SOUTH AFRICA

THE RAINBOW NATION OFFERS A WEALTH OF UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES BEYOND THE SAFARIS FOR WHICH IT’S JUSTIFIABLY FAMOUS. THERE'S A WORLD-CLASS FOOD AND WINE SCENE, UNIQUE ART AND CULTURE AND INCREDIBLE NATURAL WONDERS... AND THAT’S JUST FOR STARTERS

- BEN LERWILL & HEATHER RICHARDSON

CAPE OF GOOD FOOD

The most exciting food in South Africa's 'Mother City' reveals a long and fascinating history, and speaks to its rich diversity

"I'd been making ice cream for the longest time and I'd never bothered to make flavours that would've made sense in an African context," says Tapiwa Guzha. "Once I realised that, I couldn't ignore it." We're sitting in Tapiwa's cafe, Tapi Tapi, east of Cape Town's centre. On the wall, there's a cork board in the shape of Africa, with names of dishes, plants and smells pinned to their areas of association: post-harvest smoke, baobab and hibiscus around Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo; sage in the Western Cape of South Africa.

It's Saturday, and Tapiwa - dressed in blue overalls -hops up constantly to serve customers. "This ice cream has Cape Malay spices, so cinnamon, cardamom, aniseed, ginger," I hear him say. "This one is fonio - a grain from West Africa - and cinnamon, it's a bit crunchy." I opt for a nectarine and orange sorbet with spekboom - a South African succulent - and a chilli kick.

Tapiwa started experimenting with flavour while studying molecular biology at university. He realised he could make ice cream using leftover liquid nitrogen from the lab and adding whatever ingredients he had in the cupboard. "It started with playfulness, making substitutions to recipes I already knew," he says. "It wasn't an intentional thing. I just said, 'what's in the cupboard?" Using ice cream to showcase unusual pan-African flavours might be a new idea, but using available ingredients to alter traditional recipes isn't.