Many, many years ago, my friend and I were house sitting her ex-step mother’s home in Clifton (complicated, I know!). We were working together at the time, which meant day in and day out we would drive past the sign to the Roundhouse. At that stage we were eating sweetcorn stuffed gem squashes every night so while we thought we were very cool living in Camps Bay, there was zero chance of eating out at a ‘laanie’ restaurants. But the name has always stuck with me.
A few weeks ago I was tweeting about things I’d never done in Cape Town, Roundhouse being one of them. They kindly noted my tweet and invited me for breakfast.
Now breakfast isn’t an easy thing to do in the Sprout house, because Mr John DJ’s until 4am most nights, which means getting up at 8am to get to Camps Bay by 9am is a full on challenge. And with Camps Bay not easily accessed (like Canal Walk just say), we were indeed late. Around the windy, windy, windy road along to the Roundhouse, Camps Bay’s glamorous reputation left us arriving with trepidation, yet we were surprised to find a welcoming and rusty location. We did ring the Roundhouse to let them know and they graciously accepted our apologies.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve heard their gourmet restaurant is lovely and a beautiful dinner is always worth dressing up for, in my books. However, their breakfast and lunch atmosphere is really relaxed, encouraged by the rustic surroundings. We sat on the stoep of the famed Roundhouse, overlooking a small revine to reveal the ocean beyond. Tall oak trees cast shade onto the picnic styled benches.
Each table is garnished with a picnic basket that holds seasoning, cutlery and the menus. Each table is required to fill in their own order sheet which the server then places with the chef in the kitchen.
Our server kindly brought us water and we ordered orange juice as I had seen their orange juice in champagne glasses via social media and the delicious thought had stuck with me.
For breakfast Mr John ordered a ordered a chocolate croissant, which were unfortunately sold out so he opted for the almond version which was beautifully presented, simple yet inviting.
I wanted to try something savoury and sweet so, to start, we ordered the pancakes for the sweet. Drizzled with a touch of syrup (I usually have 3 times that much, oops!), the fruit was fresh, the cream sour, and the batter a touch thick. If you have a killer sweet tooth then these won’t satisfy you. These are pancakes for summer, not the midst of winter. If you love to run, or are fit, and are craving something a little bit naughty then you will love these. Light and healthy for the warm season ahead.
We also ordered the bacon and eggs. I don’t like egg yellow so I asked if I could just have the white (if the chef didn’t mind), but the meal arrived without eggs. The bacon was excellent, some of the best bacon I’ve had in Cape Town. Really flavourful. The basil infused tomatoes were delicious ,but a bit one dimensional meaning; I understand why the eggs would have completed the meal, however, not everyone eats eggs so perhaps avo could be a good substitute? Just so that it’s more than tomato, bacon, tomato, bacon, etc.
After our breakfast we went for a little stroll to see the garden layers and explore the surrounds a little bit. Roundhouse is a dog friendly venue, if your dog is on a leash. There are other dog walkers who cross through the venue so leashes are important.
Thank you to Roundhouse for having us. Your servers were really polite, efficient and friendly, which I enjoyed. Many of them were from Joburg and I enjoyed talking to them about their move to Cape Town, living in the Mother City, etc. The Roundhouse has said that their lunches are really popular, I will be sure to pop by another time to experience one of those as I can only image how relaxing they are in a setting as beautiful as this.
