Every summer I find myself driving along the Sea Point promenade and past the beautiful Winchester Mansions Hotel… thinking to myself “geeze, I should really check that place out… it looks so damn pretty…”

But for some reason I just never made a plan, until recently that is.  It was a nice sunny day, something that’s becoming a rare commodity here in Cape Town as the winter weather is creeping in, and my friend Joe and I decided we should go and check it out for a spot of lunch.

We settled in on the stoep area, I guess cause this is where you always see people chillin’ when you drive by, so seemed to us that this was the main dining area.  When we were given menus however the front of the menu said “Bar Menu”.  So we asked the waitress whether this was the correct place to have lunch and she said yes.  We figured, oh well, let’s just go with it then…

The bar menu has options including burgers, wraps, sandwiches, nachos, tapas style items and then a wide variety of sweet treats.   I opted for the Traditional Flammkuchen – crispy thin french pizza with bacon, onions and seasoned sour cream (R32):

And Joe got the Samosa and Springroll Plate served with a coriander creme fraiche (R48):

Both meals were very tasty, but my Flammkuchen definitely won the prize for best choice of the day.  Being seated at the front of such a iconic Cape Dutch building, we figured the best way to finish off our meal in style was with the Winchester’s Famous Scones daahlings (R24 for 2 and served with cheese, jam & cream):

Man, doesn't that look just soooooo good?

Scones… so so simple, but boy isn’t it just one of the most soul fulfilling treats around?

In the back of my mind, something kept bugging me though.  A few people had told me about the amazing breakfasts that they do at the Mansions, but I had not seen any breakfast options there.  So Joe and I decided to go do some exploring after lunch.

First we checked out the impressive bar area.  The perfect spot for a few after work drinks, or even a private function I would say.

Loved all the rich fabrics and shiny trimmings...

And then boys, I'm sure the first thing you noticed in this pic was the TV playing sports. hehe

We then sneakily followed some guests into the main hotel area and got to check out the pool (which is very nice btw), the formal lunch/dinner dining room (also pretty sweet) and the formal lounge for their guests (super fancy):

Then, finally, we stumbled upon what seemed like the holy grail of chill spots at this hotel… the garden courtyard!

Seriously, how pretty is that?

This is where you can enjoy those amazing breakfasts I had heard about.  They do a la carte breakfast options ranging from R42 to R65.  Or you can go for the continental buffet for R95.  Or just stop messing about and go all out for the full breakfast buffet at R120 (served between 7:30am and 10:30am).  I’m guessing there would be a lot of starving & stretching before that one and your look for the day would definitely involve stretchy pants.

I’m dead keen to go back with a big group of mates to take up that challenge.  So for now, I’m going to reserve my Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating untill I get to go back and get the full chow down experience.   Who’s with me?

xxx