La Colombe

Considered one of the top two restaurants in Cape Town (we couldn't get into the other -- it's booked a month in advance), some people think La Colombe is a bit long in the tooth.  We enjoyed it immensely.

We got there early -- there was not much rush hour traffic out to the outer burbs.  So, they led us into a big old room with a fireplace so we could enjoy a glass of wine while they finished setting up the restaurant for the night.  Just as we saw at Carne, 7 pm is the earliest dinner time -- and we were there at 6:15.  We took our glass of wine and strolled through the gardens, past the cricket pitch, and over to the vineyards.  There were sweeping views of the mountains surrounding Constantia.

The service was great, the menu was chalked onto a large board that the waitress brought over and set on a stand.  We enjoyed a bottle of Shiraz and enjoyed the lamb.  (We did not eat enough seafood, but neither the fish nor the lobster I had early in the visit impressed me, so. . .).  The restaurant gradually filled up.  We were seated in a beautiful glassed in room by the garden.  It was a very nice evening out.

We got back into the car, and the driver remarked that Julia and the ship would have left a bit over an hour ago.  Carol and I looked at each other and laughed -- we had forgotten that (we DO love you Julia, we were thinking of other things, I swear!).  It was a nice end to a great last day with our globe-trotting daughter.