A gently spiced curry built on cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric and cloves rather than heat, sweetened with fruit and finished with potato. Eaten with yellow rice, sambals and roti.

Cape Malay cooking took shape in the kitchens of people brought to the Cape in bondage from the Indonesian archipelago, Bengal, Madagascar and the East African coast from 1658. Their cooks folded Southeast Asian whole spices into Dutch stewing, and the result runs mild and slightly sweet: turmeric for colour, cinnamon and cardamom for perfume, cloves and allspice for depth, apricot or tomato for body. Bo-Kaap, where freed Muslim families settled from the 1830s around the Auwal Mosque, is still where the city buys its masala by the scoop and where the curry is cooked closest to the old form.

1 editor pick for Cape Malay chicken curry in Cape Town, ranked by editorial score. All Cape Town signature dishes · Cape Malay chicken curry across every city.

Biesmiellah ★ 4.3

$$South AfricanBo-Kaap

Biesmiellah cooked Cape Malay food in Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, for four decades under the Osman family; new owners now run it as a polished Muslim-owned eatery.

OrderA Cape Malay curry with roti, the cooking that built this corner's reputation.

TipNo alcohol is served here; it is a family room built around Cape Malay tradition, not a bar scene.

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