Keeping the romance alive with a Date Night at Vista Marina

Our most recent couples evening out took place at Vista Marina, a chic little Mediterranean restaurant on the water’s edge in a quieter corner of the V&A Waterfront. Thursday’s date nights is but one of Vista Marina’s special line-ups for this season including LaVista Saturdays and Summer Solstice Sundays where guests can enjoy the summer afternoons with some refreshingly delightful cocktails to the tunes of some of Cape Town’s most renowned DJs.

Now THIS is a view!�� Click on our website to see our menu. #Vistalife #Vistastyle #Capetown

A post shared by Vista Marina (@vistamarinacpt) on Jul 11, 2017 at 10:20am PDT

Perfect pairings

For our water-side date, we enjoyed a selection of six superb tapas dishes and a bottle of Deetlefs wine to go with it.

Our tapas platter filled the table with adventurous little bites including falafels (a deep-fried chickpea patty), haloumi cigars, calamari fritti, lamb koftas in a delicious sauce (not your average meatball at all), a little bowl filled with the most delicious roasted cauliflower and hand cut potato chips, a Mediterranean plate including some of the smoothest hummus and baba ghanoush as well as some tabbouleh (a Levantine vegetarian salad that helped to keep things light), and enough pita and bruschetta to soak up all the sauces and dips – and all this made fresh.

For me, the haloumi cigars and lamb koftas were the winners of the platter – a surprise as I’m not particularly fond of haloumi - while my husband favoured the Mediterranean plate with the hummus and baba ganoush some of the best he has ever had. I prefer my calamari grilled and not fried, but magically Vista Marina’s crumb just melts in your mouth leaving you with nothing but perfectly cooked calamari.

Daters can choose between Deetlefs Pinotage or Chenin Blanc – a perfect pairing because if you choose the Chenin Blanc it enhances the seafood tapas while the Pinotage pairs incredibly well with the Mediterranean plate and koftas.

For me, the signature of a well thought out menu is when you can cross-dip and get creative with your tapas without sacrificing the balance of the dishes – it doesn’t matter if you dip your cauliflower bites in the kofta sauce, it’s going to taste great all the same.

Unfortunately, the DJ couldn’t do his set while we were there, but this did not take anything away from the evening. With fantastic weather, sailboats docked in velvety black waters, the V&A vibe and your significant other across the table, nothing can kill the romance.

Our date night was kindly sponsored by Vista Marina. Every Last Thursday night Vista Marina presents Date Night. Enjoy a complimentary bottle of Deetlefs Wine Estate Pinotage or Chenin Blanc per table when you order two main courses. *One bottle of complimentary wine per table. To book your date night or for more information, visit Vista Marina.