Start your day in Woodstock, the hipster haven where craft coffee roasters and artisan gin distilleries rub shoulders with design boutiques and some of Cape Town’s oldest buildings. Get your fix at Tribe roastery (160 Albert Rd) in the graffiti’d courtyard of an old foundry, or at Espresso Lab Microroasters (375 Albert Rd) in the Old Biscuit Mill precinct, where the highlight is the ‘vitamin C’ – a surprisingly delicious pairing of espresso served with a tonic of raw honey, and cold-pressed ginger and lemon.

The ultimate food safari in Cape Town should start with an award-winning espresso and plate of breakfast ravioli at Truth Coffee (36 Buitenkant St). With its dramatic Baz Luhrmann-esque steampunk interior, energetic costumed staff and hefty all-day menu ranging from eggs to burgers and cocktails, this is a brunch institution.

If it’s the weekend, join the ‘it’ crowd and peruse The Old Biscuit Mill market (375 Albert Rd, Woodstock), which features everything from next-gen fashion labels, handmade jewelry, and leather goods, to perfect pizzas, fresh juices and rooibos iced tea.

Jason Bakery (185 Bree St) – run by tattooed, bearded baker Jason Lilley – is a bustling spot for the city’s best croissants, sourdough and baked goods. Get in early for the bacon croissant, which is always a sell-out.

The sleepy harbour town of Kalk Bay is where the locals go for fish and chips, so follow them down to Kalky’s (Harbour Rd), a low-key shack whose communal picnic tables on the harbour-front are always packed with families. Or head opposite, to the slightly more upmarket Lucky Fish and Chips whose windows are so close to the water they are splashed with sea foam at high tide. After lunch, watch the seals contend for off-cuts as the fishermen gut and scale their catch, then head to Salt (136 Main Rd) to wash it all down with a glass of local chenin blanc or craft beer.

Luke Dale-Roberts is the godfather of Cape Town’s dining boom. His two stalwarts in The Old Biscuit Mill provide two ways to dine depending on your mood (and your budget). The penthouse Pot Luck Club has 360-degree views of the city, and the food is a playful mash-up of all the influences that have shaped the Cape’s unique flavour – springbok tartare, peri peri prawns and a life changing Cape Malay chicken curry. From the cocktails to the share plates ordered from a yum cha-style menu using a pencil at your table, the flavours are as big and brash as the view of Table Mountain through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The Test Kitchen, also by chef Luke Dale-Roberts, was the first fine diner to open in Woodstock. Dale-Roberts’ global menu has a strong South African accent and is backed up by a dramatic setting that comprises a dark and light room. “People come in and spend 45 minutes in the dark room,” he says, referring to the reception room that has no windows, with walls clad in an installation of charred wood created by a local artist. “Your first course is ‘billionaire’s shortbread’ made with chicken liver parfait and chocolate – it looks exactly like a millionaire’s shortbread. You have nine courses in there, which you track on a food map that takes you around the world, then you come through to the light room where we have classical music playing and white tablecloths.”

The striking Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) has recently opened in a repurposed industrial site on the Victoria & Albert waterfront. The towering grain silos have been repurposed into a multi-storied modern museum crowned with the opulent 5-star Silo Hotel with rooftop bar and restaurant that has become a destination in itself. If you don’t check in for a night, swing by for a drink with a spectacular bird’s-eye view after you visit the museum.