OK, so the Sidewalk Cafe (33 Derry St, Vredehoek) is a bit of a Cape Town institution.  It’s apparently been around for 14+ years.   But at one point it started looking really drab, the food wasn’t great and people stopped going.

But then… The Madame Zingara people stepped in and gave this little cafe the breath of fresh air it so desperately needed.   In fact in Cape Town, Madame Zingara now also owns the Bombay Bicycle Club, Cafe Paradiso & Cafe Mozart.  And then their roaming “Theatre of Dreams” is currenlty based at Century City.  They have a signature style for sure:  quirky, fun, unusual & memorable.  This is exactly what they brought to the table with the revamp of the Sidewalk Cafe.

Apparently the revamp already happened at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010 (couldn’t get a firm date on Google).  But for some reason it just totally dropped of my radar until recently when I spotted it in an article in the Elle magazine which featured “dining hot spots” in each city.

I figured, right, as soon as there’s a nice sunny day, I’m gonna go check it out!  And that’s how I got to have lunch there over the weekend.  Location wise, I think it’s great.  You have Table Mountain as your backdrop:

You also get a view of Lion’s Head:

As well as the stadium and a bit of the ocean:

Brilliant, right?   The menu offers some great breakfast options, freshly baked cakes, gourmet sandwiches, salads, burgers and various mains including some curries, some seafood options and yummy sounding meat dishes.

I kicked off with an interesting juice concoction – I can’t remember all the ingredients – but it was awesome.  However, once I realised that this glass of juice cost me R28, it did slightly dent my juice experience…

It's cool, but it comes at a price...

Then food wise, I opted for the Chicken, bacon & avo burger with onion jam & chilli mayo (R65).  Just look at this baby:

Boom! In your face!

All the flavours on that burger just worked sooooo well.  I was in burger heaven.  Also, the potato wedges were totally yum.   Worth the kilojoules for sure!

My Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings for Sidewalk would be:

• Vibe:
• Price:
• Food: 
• Service:

This cafe definitely lends itself to lazy, sunny afternoons.  A chilled spot in a pretty setting with some hearty food options.  What more could you want?   Well done to the Madame Zingara gang for yet another winner.

xxx