Where to brunch in Cape Town: morning spots worth the queue.
Cape Town treats weekend brunch as a proper institution, not a gap between breakfast and lunch. The ritual runs from Sea Point's Regent Road, where Kleinsky's serves New York deli bagels and Jarryds Brunch and Bistro takes no bookings at all, along the Main Road strip where Butter All Day builds a menu around butter and brunch cocktails, and up into the City Bowl and Gardens, where Kloof Street House and Villa 47 attach a bottomless pour to the morning.
The geography matters as much as the menu. Kalk Bay and Muizenberg keep it unfussy: Olympia Cafe & Deli takes no reservations and has people queue for its tables, while Bootlegger XS Muizenberg, one of the chain's halaal branches, pours coffee on Beach Road, a spot made for watching the surfers. Head the other way along the coast and Grand Africa Cafe & Beach serves brunch from noon on its own stretch of Granger Bay sand, close enough to the V&A Waterfront to combine with a morning at the harbour.
Inland, the wine farms do it on their own terms. Simon's Restaurant on the Groot Constantia estate serves breakfast and lunch on a terrace over the vineyards, with live music at weekends, while Cafe Roux keeps a farm village breakfast going under Chapmans Peak in Noordhoek. Between the beach, the bowl and the Constantia vines, there is a version of Cape Town brunch for every mood.
Regent Road and Main Road carry the densest run of brunch rooms in Cape Town. Kleinsky's Delicatessen, opened in 2014 by brothers Adam and Joel Klein, brings a New York deli menu of latke benedict, challah French toast and a smoked salmon bagel prepared by hand over two days. A few doors down, Jarryds Brunch and Bistro leans Parisian, serving its eggs Benedict in a vinyl lounge on a strictly first come, first served basis. Butter All Day pushes the pace towards leisure, with buttermilk flapjacks, a butter benedict and a cocktail list of mimosas and Bloody Marys built for a long morning. Along the water at Mouille Point, Cafe Neo lets you assemble breakfast off its blackboards opposite the lighthouse, with Greek shortbread to finish.
The Bree Street and Kloof Street corridor is where Cape Town brunch gets a drinks list attached. Kloof Street House offers two hours of bottomless mimosas for R199 from Tuesday to Sunday between 10:00 and noon, and puts live jazz on over Sunday lunch, while Villa 47 answers with bottomless champagne on Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00 at its Italian bistro on Bree Street. Clarke's Bar and Dining Room keeps an all day breakfast running beside its brioche burgers, with cheaper specials before 09:00, and further along Kloof Street, Yours Truly pours coffee under the jacaranda trees from 07:00 while the Tamboerskloof corner room The Power and the Glory serves free-range sandwiches sourced within 200 kilometres.
The False Bay coast slows brunch right down. Olympia Cafe & Deli in Kalk Bay takes no bookings at all, so you stand in line, read the chalkboard menu and eat bread from its own bakery counter once a table frees up. A short drive along the coast, Bootlegger XS Muizenberg, a halaal branch, keeps things quick, pouring coffee, freezos and breakfast wraps from 07:00 every day on Beach Road. Neither room asks for a suit or a booking, which is rather the point of brunch on this side of the peninsula, where the morning is built around the beach rather than a menu.
Two very different views frame Cape Town's grandest brunches. On the Groot Constantia wine estate, Simon's Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner from 08:00 with a terrace over the vineyards, a fireplace for winter and live music at weekends, all within a short drive of the city rather than out towards Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. On the Atlantic side, Grand Africa Cafe & Beach serves brunch from noon on a private stretch of Granger Bay sand, with five bars, ocean view decks and a clear line of sight to Robben Island. Further south under Chapmans Peak, Cafe Roux keeps a farm village breakfast running for anyone who prefers Noordhoek's quiet to a city view.
Kleinsky's turns Sea Point brunch into a New York deli spread of bagels, latkes and pastrami on Regent Road, opened in 2014 by brothers Adam and Joel Klein.
OrderThe hand-prepared smoked salmon bagel, or the potato latke benedict with hollandaise
TipBreakfast brings challah French toast with fried banana and a latke benedict; the deli is non-kosher, so bacon can be added.
Olympia Cafe & Deli serves an unhurried harbourside brunch in Kalk Bay, one of the Cape Town Peninsula's most loved no bookings breakfast rooms.
OrderA breakfast from the chalkboard menu, with bread from the Olympia bakery
TipYou cannot book, so join the line like everyone before you and read the chalkboard menu while you wait for a table.
Kloof Street House serves brunch with a two hour bottomless mimosa special in a candlelit Victorian house, and live jazz over Sunday lunch in Gardens.
OrderBaked whole Camembert to share before the Moroccan spiced lamb rump
TipThe bottomless mimosa window runs Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to noon; in winter, book the library lounge or a seat by the fireplace.
Cafe Roux serves a farmstyle garden breakfast at Noordhoek Farm Village, under Chapmans Peak, one of the quieter brunch mornings near Cape Town.
OrderA breakfast from the chalkboard menu at a table under the khaki umbrellas
TipTake a table under the umbrellas outside when the wind is calm, and check the live music nights ahead.
Jarryds Brunch and Bistro pours Parisian inspired eggs Benedict from a vinyl lounge on Regent Road, a Sea Point breakfast fixture in Cape Town.
OrderEggs Benedict, the dish this Regent Road room is best known for
TipNo bookings are taken, so aim for a weekday morning or arrive well before 9am on weekends.
Butter All Day pours a long, lazy Sea Point weekend brunch of mimosas and buttery flapjacks on Main Road, a newer breakfast room in Cape Town.
OrderThe butter benedict with extra buttery hollandaise
TipThe outside space welcomes dogs on leads, and there is free wifi if the long brunch turns into a laptop afternoon.
The Power and the Glory serves an easygoing breakfast and brunch by day on a Tamboerskloof corner, then turns into a Cape Town bar after dark.
OrderA free-range breakfast sandwich sourced from within 200km of the city
TipCome by day for coffee and a free-range sandwich; in the evening the room turns into a neighbourhood bar.
Yours Truly keeps Kloof Street fed from an early bagel breakfast through to a late night bar sitting, a long running all day room in Cape Town.
OrderA sandwich or wrap with a coffee, before the rooftop opens for the evening
TipTake a table under the jacaranda trees for a slow Saturday morning coffee before Kloof Street gets busy.
Villa 47 serves an Italian breakfast and a Saturday bottomless champagne brunch at its Bree Street restaurant and cocktail bar in the City Bowl, Cape Town.
OrderUova alla benedict with Italian pancetta or smoked salmon, before the Saturday bottomless champagne
TipThe bottomless champagne runs Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00, and Saturday breakfast is served until 13:00, so book a mid-morning table.
The Wes serves a French bistro breakfast and brunch cocktail menu beneath a Shortmarket Street boutique hotel, a newer City Bowl room in Cape Town.
OrderA modern breakfast plate alongside the brunch cocktail list
TipIt sits off the pedestrian-only block of Shortmarket Street; book a weekend breakfast table online through Dineplan.
Cafe Neo faces the Mouille Point lighthouse with a breakfast assembled off its blackboards and Greek shortbread, a beachfront brunch stop in Cape Town.
OrderA breakfast assembled off the blackboards, with Greek shortbread to finish
TipCome after a walk along the beachfront promenade, and save space for the Greek shortbread and other Mediterranean sweets.
Grand Africa Cafe & Beach serves brunch from noon on its own stretch of sand in Granger Bay, near Cape Town's V&A Waterfront, with five bars and ocean decks.
OrderPizza or a seafood plate, eaten on the beach with your feet in the sand
TipWalk down to the ocean view decks and the beach itself rather than staying inside, for the view across to Robben Island and back to Signal Hill.
Simon's Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with weekend live music on the Groot Constantia wine estate, a short drive from Cape Town.
OrderA breakfast or lunch plate on the terrace, with a glass from the estate wine list
TipChoose the terrace for the vineyard views in summer or the seat by the enormous fireplace in winter, and book ahead for a weekend with live music.
Clarke's Bar and Dining Room runs all day breakfast into a popular weekend brunch on Bree Street, a long standing City Bowl room in Cape Town.
OrderA burger on the butter-fried brioche bun, or anything off the all-day breakfast menu
TipArrive before 09:00 for the cheaper breakfast specials, or from 11:00 for the lunchtime sandwich special such as the sabich.
Bootlegger XS Muizenberg, a halaal branch of the coffee chain, pours coffee and a quick brunch menu across from Surfers Corner, near Cape Town.
OrderA breakfast wrap and a freezo coffee to take onto the promenade
TipTake your order to the promenade wall opposite Surfers Corner and watch the surfers over breakfast.
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Jarryds Brunch and Bistro in Sea Point and Olympia Cafe & Deli in Kalk Bay both run strictly first come, first served, so expect to queue for a table at the weekend.
Kloof Street House pours two hours of bottomless mimosas for R199 from Tuesday to Sunday between 10:00 and noon, and Villa 47 adds bottomless champagne for R295 on Saturdays from 10:00 to 14:00 at its Bree Street restaurant.
Simon's Restaurant on the Groot Constantia estate serves breakfast and lunch on a terrace over the vineyards, with live music at weekends, a short drive from the city centre rather than out towards Stellenbosch or Franschhoek.
Grand Africa Cafe & Beach serves brunch from noon on its own stretch of Granger Bay sand, while Bootlegger XS Muizenberg and Olympia Cafe & Deli keep things quicker along the Muizenberg and Kalk Bay coastline.
Bootlegger XS Muizenberg is one of the coffee chain's halaal branches, pouring coffee and an all-day breakfast every day from 07:00 on Beach Road, and Kleinsky's, though not kosher, is built on a New York Jewish deli menu.