Play on Long

Once we'd settled in and freshened up Caroline and I missioned to Café Royale for dinner around 7:30. When we arrived there seemed to be some confusion about our booking, which, we'd been assured, had been taken care of. Eventually we were seated in the smoking section (neither of us smoke) next to a large table of eight people not even 30cm away from us. Poor Caroline spent most of the evening dodging the arms of the very expressive guy next to her and we couldn't really have any private conversation. When we requested another table we were told there weren't any available, despite the fact that another two-seater table in the non-smoking section remained empty available the whole evening. Not really a very good start. Then when I enquired about our bottle of wine the waitress didn't believe me and spent some time on the phone trying to get confirmation.

But you can't go wrong with Royale food – I ordered the Provincial and Caroline ordered the Swiss Cheese Royale. Both were delicious. And you have to order the chocolate brownies – they are officially the best in the world. The rest of the evening was okay, but I got the impression that they thought we were getting this meal for free and therefore didn't encourage us to order anything more than the bare minimum – we weren't offered any other drinks, no coffees, no desserts – and except for clearing our plates we were ignored for most of the evening. I was incredibly disappointed as I have often eaten at Royale before and had never received such bad service.

But a great party was had the rest of the evening... Caroline and I missioned down Long street, stopping at every single drinking hole (yes, even Stones). Friday nights on Long Street are really happening and there is something for everyone – from the Waiting Room with it's retro lounge feel to the electronic/punky Fiction, from the English-style pub, the Dubliner, to Zulas bar, which plays host to some great SA bands – the best is to spend a little time at each venue and see which suits you.

Saturday
Spent an interesting evening in a room that made some interesting noises – I really didn't have that much to drink – and Caroline heard it too. Everytime someone in one of the rooms around us flushed a loo, switched on a tap or had a shower the plumbing would start this deep moaning... When I eventually fell asleep I had the weirdest trucking dreams.

But the next morning I woke up determined to enjoy the rest of my weekend on Long. Grabbed a cup of coffee and sat on the Daddy Long Legs balcony journaling and listening to the sounds of the city. The sun was out, the mountain was proud and the music of Africa was filtering up from the music store below. Cape Town was awake and beautiful.

When Caroline was ready we headed to R-Café for breakfast, but when we mentioned to the waitress that we were there for breakfast as part of the Play on Long package she had no idea what we were talking about. When I asked the manager she mentioned something about requiring a voucher, but was no more help. So we trekked back to Daddy Long Legs to find out more and finally got our voucher which entitled us to one of eight breakfasts and a small juice.

After breakfast we delved into day-time Long Street – my favourite discovery was the Long Street Antique Arcade which is a maze of curious and curiouser things. We stopped for lunch at Lola’s (a vegetarian joint with a kitsch vibe), and then on to the Long Street Café to watch the rugby on the big screen.

After dinner we headed to Roosevelt on Bree Street, which is normally a pretty cool club with cool DJs and the most beautiful 70s lounge décor. Unfortunately, once again, it took a while to find anyone who new about the Cape Town on Sale special or that free entrance was part of the package. And then once inside Caroline and I discovered that the last Saturday of every month is JUICE and one has to be a member of the gay social club to attend. We had two drinks, took some photos of ourselves pretending to have a party and left. And that was the end of our big evening out… by that stage we were just too exhausted to carry on and so headed back to our hotel for our last night at Daddy Long Legs.

Post-weekend notes: After providing feedback on my weekend away, Cape Town on Sale assured me that they would investigate my complaints. Shortly thereafter I received a personal call from Mama at Café Royale who apologised profusely, explaining that they had new staff on duty that night who were unsure about the procedure, and that the problems we experienced would not happen again. I would suggest though that, because there are so many vendors involved in some of the Cape Town on Sale getaways, if you are booking a special offer you phone the central vendor a day or two before your arrival date to ensure that all arrangements have been confirmed.