Lynda Gilfillan
food
Kalk Bay, with its air of shabby English chic, is at first glance an un- likely place to find a restaurant redolent with the Spanish-African sounds and symbols of Cuba. From Christ to Che Guevara, the walls of the Cape to Cuba restaurant are covered with genuine icons and artefacts that reflect the cultural and political history of the largest and most beautiful island in the Caribbean.
And yet the strip of land between Kalk Bay’s Main Road and the harbour is rich with the smells and sights of a fishing village that probably has much in common with towns along the Cuban coastline. Fishing boats unload their catches of sleek, silvery snoek in the harbour. Rows of tarpaulin-covered bakkies groan under loads of fresh fish that find their way to the street markets of Mitchells Plain and countless households on the Cape Flats. This is a people’s place, and the lined, sunburnt faces of the fishermen and vendors contrast with the smooth, tanned faces of the tourists who trawl the art galleries, antique shops and restaurants along Main Road, below the genteel homes that cling to the steep mountainside. Shades of both Battista and Castro local reminders of the eternal divide between those who have and those who do not.
Bart van Vuuren has long had a love affair with Cuba, so when the goods shed of the Kalk Bay station was offered for sale last year, he and his wife Deona set about transforming the ruin into a restaurant-cum-cocktail-and-cigar bar where Cuban furniture and decor are all for sale. On a trip to Cuba last year he filled a container with “non-national heritage furniture, icons, cigars, black beans, sandals and T-shirts” and you can pick them up here, after the Cuban bread-and-fruit mayonnaise starter, but before the rum tartlet.
Strangely, it’s not at all disconcerting to sip a chicken-and-lime soup with avocado (R14) under a tableau of two revolutionary martyrs, Christ and Che, whose images adorn the roughly plastered walls. Smudged orange and washed cobalt blue complement each other in the main restaurant, where carved Spanish colonial furniture competes for space with mismatched wooden, wicker and plastic chairs and rough wooden tables. For those whose bank balances can take it, there’s a magnificent Cuban colonial cabinet for R39 000.
What do you order when the black beans run out, as they had when we dined there? Try the Aves de Cubano chicken breasts in a fragrant blend of curry and spices, served with rice and vegetables that include sweet potato in pastry tubes topped with fresh basil (R39). Or a Hemmingway (sic) salad of fresh Cape salmon brushed with pesto (R34) that tastes of the sea outside and exotic places beyond. Nothing prepared us for the chilli ice dessert, which is a parable for the way to perdition with its blend of cream and hellfire. To help one along the path of destruction, wines range from a rather bland Capells Court Chardonnay 2000 (R39) to Meerlust Merlot (R150).
Guests are welcome to dance to the sensual music of Cesaria Evoras Caf Atlantico or Los Guaracheros de Orientes Grandes Exitos under a collection of fabulous European chandeliers and ornate lamps.
Cape to Cuba has been fully booked every night since opening in December, catering mainly to locals who flock from Clifton and Camps Bay for the kick of the Cape to Cuba cocktail and any one of 19 varieties of Cuban cigars from a Romeo y Juliet to a Cohiba Corona. Guests laze on the Hemingway deck under Papa’s gaze from a photo on the wall and watch the last of the graffiti-covered Metro trains whizz by colourful interruptions to the view of the harbour and the expanse of False Bay, and the magical Hottentots Holland mountains on the horizon.
Cape to Cuba: Restaurant, cocktail bar, cigars, Cuban furniture and artefacts is in Main Road, Kalk Bay. Tel: (021) 788 1566; Fax: (021) 788 3695