Savouring the night in Cape Town’s city centre

An unheralded Cape Town success story is how, over the past 10-15 years, the heart of the city has been rejuvenated. Gone are the days when the only reasons to head into town were to work in high-rise offices or to stroll the V&A Waterfront.

Now, there’s a buzz on every block, and nightlife beckons. With it comes the promise of a pre-show apéritif or cocktail to set the scene for a night on the town, whether the Artscape’s theatre or opera, a concert — or even a 1970s-style progressive dinner.

Choose from many notable spots according to your City Centre entertainment destination. Libertino is new and vibey, and not too far from the CTICC, the venue for the forthcoming International Jazz Festival. The décor is playful, crossover carnival and theatre — mounted Venetian masks, richly red, burlesque colours. The food is some of the best, pure and simple Italian to be found in the city. It’s positioned in a side-road off the World Cup fan-walk, which makes it perfect, too, for dinner after a game at the Cape Town stadium.

Nikkei, in proximity to the Bree Street-Church Street art and design hub, offers sharing plates of Japanese-Peruvian fusion, visual delights as warm-up for First Thursdays. Or go there on Sunday afternoons when the restaurant features superb sushi paired with its own DJ or live music.

Wind down after work by heading high, to Gigi Rooftop. Catch spectacular sundowner views of the city while trying one of their 10 signature cocktails, guaranteed to create the mood for the Long Street nightlife strip one road up.   

Among Kloof Street’s 100-plus bars, diners, dives and zhuzh spots, ëlgr stands apart for its relaxed refinement. Owned by the Nilsson family, originally from Sweden, chef-patron Jesper Nilsson is enigmatic about the name, which is Swedish for moose. The décor has clean Scandinavian lines; a long wooden table is centred as if set for a royal Viking feast, but it’s easy to find a private nook quietly shielded by dappled light from low lampshades.

Nilsson confirms, though, that the food is only moderately influenced by his roots. The smorgasbord concept is clear in his favourite dish on the current menu, raw beef, sour cream, red onion, dill and trout roe, but, “deliberately, we have a variety of cuisines and food styles,” he says. “Anyone can find something they will enjoy, whether it’s a white pizza, or charcuterie, or the Wagyu beef.” I’m unsurprised to learn that Nilsson’s family owns the Nilberg estate, producers of Michelangelo award-winning red wines featured on the restaurant’s impressive wine list.

Guests can fashion their own experience at ëlgr, from a quick tapas en route to The Little theatre around the corner, or a 3- or 4-course chef’s choice sharing menu with wine pairings.

Twenty- and thirtysomething patrons often head to the courtyard area, where the bar attracts cocktail aficionados. I try the Moonlit Butterfly — Juniper Moon gin, butterfly pea, lemon, elderflower and soda. It’s beautiful, and beguiling. A perfect start to a memorable evening.

It’s not the grand staircase of the famous scene in Titanic, but ascending the short flight to The Wes Bistro & Bar is like a red-carpet entrance to the glamour of the movies. Indeed, owner Megan Kritzinger was inspired by the works of auteur director Wes Anderson, and the restaurant’s colour palette, symmetry and storybook décor mimics his eccentric style.   

The whimsy is pulled through to design flourishes on the menu and signature cocktails referencing Anderson’s films, like Mr Fox’s Sly Bourbon, The Grand Budapest, and Cpt. Steve Zissou’s Revenge, a mysterious mix of vodka, Campari, blue curaçao, lemon, cranberry and soda.     

A drink or two at The Wes may trigger the spontaneous wish to stroll a few blocks and catch an art movie at Cape Town’s world-famous independent cinema, The Labia. Or, rather, to stay and enjoy the bistro’s flair and outstanding French food.

Which is what we did.

Too many restaurants call themselves bistros but have no dishes remotely connected to France. The Wes, however, is true to the faith, its compact menu and daily specials appropriately rooted in French classics, pleasingly captured in the straightforward descriptions of dishes and accompaniments: tarte Tatin, mousseline, ratatouille, Dauphinoise potatoes.

Chef Sam Timmer doesn’t shy away from making tweaks, though. My wife chooses one of the daily specials, salade Niçoise, which mirrors tradition except for the substitution of tinned tuna with perfectly seared, silky bluefin tuna. There’s full agreement with Kritzinger that “although the former is typically how it’s served in the streets of Nice, fresh beats tinned hands down!”

My main course is bouillabaisse, which is also adapted, made slightly sweeter with the addition of more fennel and a splash more Pernod in the broth, perhaps. There’s also less garlic, I think, but the bowl brims with a generous overload of fish and shellfish.

It’s difficult to choose between moules marinières and one of the plats du jour, chateaubriand, but Heather eventually opts for the entrecôte with frites and Café de Paris butter. Somehow she has space for dessert, a Paris-Brest dotted with raspberries and oozing with elderflower crème.

A sign on the exit archway says farewell as we leave: “Je ne regrette rien.” Edith Piaf would have loved this little island of Paris in Cape Town. 

ëlgr, 75 Kloof Street, Gardens, T 021 422 0384

Gigi Rooftop and Bar, Gorgeous George Hotel, 118 St George’s Mall, T 021 612 0999

Libertino, 47 Napier Street, De Waterkant, T 075 089 3250

Nikkei, 87 Bree St, City Centre, T 021 109 0081

The Wes Bistro & Bar, 55 Shortmarket Street, City Centre, T 082 770 3573