I mentioned in our week that was that we had been on an adventure, and I wasn’t kidding. Just last week I posted on Se7en wonders we would like to visit in South Africa and this week we visited out first, a fairly nearby seafood restaurant called “Die Strandloper.”
After driving and driving through endless roadworks…
We finally got there…
This is a seafood restaurant, on the West Coast north of Cape Town and is situated right on the Langebaan lagoon… read beach! Everything is cooked on an open fire and you are there for the afternoon as you eat your way through course after course of seafood.
Just look at it – on the beach really!!!
Now we have always wanted to go this restaurant but have been a bit wary with out tribe of kids. The menu looked a bit grown up and frankly most seafood restaurants aren’t that kid friendly. Well we need never have worried. Firstly the menu is exotic for some, but certainly not all kids. And there is heaps of oven baked bread and related delights for them to tuck into. Secondly you pay according to the height of your kids (under fives are free!) and they were really really fair in pricing us!
We began with bread and different konfyts (jams):
And mussels:
Which one little hood really enjoyed!!!
And Harders, which are perhaps the boniest fish on earth!!!
And paella – and in this laid back restaurant you use a shell as your cutlery.
Followed by braaied fish, smoked fish all sorts of fish.
There was also lamb waterblommetjie bredie, which is a stew made with local plants…
There was roosterkoek,
Potatoes and patats (sweet potatoes):
And yummy crayfish:
And finally ending up with camp coffee and koeksisters.
Now suppose your kids get a bit bored… over the four hour event… well there is digging for treasure under the table:
There is shell collecting and swimming…
And did I mention the bread!!!
And don’t worry about the crumbs:
One of us wasn’t that interested in the goings on…
But wasn’t totally oblivious either…
All in all a great and exhausting day for all of us… fun fun fun!!! A relaxed restaurant to savor local cooking and seafood cuisine… and kid friendly for sure!!!
Thanks Pieter and Klari for sharing a fabulous day with us… We hope you liked your introduction to South African Seafood, not to mention a day off work on the beach!!!
wow, that looks like such a blast, thanks for sharing with us! It looks like a fun time was had by all.
Jenny in Ca
http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.blogspot.com
Hi J, Yup some days are real memory makers!!! We have wanted to go their for so long at least fifteen years!!! And it really lived up to every expectation!!! Hope you all have a great week!!!
Looks like so much fun!
Ha! I read the sign post, “Die Sandloper”, as a threat, as in “Die, Sucker!” and was taken aback. Took me a minute to figure out “die” was in German or a Germanic language, as in “the beach.” I felt like an idiot. 🙂
Glad your family had such a fun day!
Wow! I am so envious! Although, with my picky eaters, no doubt the trip wouldn’t have been as pleasant as yours!
looks like a must visit; will have to do that in the near future!
Hi SK, Yes it is in one of our local languages, Afrikaans – which is very similar to Dutch. The Dutch were the first settlers to use the Cape as a food station on their sea voyages to the East for spices. Literally, “Die Strandloper” means “The beach walker,” it is the Afrikaans name for the original people that lived in the area, they were a nomadic people that roamed the area. Good grief talk about forgetting that 90% readers would have no idea what that meant!!! You have a great day!
A well-timed post for us! What a place – I could live on fish! We are off to Langebaan for a holiday next week: this will be a great treat.We have wanted to go there for years and never got around to it!
Hi M – Never fear there was such a spread that one could easily find something for everyone. Also all the guests take their own cooler box of drinks, juices and cold drinks. And they were so relaxed I am sure they would be open to you having a snack or whatever for your own kids. Only I never thought of that… I am all for survival!!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week…
Hi Aunty Muffin, We had such a great day – well worth the trip… We should have done it years ago!!! Hope your busy week goes well!!!
Hi M, Oh I hope you guys have a great break, a holiday in Langebaan sounds fabulous!!! Have a good week!
Aaah! I wanna go now!
Hi O, You should!!! – Have a good week!!!
Looks awesome – sounds great – we are in the Eastern Cape but might head that way next year if the kids make the Gymnastics Nationals team for EC…. then the game is on ….I don’t enjoy seafood at all and neither do the kids – but the man of the house LOVES it – and I think the bread looks very yummy – and rosterkoek – mmmmmmmm 🙂 Thanks for your cool blog
Hi CA, Hopefully the game will be on!!! It really was fantastic!!! Have a great day!!!
Hi Se7en, me again on about that darn Wecesin Powder!!! Just thought I would let you know that I got hold of Weleda and that told me (shock! horror!) that it has been discontinued and they are trying to get some other product to replace it out some time next year ….. so much for me getting excited about a belly button free of earbuds and spirits!!!! 😉
Great colours! Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos.
I’m from Cape Town and this post has made me soooo homesick! Love the photos. Looks like you & your family are having a wonderful time!
Hi L, sounds you like you need a bit of summer!!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!
Hi M, Thanks so much for stopping by!!! Have a lovely Day!
Hi M, I am so sorry – In that case I would sit with a phone book and phone every single chemist in town till you fond one that had a remnant!!! Maybe you could ask a local midwife – I can’t believe that folk still have to use spirits and buds… find a friendly midwife and ask… I will get hold of mine and ask her too!!! Have a good day!
I’m in love with that restaurant, and I don’t really like seafood (a byproduct of living in a place where finding fresh seafood is impossible).
Ahhhh, sand and sun. I could use some of that as the darkest days of winter lie ahead.
Afrikaans! I should have known that.
You are a historian. 🙂
Hi SK! And you are a comedian!!! And relating to your comment on the Patricia St. John Giiveaway… Breadwinner Collection
Deborah Ellis and her Breadwinner Collection, set in Afghanistan, is excellent refugee reading material for students… Have a good week!!!
Hi G, Nice to see you visiting!!! I have always lived a spit from the beach and roaming for mussels was a summer time treat – frankly I could live on seafood… but I live with a few others that I am still training!!! You have a great week!!!
I’ll check out the Breadwinner Collection. Thanks for the link! I like to have all my research writing students pursue one overall topic for the semester, such as poverty or health or world history or some other topic broad enough that the individual directions to be taken in the students’ papers are just about endless. As I read your description of the St John book, it dawned on me that “Africa” could be just such a topic, so Africa it is for next fall. That’s two semesters, now, in which 100 American university freshmen have had their semester research project determined by a se7en post! Blessings, Sleepy
ohhhh what lovely spot— I would so love to visit! and that’s some serious seafood delight…
Tomorrow is DEC 1st— you know what that means!!!!!!!
Hi SK, Do I have the post for you!!! You may have to wait until January but I have a whole African review with lots of books in the pipeline… it just isn’t going to fly right now and I am waiting for my South African Homeschool friends to be vaguely thinking about school again… Our official school year begins in January and most kids are on summer vacation by now…. Have a great week, and I will think of more goodies and resources to be adding to my upcoming collection!!!
Hi K-M… It was so good and the kids totally loved it!!! All these years we didn’t go because I thought it would be too smart a restaurant to take kids… talk about mistaken!!! And yes I know what December first means – blowing paint dry and jamming things into envelopes, I could have a worse day in mind!!! You have a lovely day…
Looking forward to the January post! 🙂
Thanks SK, I was just in the bookstore yesterday gathering resources… all in the name of blogging!!! Have a nice day…
aah. Love the look of this restaurant. I can smell the sea, sand and fish & bread cooking even here!
Hay Zoe… Definitely one of our all time favorite spots!!! If you are ever in Cape Town you have to do this – it is so worth the trip to taste Cape food as it should be cooked in the great outdoors. Especially on the beach…