Pier Café & Bistro
Both admit to loving the buzz of having a cafe and bistro surrounded by office towers – and then being able to lock up at 4pm, Monday to Friday, and go home and have a life.
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At first glance the décor is unprepossessing – black and white flagged floor with vibrant orange highlights – but then it’s not about the decor, it’s about the food and wine. Engelen is extremely passionate about the latter and his establishment has a fantastic winelist – with all wines available by the glass. Even though they’ve only been open for just over a year, the Pier Café & Bistro has already been awarded two Gold Awards in the Diners Club Winelist of the Year competition.
Fancy a glass of Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel bubbly with breakfast? Yours for just R28. Along with eggs benedict, omelettes any way you want them or muffins and croissants, sweet and savoury. How about a glass of Luddite Shiraz or Cederberg V Generations Cabernet Sauvignon?
It must be fantastic when the sun shines because office workers are spoilt for choice with a host of eateries off the square, a plaza between the bottom end of Adderley Street and the back of the Virgin Active gym off Long Street. There are even two boulle courts in Pier Plaza, put in at Engelen’s instigation… and he lends the sets of steel balls out if anyone wants to play. I could easily see myself lounging at an al fresco table, glass of wine at hand contemplating some petanque while waiting for a meal to be served.
We’d braved some unseasonal chilly wet weather to lunch at Pier Café so leaped at the offer of fresh soup – either pea or vegetable. In all honesty I can say that it was the finest pea soup I’ve ever had! (Sorry mum!) It really tasted like freshly picked new peas with just a swirl of cream.
Offerings are kept fairly simple – as one would expect from a café and bistro offering lunchtime fare – pastas, salads, wraps, sandwiches and few heartier main options. The bride-to-be said to hell with the diet and went for a portion of homemade chicken pie accompanied by a side salad instead of either the chips or vegetables which were on offer.
I decided to test their burger since they claimed it was a homemade 100% rump steak patty – and I had the chips. Delicious! And a bonus that the bun didn’t disintegrate and fall apart as so many do. If you want a cheeseburger – no humble slice of processed cheese for the Engelens, oh no – Emmenthaler of course! Salads are not ridiculously large but are certainly full of choice ingredients – chicken strips, tuna steak chunks and more while the olives and feta in the Greek salad were superb.
Dessert options are limited to just three items – fruit salad, the ubiquitous ice cream and chocolate sauce (although I’m pretty sure the sauce would be homemade and delectable) and a banana split. We skipped them all in favour of a coffee – and even that is really good quality.
So if you’re in Cape Town’s foreshore area and need a bite to eat during the daytime and a good glass of wine is important to you, stroll down to the Pier Café Bistro.
Average price of a three-course meal: R100.
By Fiona McDonald
Address: Pier Place, Adderley Street, Foreshore, Cape Town.
Tel: 021 418 5676
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