Alma Cafe

Last Sunday I helped out at Alma Café. It is a beautiful little “ma and pa” type place that hasn’t left the South Africa of the 60s and 70s where local, live music, was the vital essence of the city and where food was hearty, wholesome, and Afrikaans. I helped serve the 30 or so people that came in to hear live music and eat Rhetta’s Afrikaans set-menu dinner.
I love all that you can learn about a place by being behind the scenes.
Last week I attended their Wednesday evening program and was struck by the raw talent of the musicians that played and by the home-ness that I felt in the place even on my first entry. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows a little bit too much about one another, and is happy to tell you about it, but all good natured - because no one really cares if everyone else knows.
In the kitchen I see this is the kind of family and the kind of place that I want to be involved in, that I want to invest in and connect to while here in Cape Town. From Richard’s patchwork jeans and love of Led Zeppelin, telling me running a restaurant is like being in a rock band (and he’s done both), to Rhetta’s sending me home with food (the greatest gift someone can give me now I’m cooking for one); these are great people.