3 Best Restaurants in V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

Sister restaurant to the original Harbour House in Kalk Bay, the V&A location serves the same fresh and tasty seafood menu from an enviable spot overlooking the harbor. Fresh fish of the day—grilled—is always a good bet, but there are a variety of options including seafood risotto, seafood pasta, and platters with a bit of everything on the (expensive and extensive) plate. Sushi and cocktails are served upstairs, from which vantage you can also get views of the mountain and sunset.

Though unfortunately inside the mall, this buzzing hive of activity consistently churns out what many (but not all) say is the city's best sushi along with an array of other Japanese dishes and various seafood favorites like English-style fish-and-chips and prawn pasta. There will almost inevitably be a line during dinner hours (you'll be seated quicker if you ask to sit at the sushi bar, which is the place to be), which can create a fast-turnaround feel instead of a relaxing meal vibe.

In this raw-timber structure in the heart of the docks, about three miles north of other V&A venues, the music is loud, the tables are crowded, and the decor is nonexistent, but tourists come in droves to gorge on fresh seafood. Expect to pay through the nose for a kilogram for local crayfish (similar to lobster) or scarce and endangered wild abalone, which is being poached nearly to extinction. Large prawns are also pricey. There is plenty of less expensive seafood, and daily specials such as baby squid and local line-caught fish are competitively priced. Lunch specials are more reasonable, but this is still more of a tourist destination than a destination restaurant.