Cape Malay cuisine tours

Enjoying Cape Malay cuisine on a food tour

© Andulela

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Cape Malay cuisine is the culinary inheritance of those South Africans descended from 17th and 18th century exiled dissidents and slaves who came to South Africa from the Dutch East Indian colonies of Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, and Indonesia.

On a Cape Malay cuisine tour, you'll discover that despite its obvious Asian origins, Cape Malay cuisine is a fusion food that blends elements of African, European and Asian ingredients and hospitality traditions.

Cape Malay food is unique to Cape Town, and a Cape Malay food safari is a gastronomic adventure that will introduce you to the delights of bobotie, cinnamon-rich tomato bredies (stew), saffron-laden rice, and oval, coconut-rolled, syrup-drenched fritters called koesisters.

The Bo-Kaap district of Cape Town is where the Cape Malay people historically lived, and it is still where you will find the most authentic Cape Malay cuisine. It’s not a big area so put on walking shoes and visit restaurants like the Noon Gun, on Signal Hill, which specialise in Cape Malay home cooking. The food and the view is delicious!  

If you'd like to do an organised Cape Malay food tour, Andulela Tours offer a range gastronomic sessions that will see you mixing masalas and folding samoosas with Cape Malay families in the Bo-Kaap.

If actual cooking sounds too much like hard work, but you would like to watch an expert Cape Malay chef in action why not contact Cape Insights who offer a 10-day hotel-based luxury epicurean adventure that includes demonstrations of Cape Malay cooking by Cellars-Hohenhort chef Martha Williams.