The 12 best old-school classics in Cape Town

Pinelands may seem an unlikely address for one of Cape Town’s best-loved restaurants, but regulars have been making the journey here for more than three decades. Magica Roma was opened in the late 1980s by Franco Zezia and Ezio De Biaggi.

Together, they have created the sort of neighbourhood institution where owners greet diners at the door and waiters remember what longstanding customers like as an aperitivo. The menu ranges from handmade pasta and risotto to more traditional Italian plates: veal, seafood and Italian grills. Keep a keen eye on the blackboard specials, or ask one of the owners, who are always on the floor looking after guests. The seafood soup is a perennial favourite, while the bean-and-lentil soup has achieved near-mythical status among regulars. Save room for the tiramisu.

8 Central Square, Pinelands

Today you’ll find Hussar Grills across South Africa, but this Rondebosch branch is where the story began. The original restaurant opened in 1964, setting the template of brass doors, wood-panelled walls, leather banquettes and the welcoming atmosphere of a neighbourhood grill room. More than six decades later, the focus remains on aged South African beef and familiar steakhouse staples. Beyond the prime cuts, longstanding signatures include the Hussar Carpetbagger: a fillet steak filled with smoked oysters and cheddar. It’s a lot. One of Hussar’s selling points is that there’s no corkage for bringing your own wine; a tradition that carries through the nationwide chain. 

10 Main Road, Rondebosch

Established by Emilio Sandrini in 1957 (firstly in Waterkant Street), La Perla has been a fixture of the Sea Point beachfront since 1969, and remains something of an Atlantic Seaboard time capsule for Continental dining: linen-covered tables, career waiters, retro fittings and broad windows looking across the Atlantic.

Italian is the backbone of the menu, and the namesake salad remains a signature, while regulars return for grilled calamari, sole, veal and pasta, served with little fuss or flair. The terrace is a delight in summer, but it’s indoors, in the vintage dining room, where the old-school magic is strongest. 

281 Beach Road, Sea Point

You certainly don’t come to Nelson’s Eye for fashionable interiors or elaborate plating. You come for steak. Hidden away on Hof Street, this reassuringly old-fashioned grill room has been doing business since the early 1960s, serving aged beef in a dining room filled with dark wood, maritime curiosities and decades of character. There is game on the menu, too, but the simple pleasures of a well-cooked rump, sirloin or fillet are why generations of Capetonians keep returning.

9 Hof Street, Gardens

Long before Green Point became the domain of digital nomads … there was Mario’s.

Mario and Pina Marzagalli opened Mario’s in 1971, and the compact family restaurant is now run by the next generation. Inside, walls are covered with photographs, signatures and messages from past diners… a sense of tradition as intrinsic as the menu. Here, it’s all about the classics: pasta, veal piccata, tiramisu and Pina’s famous bean soup. Less common dishes – think crumbed calf’s brains with capers and marrow bones with toast – offer the most authentic taste of the kitchen’s old-school approach. 

89 Main Road, Green Point

There’s little fashionable about dining in a suburban shopping arcade, but for years Mamma Roma has made it worth going out for dinner in a Newlands mall. Romano and Cristina Gorrini bought the original Mamma Roma in Stellenbosch in 1986, then acquired La Vita in Newlands in 1998 and renamed it Mamma Roma. The family-run restaurant has been a southern-suburbs fixture ever since.

The menu is built around northern Italian cooking, with dishes such as porcini risotto, melanzane alla parmigiana and linguine pescatore competing with seasonal chalkboard specials for your order. Service is warm, tables are generally filled with locals, and nobody appears too fussed at the shopping trolleys rolling by.

Dean Street Arcade, Newlands

Ah, Dias. If you don’t come home smelling of garlic and peri-peri, were you even there? Loud, lively and sometimes raucous, Dias Tavern has never been a restaurant for restrained evenings. Sam Perreira and his partners opened it as Bartholomew Dias Tavern in May 1988, and the Caledon Street institution has been feeding crowds ever since.

Portuguese favourites dominate the menu: espetada suspended above the table, prawns slicked with garlic or peri-peri, trinchado, calamari, prego rolls and flame-grilled chicken. Portions are generous, service is swift, and the atmosphere becomes steadily more animated – to put it politely – as the evening wears on. Lunchtime is best for a quiet meal. Come in the evening for a jol.

15 Caledon Street, East City

Is there a more delightful place to spend a summer’s evening than dining al fresco under the trees in Dunkley Square? We’ll wait.

Cleon Romano bought Maria’s in 1994, although the name goes back further: a café-deli operated from the building as early as the 1950s! But Cleon and Kate Romano retained the neighbourhood spirit while shaping the menu around Greek family recipes.

The trick here is to come with friends and family, order a lot, and share: start with hummus, taramasalata, spanakopita, grilled halloumi, dolmades and keftedes… then move on to souvlaki, moussaka or slow-cooked lamb. The setting on the square is picturesque and authentic, and if it weren’t for the gargle of hadedas, you could be dining on the Plaka in Athens.

Since then, newer, trendier Greek restaurants have arrived in the city, but Maria’s remains the OG.

31 Barnet Street, Dunkley Square, Gardens

Most Capetonians simply call it Forries. Established in 1852, Foresters Arms began as a stopping point for travellers and traders and has grown into one of the city’s best-known pubs and restaurants. The Newlands setting is half the reason to visit: fireplaces, timber and leather create a cosy winter retreat, while the oak-shaded beer garden is packed on warm weekends and match days.

The beer selection is good, and the food remains firmly in the realm of ‘pub grub’. Pies, burgers, ribs, steaks and wood-fired pizzas won’t disappoint, but the real institution is the Sunday carvery, which has been going for decades.

52 Newlands Avenue, Newlands

Few corners of Cape Town reinvent themselves as often as the V&A Waterfront. But perched on the Pierhead, all but unchanged since it opened in 1994, is Den Anker. More than 30 years on, this Belgian brasserie remains in its prime position, with stunning mountain and arbour views, and a menu that has never strayed far from its European roots. 

Pots of mussels are the signature dish, best accompanied by crisp pommes frites. There are also croquettes, bitterballen, steak au poivre, fresh tuna and Belgian waffles, plus the city’s best selection of imported Belgian beer. After more than 30 years, Den Anker has become one of the Waterfront’s genuine constants.

Pierhead, V&A Waterfront

Standing sentinel at the western end of Hout Bay Beach, Mariner’s Wharf opened in 1984 on the harbour’s edge and has since expanded and evolved. Wharfside Grill underwent a major upgrade in 1991, and today you’ll eat surrounded by figureheads, ship models and nautical artefacts from around the world. 

The nautical décor could easily overwhelm the food, but seafood remains the main reason to visit: prawns, lobster, mixed fisherman’s baskets and line fish are the best choices, as is the bouillabaisse-inspired Houtbaisse. Book in advance for a table overlooking the harbour.

Mariner’s Wharf, Harbour Road, Hout Bay

Solly and Jane Solomon opened their restaurant on Kloof Nek Road in February 1996 and have remained central to the experience ever since. The focus has always been on fresh fish, and on the floor it’s Jane who talks diners through what’s fresh, while Solly works the open kitchen, grilling or pan-frying to order. 

The menu changes with what is fresh, although prawns, mussels, seafood pasta and a Cajun-style jambalaya are standards. In a city not short on seafood chain restaurants, Miller’s Thumb deserves its place as a coastal classic.

10B Kloof Nek Road, Tamboerskloof