Tag Archives: Vredehoek

A return visit to The Woodlands Eatery

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I’ve already shared my feelings about The Woodlands Eatery over in Deerpark Drive, Vredehoek (you can check out my full review of it over here).  I absolutely love the place.  Period.  The food is always good, you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.  I personally love the salt & pepper squid as well as the lamb pizza.  Their burgers also rock and then they always have amazing “limited time only” things on their special dinner menus.  Pure food bliss, I tell you. :)

I was there again recently for a birthday celebration and I was just blown away by its unique look & feel all over again.  It’s such an Alice in Wonderland moment.  So I decided I needed to do a bit of a homage to The Woodlands Eatery in pictures…

Here goes:

Pretty damn cool, huh? ;)   To book a table (and I know you want to) – call them on 021 801 5799.

xxx

Lovin’ the new look Sidewalk Cafe

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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

Breakfast bliss at Raw cafe

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Raw Cafe on the corner of Derry & Exner streets in Vredehoek is a firm favourite of mine for breakfast/brunch.

The menu is unpretencious with lots of great wholesome options.  The decor is simple & fresh.  The service is always friendly.  And the owners, the oh so lovely Tyrone & Victoria, are always so warm & welcoming. On a sunny day, it’s the perfect spot to soak up some sun while enjoying a great cuppa…

On my latest visit I tried the breakfast wrap (R36) for the first time and was blown away.  It was reeeeeaaaally good.  I went for the added bacon option, cause no breakfast meal is complete without bacon! haha.  And it also had a bit of a sweet chilli bite to it, which was really awesome, because I love all things hot & spicy… :)

Yum!!!

It also didn’t leave you feeling icky like a standard breakfast fry up normally does.  It was filling, yet light and jam-packed with flavour.

My Miss K Kiss-o-Meter ratings for Raw cafe would be as follows:

  • Vibe:
  • Price:
  • Food:
  • Service:

Solid scores for a solid spot.  So, I’ll see you guys there?

xxx

Woodlands Eatery: A quaint little treasure

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On Tuesday eve I met up with my absolutely gorgeous friend Tatum (owner of Soulshine Cards) for some good food and a good catch up.  I love hanging out with Tatum, she’s such an amazing creative energy and she always leaves you wanting to challenge yourself more.  I need people like that in my life. :)

Anyhoo, we chose The Woodlands Eatery in Vredehoek (2 Deer Park drive) for our little get together and boy oh boy did we make a good choice!  Upon entering, my eyes were immediately drawn to all the quirky, fun decor pieces.  Like the odd antique looking chairs, various odd chandeliers over the bar area, the kitch but cool ornaments and the picture frames stacked on the walls in all shapes and sizes…

A true visual feast…

I mean just look at this table as you walk in – with the crazy lamp shades hanging over head and then the interesting mirror collection on the wall above:

How freakin’ cool is that!?!

My absolute favourite little detail though, was this happy looking gold & brown bunny:

What’s that little guy? You wanna come home with me? Of course you can…

Before I move on to the food, I have to also mention that they have a cool little outside area, but as it’s been a bit chillz here in Cape Town the last few days, we opted to stay indoors where it was warm & cosy.

So… the menu might seem a little simple at first glance, but they really pride themselves on only offering options made with the freshest of fresh produce.  So because of that, the menu changes regularly.  Our waitress (who was truly lovely) highly recommended the Red Snapper with rocket & avo salad and grilled baby potatoes.  Both Tatum and I said “yes please!” in unison.

Best fish meal I’ve had in yonks… and it only cost R70!

After our main, we didn’t really have our hearts set dessert… but then our waitress said the magic words: “chocolate fondant” (Evil woman! She knew we wouldn’t be able to resist!).  Again there was a loud “yes yes yes please” from both Tatum and I.

Just as good as they make them in France!

Not only was the food & service fantastic, but there was also a really great energy about this place. You just wanted to stay and chill and chat for hours and hours on end.  Next thing we knew it was almost 11pm!   (we got there at 7:30pm)  What an amazing evening…  it’s always better when you don’t know a thing about a place and then it smacks you right in the face with its pure awesomeness.

Now according to my research, The Woodlands Eatery has been open since early this year already. How did it take me this long to find out about this place!?  Is everyone trying to keep it a secret to avoid it becoming over crowded or something?  Geeze people, share the love!  I can see myself going back to this spot over and over again.  Gonna have to, especially seeing as the menu changes so regularly.  Really want to try everything on offer.

Right, on to my official Miss K Kiss-o-Meter rating:

  • Ambience/vibe: 
  • Price:
  • Service:
  • Food:

Impressive scores! But well deserved, trust me. Everyone in Cape Town should go and give this place a try.  You’ll be enchanted just like we were. :)

OK, ciao for now my lovelies. xxx