Easter on the rise! and a near lunch at “The Blue Marlin”

Well Easter had a good turn out this year, much better than in the previous years. There was lots of hubbub on the radio about it and it actually for the first time (for me) had a tangible festive feel.
The cynic in me says it’s the work of shrewd marketeers paying off broadcasters to inflate egg sales, but maybe the celebration is catching on. Talulah got more eggs than what is good for her, so they have been re-hidden where she can’t find them.

We had a large family get together (on Sarah’s side) and took some long drives around the peninsular, something which I don’t do often enough.

Cape Town really is one of the most scenic cities in the world, and no matter how long you have lived here it can still blow you away at any moment. We caught the light just right on our way back from Kalk bay on Monday and watched the sun go down from Chapman’s peak drive. Any traveller in Cape Town for more than a weekend has to make a trip around the peninsular a priority, not so much for Cape Point as Noordhoek, Llandudno and Hout Bay. The view at sunset over Hout Bay is something else. Take the trip slowly though and perhaps take a bottle of wine for sundowners on Chapman’s peak, or take time to drive down to see the beach at Llandudno.

I remember eating some of the best oysters of my career at “The Blue Marlin” in Simon’s Town, so we stopped there for lunch on Friday. I was a bit peturbed by the bevy of tour buses parked outside, but we went in anyway as it looked as though they were finished lunch and being carted of to Cape Point. The menu looked good and I could see by the plates being taken from the tables that hundreds of Kilos of crayfish lost their lives that day. At least their price was listed (R235/$32 for 2 small ones) I can’t stand the “SQ” designation. So we ordered drinks, and were deciding what to eat when we noticed some very strange looks from the other customers, which we realised were looks of “we have been waiting for 3 hours to eat, you don’t know what yu are getting yourself in for” , or something very similar. It seems the tour buses stretch the kitchen to breaking point and the need a while to recoup after lunch, but we were hungry and left. The waiter seemed somewhat relieved! It is a great restaurant for seafood though, but keep an eye out for buses in the drive.

We headed through to Noordhoek and had lunch at what was “The Red Herring”, the restaurant downstairs still goes by this name, but the bar upstairs is now called “Skebangers”. It is very charming and in a lovely setting. The food comes from downstairs and is mainly pizza’s and burger type fare. The Calamari was very good and the pizza was just good. The cold beer was excellent.