So… Close to home! We’ve lived in Grahamstown for more than a year now, and we thought we would explain a bit about where to eat if you come visit!

Grahamstown has quite a few cafes and restaurants for a small town, owing to the influence of the university and all the fancy private schools – unfortunately most of them serve up pretty average chow. Here’s the best of the lot, by category.

Best place for tea or coffee:

Provost Cafe! This quirky coffee shop is built inside the old colonial jail, with the old cells revamped into funky rooms to sit and enjoy a cup. Lots of nice outdoor seating as well, and even a swing! They have a great selection of fancy coffees, and a nice bunch of teas. Ask if the upstairs area is open.

Best salad:

Revelation coffee shop in peppergrove mall serves up MASSIVE salads at breakneck prices – this is our go-to if we do decide to eat out. The summer salad is mental. No jokes. The photo above is their summer salad.

Best takeaway curry:

There’s a curry den downstairs beneath the total garage in Bathurst street – walk into the garage shop, at the back of the shop there’s a door leading to a downstairs area that serves up delicious, wildly hot Indian curry. You can even play pool while you wait!

Best pizza and beer:

The Rat and Parrot is a fairly standard watering hole, but they do whip up the best pizzas in town, if you can stomach all the rugby jerseys and facial hair hanging around.

Best hidden gem:

There’s a tiny restaurant run by a single (Zimbabwean I think) dude inside the Sunnyside Garden Centre, which serves up a decent meal for 2, in a lovely setting, for under R100 (with tea)! Kudos to the chap for being the waiter, chef, manager and dishwasher, and doing a fine job at that.

Most surprising find:

The Ethiopian restaurant hidden in a block of flats next to the Caltex at the top of Bathurst street – duck inside the door next to the petrol station and ask anyone for Injera (Ethiopian teff pancake) – it’s a smasher.

Thats it folks! Let us know if you visit the creative city!