R. Doug Wicker — Author

On this, our first visit to Cape Town, South Africa (we’re going again later this year), we dined at several establishments. Two stood out among the rest. So, today I’m presenting a Fun Food Friday two-fer. The first restaurant featured in today’s article is Mama Africa, on the corner of Long Street at Pepper Street. Mama Africa pecializes in native African cuisine with an emphasis on wild game — crocodile, eland, kudu, ostrich, springbok, and even zebra. For the less adventurous, fish, chicken, lamb, and oxtail. Want to see the menu? Here you go:

The restaurant decor is charming, the staff friendly and helpful, the food delish, and the menu extensive. The only downside is that it’s on the expensive side. But Mama Africa is well worth at least one trip for dinner. You may even enjoy it enought to go back a second or third time. We almost did, until we stumbled upon today’s second restaurant (more on that shortly). First, before we get to what Ursula and I dined upon, let’s look at the interior:

Ursula and I are big believers in trying the local cuisine. As such, we opted for game meat. Ursula’s choice was springbok, a type of antelope. I had the ostrich, as our waitres informed us that it would be a more moist meat. She was right. Ursula’s springbok was tasty, but the meat was dry. We both agreed that the ostrich was the better dish. Now for a look at the food:

If it appears that I’m giving Mama Africa short shirft, it’s because the next eatery is the one both of us most highly recommend. Meet Quay 4 Restaurant & Tavern, located on the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. And when I say this place offers up views of the waterfront at least as good as the food and prices, you can see why below. Those white squares are outdoor dining area umbrellas:

As to where this is in relation to the rest of V&A Waterfront, below is a wider view. The Quay 4 is in the upper left quadrant. Swing Bridge and the Clock Tower District are upper center.

The entrance to Quay 4 isn’t particularly difficult to find on Dock Street, but you will have to watch for it:

After you pass through the opening above, continue toward the back. Along the way you’ll pass some large posters depicting the menu:

You’ll even pass by a poster showing off Quay 4’s daily specials. And whereas R149 (South African Rand) may sound steep, that works out to just over $9.00 USD:

Because of the views and the moderate temperature this day, we opted to sit in the outdoor “tavern” rather than head upstairs into the “restaurant”:

Ursula is a sucker for seafood chowder, and I enjoy it as well. So, we both opted to start with a sampling, which turned out tasty but which doesn’t quite compare to our favorite — Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, Alaska. Nevertheless, Quay 4’s was worth the price of admission; R75 ($4.54 USD) gets you this:

For our mains, Ursula opted for this tasty piece of fish, for which she was given a choice of seasonings (if I recall correctly, she went for a cajun flavor), and a salad with ranch dressing:

I was in a fish & chips mood, so that’s what I ordered. Quay 4’s “secret batter” rendered the fillet light, airy, and, most importantly, crisp. The fries fresh from the fryer and were equally tasty.

How good was Quay 4? Good enough that we went back, and good enough that we’ll give another try when we return to Cape Town later this year. Although next time I think we’ll try the main restaurant rather than the tavern. For the latest Quay 4 menu, head on over to these links: Quay 4 Tavern Menu; Quay 4 Upstairs Menu.

Today’s article concludes our 2025 visit to Cape Town, South Africa. From here we boarded a cruise ship and headed north, so next week I’ll be showing you our first cruise destination — Walvis Bay, Namibia.

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