconceived ideas of what a meal is, as here it is all about the concept of ubuntu and a smorgasbord of east African delicacies. Tour groups use their hands to share a typical Ethiopian meal, consisting of numerous vegetables and spicy meat dishes served over injera, a pancake-like flatbread, using it to scoop up the succulent food.

To top it all off, Café Touba offers Senegalese coffee as a digestif, complemented by owner Khadim Diagne’s tales of how he ended up being a migrant entrepreneur at the bottom of the African continent. His apartment (yes, you read correctly) in town is the only place where you can savour a traditional Senegalese cafe Touba, the aromatic blend of coffee and djar, a peppery spice that comes from the pod-like fruits of the tree classified as xylopia aethiopica.

Do yourself a favour and forget about mainstream, overpriced tourist traps in Cape Town and try some of its African restaurants' delicious, undervalued offerings.

• The African Food and Storytelling Tour costs about R1,000 per person and can be booked via Airbnb Experiences. For more information, contact Molewa on 079-786-5551.