South Africa has long been known for more than just safaris and Table Mountain – it is an absolute paradise for foodies. In this episode, I chat with Michi, a Swiss chef and food scout who regularly visits Cape Town. He is always on the lookout for new culinary highlights.

Michi shares his favourite restaurants with us, including real insider tips such as the South China Dim Sum Bar and the stylish Hemel Huijs, explains why Willoughby's Sushi is a must for him every year – and how you can literally eat your way around the world in the Western Cape region.

We talk about Cape Town as a ‘melting pot of flavours’, the incredible quality of South African ingredients, about ostrich fillets instead of fondue – and why Scarborough is one of the most magical places in South Africa for Michi and myself.

If you already love Cape Town, or are just planning your first trip there, this episode will not only make you hungry, but also guarantee you wanderlust.

Deutsch: Du kannst diesen Podcast auch auf Deutsch hören: “Africa with André auf Deutsch”

👉 If you’ve enjoyed this episode or have thoughts to share, please reach out: podcast@africawithandre.com

Michi Angehrn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michi_eats_out

Willoughby & Co: https://willoughbyandco.co.za/

Hemel Huijs: https://www.hemelhuijs.co.za/

South China Dim Sum: https://www.facebook.com/SouthChinaDimSumBar/

Pajamas & Jam Eatery: https://www.pajamasandjam.com/

Babylonstoren: https://babylonstoren.com/

Ouzeri: https://www.ouzeri.co.za/

To make reservations: Dineplan: https://www.dineplan.com/

Jonkmanshof in Montagu: https://www.jonkmanshof.com/

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Sound credits: uppbeat.io/ and https://pixabay.com/ 

I've asked Michi to join me today. Michi is Swiss, he's a trained chef, a sommelier, is a food scout, and regularly writes for the online journal "Travel Magazin". He has an Instagram account called michi_eats_out where he reveals his favorite places to enjoy food from right around the world. We noticed that Michi spends a lot of time in Cape Town, and so he's the perfect person to talk to about the food scene there.

Welcome Michi, nice to have you on the podcast.

[00:00:50] André: Tell us a bit about yourself. Who is Michi? What does he do, and how is it that you became a trained chef?

Also, social wise I lost quite a lot of friends. So, for me it was clear to actually change a bit the path of not going, to work in restaurants, to go a bit different directions. So, I went to, to marketing things and now I'm a food scout to, to scout the greatest product, for the Swiss customers.

The food scene in South Africa is very special, people find it very, very interesting. What do you find so cool about it?

And they're very good in Indian, they are very good in African kitchen, obviously European kitchen is big. So, it's, it's a bit a mix. And then the, the ingredients which they work with is just such an amazing and fantastic quality.

Doesn't make it easy, but it's obviously a better start with good ingredients to create, a even better, taste for, for the customers.

[00:02:54] Michi: Definitely, I mean, you can get good meat here in Switzerland, but then you just pay a triple of it.

[00:03:10] Michi: No. For me it's more of a Cape Town thing, because we are usually, when we go there yearly, we usually are around Cape Town, that's why I can give more tips, about restaurants or food in Cape Town and surrounding.

I mean, you probably have a long list of restaurants you want to try whenever you go and visit.

And Cape Town has new restaurants fairly regularly, but there must be some favourites that you go to every time.

It's very, vibrant and it's very, agile as well. There's a lot of changes happening, which obviously drives the innovation, of the restaurants.

Uh, but of course there are like the best sellers, the loved places, where we always go.

Um, I have three of them actually.

So, the first one is, when we land, usually we land in the morning and then we always go for lunch at Willoughby's. And Willoughby's is very famous for sushi. Uh, you probably also know the place,

[00:04:30] Michi: Yeah. I fully agree. And also like, you know, you also get good sushi or very good sushi in Switzerland, but then you just pay, a hundred dollars upwards. And there you just get, obviously it's not cheap, cheap, but, it's very affordable, I think, for what you get, in a portion of sushi to what you pay for it.

[00:05:10] Michi: Yeah. The location is not, let's say, not stunning but I think the vibe amazing. So, it's very interesting people around. It's just, I think a must visit if you love sushi and to, get into the Cape Town vibe.

Then, another one, I have on my list is a Hemel Huijs. Um, it's a restaurant where I usually also go for lunch. We go to Cape Town since 12 years, and I think I've been there every year. They're just, delivering quality on a level, which I always find fascinating.

Such lovely staff. It's just a place where I always love to go, uh, and I always have to go.

[00:05:48] Michi: Um. Yeah. And then, uh, another one which I also like, is South China Dim Sum Bar. So that one is a bit more, let's say, low key also from a perspective of the interior. So, it's very, not very rough, but it's, it's a bit...

[00:06:09] Michi: Correct, correct. Not so refined. That's the right word. Uh, it's also interesting because they serve the food on paper plates, which I always find, uh... it's crazy, they do that since 10 years. You know, it's interesting when you're there, you don't care, because the dim sum, the quality, and with the sauce and everything, it just blows you away that you think, oh, okay, there's paper, whatever.

It's just like the quality of dim sum is so, great and good. That's why I always go there. It's also cool vibe.

[00:06:47] Michi: Yeah, 12 years ago, we travelled there to actually visit, the best friend of my husband. He was spending one year in Cape Town at Cape Town University, and he was already there for like, I think seven or eight months.

So, we visited him at the end of his trip. So, I think that was very good because he already knew all the great places and he picked us up at the airport with a cabriolet.

Uh, so we drove through all these amazing places, the nature, and then you just like wanna pinch yourself because you're like, "Hey, where are we now? This is, this is Africa? This is, what? I expected something very different".

And it just. I think that combination of him showing us these, all these amazing places, um, and also like seeing, especially for my husband, it was like seeing his best friend again after eight months. And then in that setting, it was just, uh, magical and we just literally lost our heart there and actually booked our trip, in South Africa for the next year.

We never do that. It's really something, we always say, no, let's go home and then decide. But there we were like, nah, whatever.

Drawing the arc back to food, can you remember your first wow meal experience where you said, wow, there's something special about the food in this country?

So, it's, for me, it's not one specific meal, it's more the realization of, wow, the products here they are very good, and they are just in quality so good.

What would you say?

[00:09:07] André: Yeah. Me too.

And, and it's also something, you know, here in Switzerland, you can also get a lot of different foods, in Cape Town you get authentic Indian, you get authentic Thai food, you get authentic Chinese food, Italians obviously.

And it's funny, I think Italians comes at the end because they have restaurants there. But for me, it's not number one, which usually around the world in other countries, Italians is always a good choice to go.

And I think that's a bit different in South Africa, because you have so many other options, which are better in my opinion.

[00:10:15] Michi: Yeah. I love that too.

[00:10:28] Michi: Uh, yes, I have that. I mean, it's not as crazy as you would go on a trip to Asia. Because in Asia, I think, especially we westernized people, we always think, "oh my God, what do they eat"? They probably think the same with us, by the way, but it's just another story. So, it's not something which I thought, "oh my God, that's crazy", but I had once like a zebra, that was okay. And then I also, uh, ate a monkey, so that was a bit weird.

[00:10:59] Michi: Hey, the brain makes a lot with the taste, right. So, it was okay, but I, uh, I didn't finish the meal, so you can imagine it. Yeah, it was okay to eat, but it's not something you're like enjoying a lot.

[00:11:25] Michi: No.

[00:11:27] Michi: This is something you can teach me.

And the Americans are like, "what is this monkey gland sauce"? And I made a joke because, sometimes you just have to make a joke in order to stay sane in that job. And I made a joke and I said that, "yeah, if you take the glands outta the monkey before they become 1-year-old, then the glands grow back, and they make this beautiful sauce that you put on your burger".

And they believed me.

[00:12:02] André: But it, it has nothing to do with monkeys and I, to this day, I haven't figured out why it's called a monkey gland, but it's one of those things that I've only seen there and people are like, "what is this"? Anyway, so you, you tried monkey. Good for you.

[00:12:18] André: But you know what we like to cook, which you don't get here so often, is if I make a bobotie, for example, which is a typical Malay dish with minced meat, I like to use ostrich meat for that. You don't get that here so much. And ostrich meat is, yeah, it's so healthy.

[00:12:45] André: we'll need to find a garden to breed some ostriches.

[00:12:51] André: Yes, big garden.

Michi, if I only have 24 hours in South Africa and I can move around completely freely, where should I definitely eat?

So, for me, um, you have breakfast or brunch at Pajamas and Jam Eatery. That's one hour drive out of Cape Town in Strand, I think,

[00:13:28] Michi: if I'm right.

So that's, along the coast towards the east of Cape Town

You have amazing sweet, It's like It's a cream cake, they look like, someone, uh, painted it. It was literally amazing things.

And then you have in the back you have a restaurant, which they serve you breakfast. You have amazing juices, amazing coffee as well. and you just have a walk through the different halls, and you just will see things, which, uh, just gives such a nice vibe, because everyone is doing it and it doesn't feel weird when you stand up and discover things.

They also have a very nice shop, not only with, food goods, also like, um, like home decor and everything. Uh, super, super, super, nice. I can really recommend this place. Uh, it's only, I think one and a half year old, so it's quite new. And there's a lot of tourists already,so you better go.

[00:14:52] Michi: Yes.

[00:14:53] Michi: And then for lunch, it's a long-standing thing, uh, to go in Stellenbosch, it's called Babylonstoren, it's a winery.

It's a winery, but also an estate, which has, just the most amazing garden you probably have seen in your life. They take so much care of it and it's so well made, and everything is so beautiful and aesthetic that if you come a bit early, you have an hour around the estate to just discover everything, and then you can have lunch at Babel restaurant in Babylonstoren.

So, it's a very nice one. They also use all the ingredients from the garden in the kitchen,

like, very very fresh.

[00:15:36] Michi: I mean, 12 years back we went there and I, I thought, I was like in shock almost, because I thought it's, this cannot be on this earth. Like literally. And then after 12 years, I visited again, and it has become a bit more touristic, I have to say, but it still has this, they just have their value, they have their vision of the place, and they just go on it. Uh, even though there are more people coming. And I think that's also, uh, very hard to actually do it, because usually if you get more people, then the place also gets a bit more,

[00:16:19] Michi: Yeah, exactly. So, I really think it's, uh, especially if you've never been, you really have to go to Babylonstoren for sure.

And then, uh, at the end, so for dinner, we do something more, uh, urban,

more in the city. So, this place is in this city, it's called Ouzeri. So, it's a Greek bistro with a lot of hip people in it. And there you see all the models, uh, next to your table having their amazing Greek food.

Uh, and um, yeah, in the middle you are,

[00:17:34] André: I see here on Google it says, reservations required. I think that's something in Cape Town, especially in the high season, it's always a good idea to reserve restaurants, right?

[00:18:05] André: Michi, I like to end my episodes with questions about favourites,

What is your favourite place? I'm gonna say, what is your favourite place in Cape Town?

It's Scarborough. And Scarborough is around, I think an hour and a half probably, or even less drive from the city centre.

[00:18:43] Michi: Correct, yeah. And it's just, uh, very, very quiet place. Very, but super, super nice, feeling, they have a really stunning beach where you can just walk with your, I dunno, with your dog if you have a dog and so on.

It's a very mystical place. there's often a lot of fog there, and the ocean is a bit rough. We actually scattered my mother's ashes there, so I know what you mean. It's a beautiful,

[00:19:15] André: Yeah.

And last question, what is your favourite animal and why?

It's probably not so usual to say that for, for people as a favourite, but I think that.

Really, I just love the character of that animal and just also, you know, the fact that they are quite hard to get seen. Because if you have a ranger who knows where they are, obviously you get to see them, but it's not like a zebra, giraffe, which you see a lot if you go on a game drive.

Um, they're, yeah, like quite hard to see, and I guess they eat a lot And they can be dangerous, I mean, it's the most dangerous, animal on land. I don't know if you know that.

[00:20:01] Michi: It's really crazy. They get...

[00:20:06] Michi: Correct. I mean, that's not why it's my favourite animal, by the way, but, but it's just fascinating, because it also looks so cute, and then it's, uh, but then it's not cute. it's a bit mystical just an interesting animal, which I think makes it to my favourite animal at the end.

[00:20:32] Michi: Yeah. A hundred percent.

[00:20:42] Michi: Big pleasure, André, thank you for having me. I hope, I could inspire some foodies out there to really, um, visit Cape Town, or South Africa, in general very soon, because I think it really, really is a must for every foodie out there.

[00:21:09] Michi: Yeah, please do that. I'm always on the hunt, so you will see the next, uh, good, cool place, for sure very soon.

[00:21:19] Michi: Thank you André.

Do you have a favourite restaurant in Cape Town? Let me know. I'd love to try it. And now Bon Appetit. Have a great December. Thank you for listening. Until the next time.