Camps Bay's Victoria Road is the most photographed strip in Cape Town. A kilometre of terrace restaurants and boutique hotels overlooking white sand and the Atlantic, backed by the Twelve Apostles mountain range, with a sunset that arrives every evening like a scheduled performance. On this strip, The Grand Café & Rooms has occupied its position at number 35 with a kind of practiced confidence: it knows precisely what it is, what the setting promises, and what the kitchen is required to deliver to honour both.
What the setting promises is glamour. The Riviera variety, Cape Town-inflected. What the kitchen delivers, under Executive Chef Seelan Sundoo's French-influenced direction, is food that meets the moment without attempting to compete with it. The bouillabaisse is exceptional. A Marseillais preparation adapted with Cape linefish and West Coast shellfish that has become something of a Camps Bay institution. The steak béarnaise with hand-cut chips is unapologetic in its classicism. The langoustines, grilled and dressed simply, allow the quality of the ingredient to carry the dish in the way that only good sourcing permits. These are not pyrotechnic dishes. They are precise, assured, and appropriate for a terrace with this kind of view.
The wine list leans heavily on Stellenbosch and Franschhoek whites, which is the correct instinct for long, sunset-facing summer lunches and early dinners. The rosé selection is considered and extensive. Service operates at the pace that beachside Mediterranean dining demands: present, efficient, and sufficiently unhurried that no one feels processed. The boutique hotel above the restaurant creates a civilised option for those who have consumed the wine list with sufficient commitment. A detail that the regulars have long since noted and acted upon.