Cape Town

We arrived in Cape Town for our three weeks in South Africa and spent 5 nights there. Fantastic. As the flight was overnight, we intended to pick up the hire car, head up to our accomodation and then have an easy day. Nothing could be further from the truth. The tablecloth was off Table Mountain and our hosts reccommended that we went straight up and made the most of the clear, sunny day.

It was stunning at the top. Last time John and I were in South Africa was on our honeymoon and we had only about an hour before the cloud came down again. This time we were able to walk right around the top on one of the longer pathways and see the city and peninsular from all sides. Mum managed the walk too, despite having two false hips, a false knee and a sciatic nerve playing up! Only hiccup was when she went to sit on a rock and missed the rock completely and fell over. Fortunately she didn't try to stop herself and just ended up bruised. We made up for this by having hot chocolate and cake in the cafe at the top - must have one of the best views of any cafe!

That evening we wandered down the road to where we knew there were some reccommended restaurants. By the time we got to Manolo, Mum felt that she couldn't walk any further, so that was where we stopped. It was a great choice. They had a new chef a couple of months ago who is also known as 'the alchemist'. (None of this we knew when we walked in!). I had never had springbok before, let alone springbok with ice cream! Believe me, it works. Pudding - gorgonzola ice cream, almond cake etc. It is also amazing. Coming from England it made me think of Heston Blumenthal. Being in South Africa I could afford to eat in Manolo, I can't afford the Fat Duck, although I have wanted to sample that style of cuisine for a long time.

After a long trip and an active afternoon, to be in a restaurant with fantastic, innovative food; attentive service and a quiet, refined atmosphere was just what we needed.