Home is where the heart is, and it’s also where you prepare and enjoy the food that nourishes you and feeds your soul. But home doesn’t end when you walk out of your door, and onto the street where you live. Here’s a food-lover’s guide to the inside secrets of the dining scene in Observatory, one of Cape Town’s coolest neighbourhoods
In periods of change, I find that what I choose to eat can be a way of anchoring me. Comfort food is something I can hold onto, even as the world swirls around and within me.
For me, change can be held by these constants, of time and place and mind – pots and pans to collect my hopes and fears, familiar bowls to contain my stirring soul, and plates that lay out the attendant range of possibilities.
Then, well-thumbed knives fillet my feelings, while forks interrogate my thoughts. Spoons keep everything bite-sized.
Most comfort food I make at home, tailored to my mood and budget. The simple cracking of eggshells heralds the life-raft of a piece of toast, soon to be covered with gleaming yolks that stare back at me at breakfast as I launch my day. These things stay the same, even as I change. Coffee is added ballast, fuel for the journey.
This home menu brings me into a sense of place. However, I have found more home outside of my dwelling. My home, I have discovered, is larger than my kitchen, and when I choose to eat out in my neighbourhood, I’m also cementing this sense of a place, a home where I belong.
Fried eggs on toast remains a regular and easy option for the fussy palates of my children in the diverse eateries of Observatory in Cape Town. Here, in this happy fuzz of small eateries, there is a stark absence of food chains.
The lurid global burger and chicken joints pimp their wares on the bustle of nearby Main Road, allowing this beating suburban artery, Lower Main Road, to be a respite, a place where home-made food is made, with love, pride and attention to detail.
Home-made means that everything opens a door to a sense of place and belonging. There is no imperative to leave in this alley of welcoming, no pyramid of polystyrene and cardboard takeaway boxes to navigate.
A dazzling array beckons, of schwarma and falafel, crayfish samosas, glistening fresh sashimi, local cuisine including tripe and trotters, a world-class pizzeria with mouthwatering sourdough bases, mesmerising Indian tapas, customised enchilada shacks, a dedicated sparerib-only spot, several curry dens, burger and fry grillhouses and a glut of greasy breakfast bars all coexist in easy and wholesome peace.
Locals are spoilt for choice. Here, tourist prices do not apply. Each establishment typically has a small menu of around seven or eight specialties which are within reach of most budgets. It’s not hard to belong, and develop affinity at an accelerated pace.
Our petrol station is evocatively unbranded and looks like something out of the ‘Fifties. It is a frequent film location, which hides a daily consignment of heavenly lamb rooties on its counter, near cans of oil and car perfume. Down Lower Main Road towards Salt River is a popular new vegan spot, alongside a phenomenal eatery that serves gob-smacking lunches at a long shared table for very reasonable prices.
Here, locals from all walks of life gather without planning to, spiralling off into joint projects and other social arrangements. It’s here that I get to know the people I live amongst, where I’m greeted by name and offered the usual comforting glass of plonk.
The vibe is so intensely local that I hadn’t registered the absence of chain food stores, and am now certain that their presence is inevitable. It feels like we are living in a golden age that is destined to die, as development slowly changes the character of the neighbourhood.
Bland concrete monoliths pierce the sky, as all the old church halls are bought and converted into minimum size ‘living units’ devoid of care or character.
Even among these bulging bullying buildings is a pizza joint that serves food a notch above anything else I have ever tasted. So committed to the local scene are its owners that they have initiated a food kitchen for homeless people, and serve a robust pasta to all and sundry on a certain night of the week in one of the remaining church halls.
Another band of volunteers, supported by local eateries, prepare and serve Sunday lunch to a long line of homeless people in one of our small neighbourhood parks. This is even further evidence that in Observatory, food creates a sense of what a home is meant to be, a place of support, acceptance and safety.
Food is where the home is, and home is where the heart is. For now, I relish every plate, grateful for the love that I taste.
My Favourite Food Spots in Obs
- Reverie – The Social Table. 226A Lower Main Rd, Observatory. Tel. 079 060 6971
- Big Mommas – local African cuisine. 96 Lower Main Rd, Observatory. Tel. 021 447 1256
- Ferdinando’s Pizza – 205, Lower Main Road, Observatory. Tel. 084 771 0485
- 1890 House Sushi – 40 Trill Road, Observatory. Tel. 021 447 1450
- The Peacock – Indian inspired tapas. 105 Lower Main Rd, Observatory. Tel. 021 300 3294
- Jerry’s Burger Bar – 123 Lower Main Rd, Observatory. Tel. 021 447 8554
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