If you’re ever on the lookout for a great place to eat in Cape Town with your kids, you should definitely check out Dunes Restaurant, Terrace, Bistro & Bar in Hout Bay – Just be sure to make a reservation.
My family and I visited Dunes a couple of weekends ago with a few friends and their youngsters who are all similar in age (about one and half years old). The weather was fantastic for a Cape Town winters day. The sky was a clear blue, the sun was shining, and the air was warm. It was a perfect day to spend an afternoon at an open air restaurant nestled right next to the beach.
They’ve set up an enclosed and über-fun playground on the sand complete with a slide, swings, and a jungle gym. Around the play area are a bunch of picnic tables and umbrellas. Bring your children’s favourite beach toys along and they can entertain themselves in the sand while you and your friends enjoy the seaside views, a nice cool drink and some traditional seafood.
There was a calamari and chips special which most of us snapped up, and the fish and chips was also popular with our group. I ordered a Greek pizza and shared a bit of my fiancés calamari. Overall, the food was tasty – the seafood especially. The fish and the calamari arrived relatively fast, but because the place was pretty packed, their pizza oven took a bit of strain, and my meal didn’t arrive until about 45 minutes after everyone else’s. Fortunately we weren’t in any hurry to leave, so my late meal didn’t matter all that much to us.
While we were there we got a bit of free entertainment, as outside the restaurant, a marching band played some lively music for us. You can’t beat that, and the kids loved it too. Parents and children of all ages were laughing and dancing with their kiddies as the musicians played us their tunes.
We arrived at 13:30, and before we knew it three hours had gone by. We had spent the greater part of a lazy afternoon by the seaside – something we will definitely do at Dunes again soon!
