Cafeography
Cape Town

Bakery cafés in Cape Town

Koesisters, milk tart and Lebanese bread, with most bakery counters in the City Centre.

Photo: Giovanna Kamimura, Pexels License

Two Cape pastries turn up again and again. The koesister is the Cape Malay one, spiced, syrup-soaked and coated in coconut.1 Melktert, or milk tart, is a custard tart served at weddings, funerals and church bazaars and sold in supermarkets.2

Most bakery cafés are in the City Centre: Rosa's Bakery at 70 Shortmarket Street opens 08:00–17:00 every day, The Ladder at 136 Bree Street combines a bakery with brunch, and New York Bagels is at 44 Harrington Street. Woodstock, Green Point, Rondebosch & Newlands and the Waterfront have one each.

Local tip: Buy koesisters early on a Sunday and eat them on the spot: they are best warm, and a closed box makes them sweat.

Where these cafés are: City Centre & Bo-Kaap (7), Green Point & Mouille Point (1), Woodstock & Salt River (1), V&A Waterfront (1), Rondebosch & Newlands (1).

At a glance

11Cafés listed
3With opening hours
07:00Earliest opening
17:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: The Ladder, from 07:00 (Mon–Fri 07:00–16:00 · Sat 08:00–14:30).
  • Closes latest: Rosa's Bakery, until 17:00 (Daily 08:00–17:00).
  • Most listed streets: Breë Street (2).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (45%), wi-fi (36%), brunch (36%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Cape Town.

Koesisters and Sunday mornings

The koesister's spice mix is ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and aniseed, with ground dried naartjie (tangerine) peel that cooks traditionally dry on a windowsill.1 It is oval and soft, dipped in hot syrup and coconut, whereas the Afrikaner koeksister is plaited, crisper and dipped in cold syrup.1

Koesisters are made and eaten on Sundays, often for breakfast, and Bo-Kaap has long been known for its sellers.1 They should be eaten warm; a lidded container makes them sweat and dulls the flavor.1 Before the syrup, the dish was an unsweetened breakfast savory among the Malay people brought to the Cape.3 World Koesister Day, on the first Sunday of September, began in 2019 with an event at the Radisson RED hotel at the V&A Waterfront.3

Melktert, two ways

Milk tart comes in two main forms. In the puff-pastry version the filling is poured in and baked; in the shortcrust version a baked shell is filled with a cooked custard that sets cold.2

The puff-pastry tart resembles the Portuguese pastel de nata but is usually larger and cut into triangles, and the shortcrust style is often linked to Afrikaner heritage; legend credits Dutch dairy farmers with bringing it to the Cape in the 1600s.2 National Milk Tart Day falls on 27 February and was first held in 2014.2

Lebanese bread on Constitution Street

The Lebanese Bakery's city branch on Constitution Street opened in March 2023, the second for its co-owners, the Egyptian engineer Khaled El-Alfy and the Cape Town chef Clara Bubenzer; the first is in Claremont.4 It sells pitas, ka'ak and other flatbreads, plus fatayer (filled savory pastries), and the food is halal.4

When it opened, its Lebanese oven was still waiting for gas certification, so the bread came in daily from Claremont; hours were 10:00–18:00 on weekdays and 10:00–15:00 at weekends.4

Pastry counters elsewhere

Truth on Buitenkant Street and Rosetta's café on Bree Street both pair their roasting with a bakery counter, and Neighborgood CBD on Bree Street adds brunch. Outside the center, Salisburys is at 79 Roodebloem Road in Woodstock, Park Café on Bill Peters Drive in Green Point, Vovo Telo in the Wine Centre at the Waterfront, and Knead Bakery in Rondebosch & Newlands.

For a price benchmark, an all-butter croissant cost R48 at Woolworths Café, the department-store chain, in 2025.5

Sources

  1. The sweet and spicy marital aid that is the koesister, Daily Maverick, accessed October 2026
  2. Old tarts and koe(k)sisters, Daily Maverick, accessed October 2026
  3. Koe'sister, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  4. Magical Middle Eastern fare in the Cape Town CBD, Cape Town Central City Improvement District, accessed October 2026
  5. Discover the latest Woolworths Café menu and prices for 2025, Briefly News, accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

Other ways to browse Cape Town

Specialty coffee

7 cafés

Wi-Fi

16 cafés

Outdoor seating

16 cafés

Brunch

7 cafés

By area: V&A Waterfront City Centre & Bo-Kaap Woodstock & Salt River Rondebosch & Newlands

FAQ

Bakery cafés in Cape Town: questions

What is the difference between a koesister and a koeksister in Cape Town?

The koesister is the Cape Malay pastry: oval and soft, spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, aniseed and dried naartjie peel, dipped in hot syrup and rolled in coconut. The Afrikaner koeksister is plaited, crisper and dipped in cold syrup. Koesisters are traditionally made and eaten on Sundays and are best warm.

What is melktert, the milk tart sold in Cape Town bakeries?

Melktert, or milk tart, is a South African custard tart. The puff-pastry version has its filling poured in and baked; the shortcrust version is a baked shell filled with a cooked custard that sets cold. The puff-pastry style resembles a Portuguese pastel de nata but is larger and cut into triangles. National Milk Tart Day is 27 February.

Where is the Lebanese Bakery in Cape Town's city center?

The Lebanese Bakery's city branch is on Constitution Street. It opened in March 2023 as the second for co-owners Khaled El-Alfy and Clara Bubenzer, whose first is in Claremont. It sells pitas, ka'ak and other flatbreads plus fatayer, and the food is halal. In 2023 it opened 10:00–18:00 on weekdays and 10:00–15:00 at weekends.

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