Q. We are visiting Cape Town for the first time this year and would like to see places that are not on the obvious tourist trail. We'd also like to eat in places that are not tourist traps. Any suggestions would be welcome. - Maud and Gregory Mills, Wellington, New Zealand
A. The problem with any city popular with tourists is that everything on the "should-see" list is already popular and hard to avoid. It certainly applies to Cape Town.
I asked my two nieces who live there to help with some suggestions, and they obliged.
One place many tourists neglect is The Company's Garden, right at the heart of Cape Town and the beginning of its history.
The gardens were once much larger, set up by the first Dutch settlers instructed to grow fresh produce for passing ships.
Today a walk through the gardens is a lovely and unique experience. Locals visit and use the gardens and it is very busy and vibrant with all sorts of people. The gardens are also full of interesting historical elements. The Company's Garden Restaurant is excellent.A bit further away, The Dog's Bollocks at the Yard (6 Roodehek Street, Gardens) is a favourite with locals - excellent burgers.
Around the Company's Garden are the key buildings of Cape Town: Parliament and the presidential residence Tuynhuis, the National Gallery and South African Museum, the Planetarium, St George's Cathedral and more.Some of the coolest places to eat in the city centre are along Bree Street. Try the funky Mexican-themed Cabrón Taco Bar at 120 Bree Street, which serves tequila and, for example, fresh seared tuna tacos for R50.
Charango Grill and Bar at 114 Bree serves Peruvian- and Japanese-inspired food, and Sababa at 231 Bree is a popular healthy-eating option, offering everything from Köfte to curries to falafel and pita breads.
The newest trend in Cape Town is for gin bars featuring local gins, and there are many. Try The Gin Bar, behind Honest Chocolate Cafè at 64A Wale Street in the city centre. It's tiny but fun.
A train ride on the Southern Line all the way to Simonstown can be worth a day trip, but the trains are often unreliable, with filthy windows so you can't see out of them properly. Hire a car instead and drive there.
You could stop at Kalk Bay for a relaxed fish-and-chips lunch at the Brass Bell Restaurant right against the ocean, then walk to Kalk Bay harbour to see local fishermen selling fresh fish.Locals still fish off the pier and there are seals in the water or basking on the rocks next to the quaint working harbour. A fancier dining option would be the Harbour House Restaurant, also right on the ocean. Kalk Bay has many interesting shops - with art, curios, clothes and loads of little places to explore up the narrow side-streets.
Kitima at the Kronendal in Hout Bay is a good Thai and sushi restaurant in a classic Cape-Dutch style homestead: the menu plays with the fact that the Dutch East India Company traded between Europe, the Cape of Good Hope and Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam. Kitima recreates the romance of this era, when the refinements of the East were imported to the west for the first time. There is apparently always an empty table - every night they set one, with a lit candle, for the ghost waiting for her husband to come home. Ask about it.
For a cheap lunch with no booking, go to Africa on the Rocks at the end of Harbour Road in Hout Bay. I go every time I'm in Cape Town for the best fish and chips eaten outdoors. It's far from posh and can be very windy or hot or both, but a great experience...