Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
Deep-fried hake with soft vinegar-soaked chips, wrapped in paper and eaten standing up at a harbour counter. Snoek replaces the hake when the boats are in and the price is right.
Cape Town's fish and chip counter is a Greek and Portuguese inheritance, built through the twentieth century by families who ran the city's milk bars and fish shops, which is why a Cape Town fish shop still sells calamari beside the chips. Slap, from the Afrikaans for limp, is the point: the chips are fried once, kept soft and doused in white vinegar, not crisped. Hake is the everyday fish because the Cape trawl fishery lands it year round, while snoek and yellowtail are seasonal. Kalk Bay and Hout Bay harbours sell it a few metres from where the boats tie up.
5 editor picks for Hake and slap chips in Cape Town, ranked by editorial score. All Cape Town signature dishes · Hake and slap chips across every city.
Fish on the Rocks sits at the far end of Hout Bay harbour in Cape Town, frying hake and chips to order at a walk-up counter over the Atlantic.
OrderThe battered hake and chips, the order most tables at the harbour wall are eating.
TipSeating is outdoors on the rocks; bring a jacket since the wind off the harbour can turn cold fast.
Kalky's has served battered hake and snoek with chips from a cabin on the Kalk Bay harbour wall since 1996, with calamari, kingklip and crayfish too.
OrderThe fried snoek and chips, cut fresh from the day's catch at the harbour.
TipIt is cash only and self-service; carry notes and expect to queue at the counter before finding a bench.
Snoekies is a fish and chips takeaway at the far end of Hout Bay harbour, trading since Hans Mickeleit parked a converted bus there in 1951.
OrderFried hake and chips, plus smoked snoek at the harbour counter
TipHead upstairs with children: the dining room there sits beside a big indoor play area.
Plumstead Fisheries fries fish and chips on Main Road in Plumstead, a southern suburb of Cape Town well away from the coastal harbour counters.
TipAsk what came in fresh that morning before ordering, since the counter also sells whole fish to take home and cook.
The Lighthouse Cafe is a pavement style eatery on St George's Street in Simon's Town, Cape Town, serving coastal breakfasts and fish and chips.
TipTake a pavement table and order the beer-battered fish and chips, made to Jamie Oliver's recipe, for lunch.
Hake and slap chips makes more sense with someone from Cape Town explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
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