South Africa Calling - 24/09/2011

24th September , 2011 

A relaxed day - We got a late start , age and tiredness finally caught up with us ! We drifted aimlessly into the city centre , a 15 minute leisurely walk from our hotel .Red Shed Craft Market Victoria Wharf Shopping Centre and Green market Square were very rewarding as we worked our way through various aftrifacts shops . Green market is one of Cape Towns oldest markets set  on a cobbled square . Yes bargaining is the name of the game here too - the art of which did my Indian genes proud !

Today was also ' heritage day ' . School students and various groups performed around the city on the streets - singing and dancing . We witnessed one such short performance while lunching at Emily's Cafe 

where I ate a Tuna Salad and Chin a mixed seafood salad - the squid in his salad was off , though he polished off the rest ! 

More browsing post lunch saw met get a near skull hair cut - quite thrilled with the results . But that's later ! 

While I was getting my haircut the barber walked away and returned wit 4 cotton buds , and before I knew it , he had plugged my ears and nostrils with these wax quoted buds and then yanked them clean ! Hair cut or what ?

Then tea and cakes at the market … and at last back to our hotel in the evening .

A hurried drink at the rooftop bar - a beautiful space with a panoramic view of the city , 

we headed off to dinner at Gold's , another South African dining place . This time my experience was better than the night before . Gold's is a typical touristy place , loud live African music ( mercifully not for too long ! ) , dancing etc . 

All that was okay , but the staff inc the kitchen staff were the performers , which meant that our meal was suddenly interrupted while they performed !

Fortunately it was a set menu which save us the confusion of what to order and gave us a nice sampling of the food - which had flavors we were familiar with in our cuisine .

An aromatic thick tomato soup was followed by yam on a stick ( nice! ) and fish cakes . The dish also had mini samosas with tangy chutney . They then set a small portion of a a chopped venison ( deer ) curry which was yummy and came with a flaky triangular shaped bread . 

Then the ' main course ' - A tasty peanut and thyme flavoured chicken curry , onion and spinach vegetables cooked with pine nuts which was also very nice . There was an indifferent pumpkin dish too . 

The dessert was superb , a sampling of 3 sweet dishes . I don't want to see food for a while !