How would you spend the perfect day?
Recently while combing my favourite Cape Town website, CapeTownMagazine.com, I came across a post entitled Top Bakeries in Cape Town. And suddenly, it struck me like a second-rate macaroon to the face – touring Cape Town’s best bakeries is my perfect day! And who better to share it with than fellow calorie-connoisseur, my sister Jess. We clearly didn’t have the capacity, or the time, to tour the entire Cape peninsula in one day. Bakery tour by helicopter would’ve been ideal, but the budget didn’t quite allow for it, so we based ourselves in the city centre and started eating. Bedecked with cameras we headed out eager to sample some baked delights.
It was an interesting day that revealed different bakeries, each with their own style and atmosphere. On Kloof Street we visited the popular Knead franchise, which offered great service and delicious brioche French toast, but wouldn’t let us take any pictures. Also the bank of trendy folk staring at their Macbooks seated along the back wall was a little intimidating for this blogger. Further up Kloof Street, Jess and I hiking off a few calories, made a pilgrimage to the matriarch of Cape Town bakeries, Melissa’s. The first and the original Cape Town Deli and Bakery, still serving fine quality food and emergency dinner party desserts (who hasn’t done it? I have).
And because I was feeling flush, we stopped by one of Cape Town’s more celebrated bakeries or maybe, cakery? Charley’s Bakery on Canterbury Street is well worth a visit. Filled to the brim with queuing fans and semi-famous politicians, the obligatory film crew was on hand to catch the shop ‘in action’. There was no doubt that Charley’s is popular with the Cape Town jet set – I haven’t had to scuffle through that many Louis Vuitton handbags since the time I had to catch the last train back from the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. Somehow it seemed all a little bit shiny and glittery with not too much substance. Yes, their cakes and biscuits are a cut above the rest but it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I have to struggle to get someone behind the counter to take my money. A fair bit of money at that.
Cake boxes safely seat-belted into the back of the car, Katy and Jess made their way to Jason Bakery, an establishment I’ve been dying to visit, but never really felt quite stylish or artsy or well dressed enough to visit (I have my silly moments of self-doubt too, blog-readers). Fortunately, after a morning of bakery visits I was high on both caffeine and sugar, and there wasn’t too much getting in my way. I even managed to parallel park. Jason’s was by far the highlight of my day. Perhaps because we were relaxed, or maybe it was the natural light, that inspired Jess and I to whip out the cameras and start shooting. The New York Style cheesecake was truly beautiful, creamy but not heavy, firm but not cloying, cheesy and creamy and cream-cheesy all at the same time. We shared it due to the fact that we were both about to die early deaths right there on the pavement of Bree Street if we stretched our bellies any further. My coffee was delicious, Jess’ plum juice was too beautiful to be true and the cheesecake! Sigh.
We had a great day out, a 10000-calorie day worth remembering.
X KR and JR
Did we miss a great bakery? Is there a cake shop Katy hasn’t heard of? Let us know below
'Jason Bakery, Cape Town' have 2 comments
03/02/2014 @ 13:28 giorgiafornari
Hey Katy! I came across your website not long ago and i have to say, i fell in love with it. Actually, the truth is, i fell in love with Cape Town. Last summer (april to june 2013) I had the chance to move and live there for a while, definitely not long enough… I worked as a volunteer in Vrygrond, and for six weeks I had the time of my life. I never ever loved a place as much as I loved the mother city… since i came back home, to italy, the dream of going back has been building up inside me. Finding blogs and websites like yours, from people living down there and writing about their everyday life, makes me feel just a little bit closer to the Cape 🙂 Also, the fact of loving good food and drinks (and i say drinks for a reason, as some of the most delicious drinks i recently found and tried contain no alcohol at all 😉 ) definitely pushed me to spending my evenings reading your posts.
Thank you for what you do Katy, maybe one day, when I’ll move back to Cape Town for good, we’ll even meet up for a coffee on Kloof Street 🙂
Love, Giorgia
04/02/2014 @ 07:15 Katy's Table
Ciao Giorgia!
Thank you so much for your great feedback: my aim is to share some of the Cape Town magic with all my readers here and far away.
I’ve had some amazing foodie travels in Italy too – but I do agree with you, there is something very special about this corner of Africa.
Please come and visit us soon- and next time, come in our summer: the weather should be beautiful until the middle of April and then warm again in October. Coffee and cake will be my treat for you, our friend from Italy
x KR