Off the promenade, The Codfather sits behind the main drag, hidden away. Ms R claimed she recognised the name from the guide book, which later turned out to be fishy story, albeit a serendipitous one. Seafood here is presented fresh, behind a glass counter, where you select the fish(es) of your choice, the chef chops some off for  you, then charges by the weight.

We arrived at a very quiet time (4.30pm) by any country’s standards (14 hours of travelling tends to confound the senses a bit), so had the freedom of the restaurant (in table selection, anyway). Despite the clandestine location, we were able to pick a table where you could see around the buildings in front, overlooking the blustery beach of Camps Bay; a great view and one which really helped us feel as though we’d arrived on holiday, especially with a couple of cold beers in our hands!

The array of fish was a little bewildering; parrotfish, tiger prawns, Sailfish, Tuna, Swordfish, Norwegian Salmon (a little surprising!), Rock Cod and local Salmon, but our host was knowledgeable and helpful to the fact he even described how they should taste. We went for the Butterfish, KingKlip and Musselcracker, all caught locally, plus a couple of mammoth Madagascan Prawns. All of these were to be served with some rice, veg and chips as our main course, but before tucking into this fishy feast, we had starters of Calamari for Ms R and local oysters for me.

The oysters were fine, but nowhere near as good as the Colchester oysters I’ve eaten in the UK. The calamari was excellent, however, lightly battered and fried; simple and effective. The fish and prawns were served in a huge iron skillet, again having been lightly battered & fried and looked a treat. Perhaps unsurprisingly, each of the fish were distinctly different in both taste and texture, despite all being white fish. I do enjoy fresh fish, but probably wouldn’t be able to describe to you the differences between even the popular varieties in the UK without trying them side by side, so it was educational to be able to do this with these exotic varieties. My favourite was the Butterfish, the eponymous taste being buttery and rich, but with a light texture. The Musselcracker was a lot denser in texture and had a stronger flavour that neither of us were too keen on. Ms R preferred the Kingklip, a local dish which seemed to me very similar to cod in both flavour & texture. The Prawns were good, but costing a third of the £45 bill, not great value at £7.50 each. I guess we should have stayed local for all of our selections!

The food was very good and the service excellent, although you wouldn’t really expect much less when you’re the only Customers. I always think it’s somehow a more satisfying experience to have a view of the sea when eating it’s produce, so we had a very pleasing experience indeed. The bill was probably on the steep side for Cape Town, as we were to find out, but taking off the prawns would have brought it back in line and we didn’t begrudge the extra anyway.