Local Intel: Alan Committie

I'm a huge aromatic Crispy Duck fan and was for many years when I worked as a waiter – in my student days at UCT – at a place called Happy Wok which was in Kloof Street. Those owners went on to open a restaurant called Sawadee in Rheede Street and over the last 30 years I've been enjoying Crispy Duck at least once a week whenever I'm in town. Well, they've moved back to their home country, so now my Crispy Duck fix is found in Dean Street at a fantastic Thai cuisine and sushi bar called Thaiyashi. Their Crispy Duck is just fantastic, does everything I want it to do, which involves a bit of Crispy Duck, a pancake, some spring onion, some fresh cucumber, a bit of hoisin and/or a peanut sauce, which is my favourite. Roll it up into something delicious, stuff it down your gullet, why wouldn't you just call that a successful meal? Go Thaiyashi!

Dean Street, Newlands

In the last year or two, I've been very lucky in that I have found what I call a beautiful gold mine of rare books, and a new shop called Rare Collections. You can find it at Constantia Village. It is curated by a man called Christo Snyman. I've started buying some books off him and they are always an incredible investment, not only for the soul. Because you do see some extraordinary first editions across all genres. I've bought a first edition Agatha Christie, because I was recently in a new Agatha Christie play. I've bought a collection of Shakespeare bound first editions from the 1930s, with the most beautiful illustrations. I will continue to visit there as often as my wallet can afford it, to go and purchase more of these beautiful books. But even if you can't afford, it's a great place to go and window shop is my feeling. Just go and spend some time, hold a valuable book in your hand, feel the delicate and beautiful pages. Look at the type setting and the fonts and I think you will be moved in extraordinary ways.

Constantia Village, Spaanschemat Road, Constantia

I'm a huge and avid reader and collector of books, and as much as I'm happy to shop at larger branches and franchises like Exclusives, my bookshop of choice is not only near me, but staffed by superbly friendly, interested and – dare I say well-knowledged – staff members. And you can find them at The Village Bookshop by Wordsworth at Steenberg Village Shopping Centre. It's homely, it's comfortable and the staff are always unbelievably helpful, welcoming, and know what is what and how to get it if it's not there. What a delight.

Steenberg Village, Reddam Avenue, Tokai

Newlands Cricket Ground is not only one of the most beautiful, popular and picturesque cricket facilities around the globe, but it is also the place that you will find me every January for the New Year’s Test. From the second or third of January, depending on the first day of that Test, I will be at Newlands for all four or five days of that test match as I have done for the last, almost thirty years, without missing a single day. Ironically, telling you this, this year, or at least early 2026, there is no New Year’s Test. How will I cope? I don’t know. Probably by smashing a cricket bat repeatedly into a wall in pure frustration and irritation, or perhaps just finding another venue where cricket is being played. But if you are going to watch cricket, why wouldn’t you be at Newlands? It’s just extraordinarily beautiful. I do love five-day cricket. I’ve always been a bit of a cricket tragic, and this is the place to enjoy it.

Campground Road, Newlands

Vovo Telo Bakery and Café, also in Steenberg Village, is where you’ll find me getting a magnificently creamy scrambled eggs, normally three or four eggs – I go all out – with some salmon, some sourdough toast, a good book, a chair, a reasonably solid table and a big smile on my face. As I breakfast fairly late, some people would even call it lunch where I have my breakfast, but let them call it what it is. For whatever it is, it’s delicious and it ends up in my tummy. Go Vovo Telo.

Steenberg Village, Reddam Avenue, Tokai

In the last year or so, I've become, finally, and perhaps ridiculously, a padel player convert. So much so that I've even bought the padel bat and the shoes, and if I'm going to play padel, then I quite like to play it indoors, where the weather is not a factor, and nearby. So Bay Padel in Tokai, which is near the Builders Warehouse, is just a brilliant set of courts. Wonderfully friendly, warm, welcoming staff and really great facilities. There are a team of comedians – including Rob van Vuuren, Nik Rabinowitz and the boys from Kalk Bay Theatre – who will often gather and put their physical wits and skills against each other in what turns out to be a highly comic padel encounter. But in our minds, at least we feel that we are operating at peak physical prowess! If you believe that you'll believe anything.

South Palms, 333 Main Rd, Retreat

[Check out our guide on Where to Play Padel in Cape Town]

After I've enjoyed breakfast at lunchtime, my next meal is lunch, but I have that at dinner time. Dinner is normally taken after a show in which I've performed. My lunch-dinner is taken at Jake's in the Village. Well, it could be at any place, but Jake's is a favourite also in Steenberg Village. It's nearby and it has the most fantastic menu. You can sit indoors, you can be near a fireplace in winter, or you could sit outdoors in their beautiful garden if the sun is shining. The staff are just fantastically welcoming. I feel a bit like Norm from Cheers when I walk in there. They greet me by name, and they probably type in my order before I've even sat down, for I am a man of habit. What would I have at Jake's? Perhaps one of their brilliant curries or a magnificent burger, but probably because I'm a pork ribs kind of guy, you'll find that being typed into their order menu till and brought to my table post-haste. Ribs at Jake's.

Steenberg Village, Reddam Avenue, Tokai

Now, as an actor and a comedian, one must have a home base, and I find mine in Camps Bay. My 30-year working relationship with the impresario Peter Toerien has meant that Theatre on the Bay is my home theatre, and I am super proud and honoured to call it that. It is a theatre that has perhaps the most beautiful view outside. You look straight out onto Camps Bay beachfront. It's a delight to drive there on the coast road via Hout Bay and up Suikerbossie and around on the beautiful mountainous pass towards the theatre. It's a brilliant way to prepare yourself for an evening's performance. It's a 250-seater, so it's comfortable, it's intimate. It is a superb venue for stand-up comedy in particular, but it's also good for classic plays, small bonsai musicals and other delights. Its programming is always interesting and varied, and people, if they haven't been there yet, are missing out. So join the Theatre on the Bay database and come and be part of what I think is one of the better theatres in the country. That's where you'll find me at least twice a year, but certainly every December, starting my latest and brand new stand-up show, which then tours for the rest of the year.

Link Street, Camps Bay

If Theatre on the Bay is my home venue, then my off-West End or off-Broadway venue, where I try new works or have some fun in a smaller venue, is the Kalk Bay Theatre, which is on the other side of town. This is a magnificent theatre started by Vanessa and Ashley Searle and now run by Ashley Searle and his brother, Brad. It's at the Old Brass Bell venue, but it is just beautifully curated. It's an 80- or 90-seater, you're going to see some fantastic cabaret shows there, lots of stand-up or small independent bands, and music performances, and I absolutely love it. The audience is super loyal; they love a good time. You come along and you can enjoy either a meal at the Brass Bell or indeed at any of the many restaurants on Kalk Bay Main Road, and then you come down and you enjoy anything from 60 to 90 minutes of top-class entertainment.

Brass Bell, Main Road, Kalk Bay

I'm old-fashioned in that I still love watching some of my movies in a cinema. And because I want the full cinematic experience it's at an IMAX that I would choose to go. So I'm very lucky living in Tokai that Blue Route shopping center now has its own IMAX theatre. It's slightly more expensive than a normal cinema experience, but my goodness you get bang for your buck. Visual bang, aural bang, seating bang. It's all just a lot of bang bang bang bang  But it's not all just skop, skiet and donder. You can watch all kinds of movies at the IMAX. They change it up fairly frequently, and if you're going to watch some movies with a huge screen in high-definition and a suitably emotive soundscape, then you must go to the Blue Route Mall IMAX.

Blue Route Mall, Tokai Road, Tokai