This is the last evening of our trip. We asked our hotel to find us something special preferably serving seafood. Kelly, the hotel receptionist who has been helpful from the first moment we arrived, booked us a table at Baia, considered to be the best restaurant of it's kind in Cape Town. She even arranged for the hotel's chauffeur to drive us there and collect us again after dinner.
The restaurant has a perfect location in the huge waterfront Victoria centre and it overlooks the harbour on two sides. The food is certainly the best we've had in Cape Town and is one of the best meals since Southern Ocean Lodge. In a London hotel this whole experience would cost a King's ransom. Here the most expensive main course is less than £25 and even with a very nice Sauvignon, our three courses of indulgence come to less than £100 in total. Baia seats 400 people and it's full. Sitting at the next table is an unassuming man and his companion. As we ask for our bill, he comes across to us, accompanied by the restaurant owner. It turns out that he is from Dubai and asks the two of us to be his 'audience'. He is a slight-of-hand magician who for who knows what reason is demonstrating his amazing skills to the owner.
First he asks me to put my glasses on the table, which I do and he makes them move around apparently by teleknesis. Then, much more impressively, he asks me to give him my wedding ring. This he takes in his hand and he spins it, as you might spin a coin on it's edge on a flat surface. Except the he sets the ring spinning on it's edge in mid-air, completely suspended. He moves his hands around the ring to show that there is nothing holding or supporting it - all this not more than inches away from our eyes. After a couple of beautifully executed card tricks, this charming and very skilful magician bids us goodnight and the crowd which has materialised around our table disperses. Quite literally a magical end to a fabulous evening.
The restaurant has a perfect location in the huge waterfront Victoria centre and it overlooks the harbour on two sides. The food is certainly the best we've had in Cape Town and is one of the best meals since Southern Ocean Lodge. In a London hotel this whole experience would cost a King's ransom. Here the most expensive main course is less than £25 and even with a very nice Sauvignon, our three courses of indulgence come to less than £100 in total. Baia seats 400 people and it's full. Sitting at the next table is an unassuming man and his companion. As we ask for our bill, he comes across to us, accompanied by the restaurant owner. It turns out that he is from Dubai and asks the two of us to be his 'audience'. He is a slight-of-hand magician who for who knows what reason is demonstrating his amazing skills to the owner.
First he asks me to put my glasses on the table, which I do and he makes them move around apparently by teleknesis. Then, much more impressively, he asks me to give him my wedding ring. This he takes in his hand and he spins it, as you might spin a coin on it's edge on a flat surface. Except the he sets the ring spinning on it's edge in mid-air, completely suspended. He moves his hands around the ring to show that there is nothing holding or supporting it - all this not more than inches away from our eyes. After a couple of beautifully executed card tricks, this charming and very skilful magician bids us goodnight and the crowd which has materialised around our table disperses. Quite literally a magical end to a fabulous evening.
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