Locally grown fruit and vegetables, wines produced from grapes grown on the slopes of Table Mountain, hand-cured meats and ocean-fresh seafood – these days the Cape Town CBD is home to a wide range of delectable fresh produce. Here’s just a taste.
If you were to stand on the slopes of Table Mountain a couple of centuries ago, you would be left in no doubt that Cape Town was a market town. At various times in the city’s history you would have been able to see The Company’s Garden filled with fruit trees and vegetable patches, Oranjezicht dotted with vineyards, Greenmarket Square bustling with farmers bringing their wares to sell in town and even a dairy in the middle of Long Street. Those days may be gone but now, in addition to the famous flower sellers of Adderley Street and the street vendors on St George’s Mall, the Central City is once again home to thriving fresh-produce markets and local food merchants.
Markets
City Bowl Market
This market at 14 Hope St, just outside the CCID area, features a carefully selected choice of vendors offering fresh fruit and vegetables, meats, raw honey, dried nuts and an array of freshly prepared meals and snacks. Stock up on the fresh produce and stay for a coffee, glass of lemonade and slice of cake. Open every Thursday evening from 16h30 until 20h30 and Saturday morning from 09h00 until 14h00.
Earth Fair Food Market
Local artisans and good vendors gather on St George’s Mall every Thursday from 11h00 until 15h00 to offer Central City customers a range of lunchtime eats and fresh produce – guaranteed to be free of preservative and hormones, and light on packaging.
Meat
Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants
This local meat merchant at 8 Kloof St* – specialising in acorn-fed pork, 100% free-range lamb, grass-fed beef and pasture-reared chicken – now delivers in the CBD for R20. Place your order online.
* Since this article was written, Frankie Fenner has moved into the CBD to 81 Church St.
Flowers
Adderley Street flower sellers
Nestled between the Standard Bank building and the Golden Acre Mall on Adderley Street, this flower market has been the place for fresh blooms, including fynbos, for over a century. Many of the flower stalls have been handed down through generations, with some of today’s vendors selling flowers in exactly the same spot as their grandparents. This Cape Town institution is open between 07h00 and 20h00, rain or shine, every day except Sunday.
Juice
Bashews
Cape Town’s oldest cooldrink brand still offers door-to-door deliveries of its 300ml glass bottles in any or all of its seven flavours, for R150 a crate (of 24 glasses) including a deposit of R65. (Translation: If you order again, you only pay R85. If you return the bottles, you get your R65 back). For Central City deliveries, call Yusuf Dramat on 083 609 7079.
Juicebox
This brand of artisan fruit juice – made in Woodstock from seasonal Western Cape fruits – is now available for home ordering, for R316 a crate (of 24 glasses) including a deposit of R100. (Translation: If you order again, you only pay R216. If you return the glass, you get R100 back). To order, email info@juicebox.co.za.
Fish
Lusitania Fisheries
The plainly wrapped paper parcels dispensed from this family-owned fish-and-chips shop are responsible for one of the best smells available in the Central City: the steamy scent of vinegar-drenched chips and freshly battered fried fish. Lusitania has been selling generous portions, hand-cut chips and only the freshest fish for over 60 years, and in the words of John, one of the three Dos Freitas brothers who own Lusitania: “We serve everyone from factory workers to billionaires, six days a week from 06h00 to 20h00.” You can buy fresh fish every day Lusitania Fisheries at 49 Waterkant St, and call them on 021 425 4532.
Texies
Joe Texeira arrived in Cape Town on a boat from Madeira, along with his parents, in 1955. He revolutionised fast-food seafood when he introduced grilled fish and calamari to the menu of the first Texies, which opened in 1972. Today, there are Texies outlets at different locations in the CBD – from the Grand Parade to the Golden Acre – and the store offers the same range of fresh seafood and economical prices for which it has become famous. While you can order fresh fish from any of their outlets, the greatest range is available at their market on the Grand Parade, contactable at 021 461 4817.
Fruit and vegetables
St George’s Mall fruit and vegetable vendors
Whether you’re looking for your apple a day or a week’s worth of fruit and veg, the numerous street vendors that line St George’s Mall offer a range of seasonal fruit and vegetables at affordable prices. Not only do you get to individually handpick your favourite pieces of fruit but you also get to support the local economy when you buy from them. The conversation is for free.
Rodgers Fruiterers
This family-run fruiterer sells fresh produce, homemade breads, jams and preserves, sundried fruit and nuts at the City Bowl Market on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings and the Earth Fair Food Market on St George’s Mall on Thursday afternoons.
Harvest of Hope
Abalimi Bezekhaya (“Farmers of the Home”) is a non-profit development organisation that helps residents in township communities such as Nyanga and Khayelitsha grow their own organic vegetables – for subsistence and for sale. Harvest of Hope is their marketing project for surplus produce. A small box of seasonal produce costs R72 a week and is sufficient for one or two people, while a medium box costs R105 and can feed four or more people in a week. Boxes are available for collection every Tuesday in the CBD, between 14h00 and 17h00, at Birds Café at 127 Bree St and the City of Cape Town building at 44 Wale St (other collection points are available throughout the city). Sign up and collect a box of your own.
Beer and wine
Signal Hill Winery
Cape Town CBD’s only urban winery*, Signal Hill Wines, blends all their wines on their historic premises, which are also home to a wine-tasting venue and what is thought to be the oldest vine in Cape Town. The historic 1771 vine still produces grapes for 20 bottles of wine every year, according to proprietor and winemaker Jean-Vincent Ridon. The wines are produced using grapes grown in vineyards around Cape Town, including one on the slopes of Table Mountain. You can visit them at 100 Shortmarket St for wine sales and daily tastings.
* A second urban winery, called Dorrance, situated at 95 Hout St.
Roeland Liquors
While they might not be a market themselves, Roeland Liquors stock the largest range of local craft beer – from Devil’s Peak to Darling Brew, Triggerfish to Boston Breweries’ Whale Tale Ale – we’ve found in the CBD. Find them at 65 Roeland Street or place an order by calling 021 461 6397 or emailing party@roelandliq.co.za. Delivery in the CBD is free.
This article first appeared in the February 2015 issue of City Views. Read it online.
Words: Ambre Nicholson
Photo: Caroline Jordan