The 13 best bakeries in Cape Town

Jason Bakery remains one of Cape Town’s benchmark bakeries, and owner Jason Lilley  – better-known as Captain Bread – has been pivotal in shaping the city’s artisan bread scene. The bakery has moved from its original Bree Street home to Green Point, but the fundamentals remain the same: proper bread, serious pastries and a cult following that knows to get there early. Everything you see in the counter is made fresh daily, in small batches, without added preservatives or enzymes. Signature orders include the Bree Street sourdough, buttery croissants, breakfast bakes and whatever weekend special is causing a queue that morning. Our advice? Go early.

83 Main Road, Green Point

If you’re serious about sourdough, Lion’s Bread is your go-to (local artist Michael Chandler is a fan). Founded by Jack Green and Mia Penn, the bakery began in a Bo-Kaap garage with a stripped-back philosophy: flour, water, salt, wild fermentation and time. What more do you need, right? The focus is on slow-fermented sourdough made with South African grains, but the bakery has expanded beyond loaves to include pastries, toasties and café-style snacks. Grab a coffee and pastry to go, then wander the Bo-Kaap with a prized loaf tucked under one arm. 

Time Out Tip: Bread is only sold from Wednesday to Saturday. Pastries and coffee only Tuesdays. Closed Sunday/Monday. 

81 Rose Street, Bo-Kaap

Olympia is a Kalk Bay institution, and its bakery remains one of the main reasons locals and regulars keep coming back. The Olympia Café & Deli opened in 1997, when a former fish-and-bait shop on Main Road was turned into one of the southern peninsula’s best-loved cafés, and the bakery around the corner is now just as famous. It’s hugely popular with cyclists taking a break and families coming down to explore the harbour. Fresh breads – ciabatta is the signature – and pastries will tempt you as much as the savoury simplicity (who can resist a sausage?) on offer.

134 Main Road, Kalk Bay

Founded in 1962, Coimbra Bakery is perhaps the OG of bakeries in the southern suburbs. Long-time locals used to call it the ‘Robot Café’ for its location at a busy intersection, but whatever you choose to call Coimbra Bakery, it’s well worth a visit for its collection of breads, cakes and pastries. The bakery (under the Pie in the Sky brand) is also a wholesale supplier, but the Imam Haron Road shop is where you want to go for the full experience. The pastéis de nata are superb – crisp pastry, custard centre, caramelised top – but they also offer a great range of breads, bagels and baked desserts. There’s also a small café on site, serving light meals. This one is all about old-school bakery comfort rather than trend-led sourdough culture.

152 Imam Haron Road, Claremont

Locals swear by this artisanal sourdough bakery in Hout Bay, run by the sibling team Brode and Amber Gleeson. It began as a family-run lockdown project and has since grown into a proper neighbourhood bakery with a loyal following. At South Yeaster, the focus is on naturally leavened bread and butter-rich pastries, with sourdough loaves, baguettes, focaccia, rye, and multiseed breads. Grab a loaf and head to the beach. 

4 The Promenade, Hout Bay

Woodstock Bakery is one for the market crowd and serious loaf hunters. Wood-fired, slow-fermented and hand-shaped, the bakery has long had a reputation for seriously good artisanal loaves: ciabatta, sourdough, rye, five-grain bread and roasted potato bread, all baked using traditional methods. Baked in small batches, this is artisan baking at its best. But there’s no bakery to visit: you’ll have to seek them out at the Oranjezicht City Farm Market and Alphen Market.

Hoghouse in Ndabeni is many things: a bakery, café, brewery and smokehouse. It’s also a bit of a hidden gem, tucked away between factories and offices. But the bakery alone earns it a place on this list. Everything is made in-house, from bread and croissants to confectionery and its cult pastéis de nata. You’ll be tempted to buy a box, but remember they’re best eaten on the day they’re baked. Not that that is likely to be a problem! Beyond the bakes, it’s also a fine breakfast or lunch stop in Cape Town, with proper coffee, eggy breakfasts and meaty lunches.

42 Morningside Street, Ndabeni

This tiny Claremont store has a serious following for those who know their bread, with a range of loaves made with local stoneground flour: sourdough and ciabatta (regular or olive) fly off the shelves, but their breadsticks and baguettes are equally good.  The Belvedere Square shop is small, but the counter works hard from opening: sourdough and croissants tend to go first, with speciality breads, pastries and cakes slipping out over the course of the day. This is also your go-to for crookies in the southern suburbs! Scroll on down to find out more about those...

Belvedere Square Shopping Centre, Belvedere Road, Claremont

A staple of the southern suburbs – and right across the road from Coimbra Bakery – this Claremont favourite expanded to East City in 2023 and has proven a hit with office workers and city-dwellers alike. Co-owners Clare Bubenzer and Khaled El-Alfy bring a different baking tradition to the table, serving Middle Eastern breads and bakes, from fresh pita to ka’ak, fatayer, manoush and khob’z. The Lebanese Bakery has set the bar for Levantine flatbreads in the city, with a menu built around warm dough, sesame, za’atar, cheese, spiced mince and preservative-free, handmade mezze. Beyond the breads, you’ll find a menu of pita, manakish and more. Go for lunch, but don’t leave without extra bread.

203 Imam Haron Road, Claremont; 7 Constitution Street, Cape Town

SCHOON may have grown beyond its original indie footprint, but bread-lovers still swear by the bakery started by artisanal baker Fritz Schoon in Stellenbosch in 2010. Schoon himself is no longer involved, but the brand remains, and its breads are worth a bite. The Point Mall branch offers freshly baked bread and pastries, alongside coffee and a sit-down café menu. It’s also a good option for grabbing a pastry for a Promenade walk. 

The Point Shopping Centre, Regent Road, Sea Point

Not every great bakery needs to be about sourdough. New York Bagels is Cape Town’s specialist stop for traditional hand-rolled, boiled and baked New York-style bagels, served with schmears, salmon, deli-style fillings and proper coffee.

Explore: The best ways to discover the East City

New York Bagels is a family-run Cape Town institution; serving their bagels and other delicacies since 1940. Originally in Sea Point, they’ve bounced around various city venues and markets, but have found a new home in their bustling East City store. They’re open early for breakfast bagels, pastries and coffees, and the energy picks up around noon as office workers descend.

44 Harrington Street, Cape Town

Trust me here: it’s worth braving the trucks and traffic chaos of Voortrekker Road.

Because Broadway Confectionery & Bakery in Maitland is as old-school as they come, from the huddles of men sipping espresso in the corner to the array of cured meats and bacalhau in the fridge. But ignore them both and head to the bakery counter at the back, where it is piled high with some of the best (and best value) pastéis de nata in town. There are also Portuguese sweets, savouries and staples, and their Portuguese rolls are great if you’re making pregos at home. The takeaway counter offers a good range of no-frills dishes.

109 Voortrekker Road, Maitland

Owner Jo Hill brings a little French flair to Fish Hoek, with a bakery on Recreation Road and a café around the corner on Beach Road. It’s known for sourdough breads, baguettes, croissants and pastries, with several sourdough styles often on the shelves. Go early, buy bread for breakfast, grab a butter croissant, then walk it off along the False Bay coastal walkway.

2A Recreation Road, Fish Hoek