Cafe Caprice (commonly referred to as Caprice by the locals) is one of the most popular pubs in Camps Bay, heaving on Sunday evenings. I chose it to view the Germany versus Serbia match on a gorgeous sunny Cape Town afternoon.
I immediately noticed a sea of red shirts worn by the England supporters, who were in town for their match against Algeria, and immediately felt in the minority, with the England fans supporting Serbia, enjoying Germany’s poor performance, and I was one of very few females.
Caprice is a man’s place, signalled by its weird mixture of functional furniture, couches here and there with white tables that looked like paper cutouts, and tables and chairs inside that looked like all-weather garden furniture. There are flatscreen TV’s on almost every wall, allowing everyone to see the matches, except those visitors wanting to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful view onto the Camps Bay beach. Colour photographs of soccer players in action have been put up on the walls. The staff all wear red Havaianas T-shirts, to promote the footwear company that sponsored their clothing. The staff do not know much about the brand.
The waitress handed me the menu and I asked if it had been printed especially for the World Cup. She said it is the standard menu, which is commendable, given that many pubs have increased their prices. On Twitter I had read that the Caprice Burger is one of the best in town, and decided to order that – it costs R 50, comes with a large portion of chips, served on a seed roll with lettuce and a slice of tomato, and is a very thick patty, so thick that you cannot get a bite into your mouth with the patty and one half of the roll – great for the guys, but not for the ladies – but excellent tasting, especially compared to my forced daily diet of McDonalds as a World Cup volunteer! There are nine other burger options, starting at R 45 for a vegetarian burger with lentils and chickpeas, to R 65 for a mozarella, creamy mushroom and pepper sauce burger, or a Gourmet burger with cranberry jelly and blue cheese. One can also order sandwiches, starting at what feels like an expensive R 50 for chunky chicken, sundried tomato or cajun chicken wrap, paying up to R 80 for a Mediterranean steak roll. Eight salad options are offered, the Beach salad, a mixed salad, costing what feels to be an expensive R 55, up to R 80 for a Sweet chilli prawn sald, and an Ostrich salad. Pasta arrabiata costs R 50, and seafood pasta costs R 100. A 300 gram sirloin steak, and a 300 gram sirloin skewer at R80, sound like good value. A plate of fries costs R 18.
As if the menu does not contain enough options, Caprice also serves eleven tapas options, ranging from hummus and pita, and tzatziki and pita (R32 each) to R 75 for chicken nachos. Cajun calamari, spicy chicken skewers, crumbed mushrooms, cheese nachos, buffalo wings, chicken and peppadew springrolls, chicken livers and marinated sirloin are further tapas options.
Caprice serves Breakfast until 12h30, which is commendably late compared to many other venues, and they offer 12 options, the most basic being eggs on toast at a reasonable R 30, and the most special being the Health Royale at R 65, consisting of gypsy ham, 2 poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce. Other options are anchovy toast, flapjacks, eggs benedict, omelettes, etc.
The volume of beer supplied is not indicated on the menu, costing R13 for a Castle to R16 for a Heineken, R25 for Corona and R40 for andUnion, the latter being for 500 ml, and the other brands sold as 330ml.
As a World Cup venue, I found it terribly loud, as few of the patrons were really watching the match, and they were talking. Service was slow in getting a menu, as there does not seem to be a dedicated waitress per section of the restaurant, meaning that I had to ask the manager to get me one. It has a fantatsic view, the best so far, a bonus in the daytime. Children dancing and drumming in little Xhosa skirts were an irritation, and it felt wrong to see them exploited for financial gain. Caprice offers wireless internet for free, and they take reservations, which are pluses. It is an excellent venue for men who want a beer or three, and want to soak it up with a good, reasonably priced, plate of food. It is the home of king blogger Seth Rotherham/Will Mellor of 2Oceansvibe, a fantastic endorsement for the restaurant, given the stature of his blog and the following it enjoys.
Cafe Caprice, 37 Beach Road, Camps Bay. tel (021) 438-8315 www.caprice.co.za (functional site, not very user-friendly, music plays when opened, slow to download, not very informative). Open Mondays – Sundays.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com
