Prawns and Penquins at Sunset

My “Eating Vicariously” series to date has been primarily a romp through some interesting local eating establishments in the Washington, DC area . . . places where I would like to be eating right now if that were possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In my last posting I recalled some memorable adventures with German Wurst.  This time around I am thinking fondly of two meals I enjoyed in the environs of Cape Town, South Africa. 

I don’t think I will ever forget two meals my wife and I enjoyed during our stay in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017.  Long before we ever arrived in the West Cape after visiting the region and Johannesburg and a photo safari in the northeastern corner of the country, I promised myself that we would enjoy a quiet dinner on the water, eating local seafood as we watched the sun set over the South Atlantic.We savored several fine meals in and around Cape Town, but probably none so much as that promised sunset meal at La Perla.  An old-school

Mediterranean restaurant and a mainstay in the Sea Point neighborhood for over five decades, La Perlais located just over a mile down Beach Road from our waterfront flat at Green Point, a route we would become well familiar with during our stay.  It could not have matched my expectations any better had I designed the place myself.

It was a very pleasant southern hemisphere autumn evening and it was warm enough that we were able to sit on the terrace with a fine view of the ocean.  My wife ordered an attractively plated shrimp pasta dish while I went for all the gusto, ordering the seafood platter, the house specialty featuring an ethereal assortment of flavors – crayfish, langoustine, kingklip

(somewhat similar to cusk or ling in this country), calamari, mussels, and the piece de la resistance, both giant and Mozambican prawns.  A bottle of Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Pinotage from the Stellenbosch region east of Cape Town which we had visited earlier in the day rounded out this delicious meal.  A gentle breeze blew in off the Atlantic as we watched ships silhouetted by the setting sun as Cape Town’s Golden Mile cam alive with evening revelers.

Prawns were also on the menu a couple days later when we visited the African penguin colony at the Boulder Beach World Heritage Site on the southern edge of Simon’s Town.  After

strolling the beach with our new web-footed friends, also known as Jack Ass Penguins due to their distinctive mating call which resembles a mule braying, and  watching them waddling across the sand and swimming in the boulder-strewn azure water, we retired a very short distance to the Boulder Beach Inn and

Restaurant, a simple beach café serving a wide selection of reasonably priced dishes ranging from burgers and curries, salads, and fish and chips.  The menu leaned heavily toward seafood and why not? Once again I opted for the  Mozambican

prawns with butter and lemon which went fine with a couple bottles of the ubiquitous Castle Lager from  one of the oldest commercial breweries in South Africa in Johannesburg, First brewed in 1895, it is called "the beer that stood the test of time".  I had no complaints.  It was a pleasant early evening meal on the covered deck overlooking False Bay with stunning views toward Gordons Bay and the setting sun illuminating the sharp relief of the Hottentots-Holland Mountains beyond. 

It all seems so long ago and far away now but sitting here typing this it has all come back to me.  What I would not give for a platter of fresh seafood right now.  Better yet a pile of grilled prawns.   Throw in one of those beautiful sunsets and it would be enough to forget this pandemic.   Even for a short time.   So once again I close my eyes and daydream.   Everything is darkest before the prawns.