MAX Derman posted a comment about my Good Deals blog on July 11. He writes: “A totally underrated restaurant which is run by David & Marlene in Sea Point is the Cedar Café (021) 433-2546 which serves Lebanese food, a refreshing meze platter which would suffice the needs of even the most critical Middle Eastern gourmet and their main courses could be described in the vernacular of the area in which it is in as - to die for doll.” Although I haven’t dined there since they moved farther down Sea Point Main Road into the Courtyard Centre, I remember a delicious meal there in their previous location in a warm family environment.  

I have yet to find a better deal than at a Chinese eatery (021-434-4214) in Sea Point, where the Cedar Café used to be, just off the corner of Rocklands and Main Roads opposite the Adelphi Centre. A group of 10 of us dined like kings and paid less than R65 a head. It is my favourite place to eat but I get the feeling they don’t especially want Westerners as customers. There is some confusion over the name – Hesheng on their business cards but Jing Jing on the wall and now there are no English words on the window and I heard the waiter suggesting to a diner that a dish may be “too Chinese” for him. This week three of us shared a seaweed salad, sizzling chicken with black beans, rolled pancakes with beef, pork and prawns fried dumplings and two portions of steamed rice with free-flow tea for R35 a head. Unlike other eateries like La Romantica in Durbanville where the good deal is at the expense of quality, the home-style cuisine here is exceptional even by Chinese standards.

For all the reports about there being more wealth in Durbanville per capita than elsewhere, locals throng to La Romantica (021 914-7063) in High Street on Monday's for the half-price pasta. I ordered the Tuscan (R28.50) but found that the chicken breast was tough-as-old-takkie, they used Vienna instead of chorizo sausage and while the shrimp was tasty the flavours didn't meld at all. I tasted the Bolognaise sauce which also failed.

I almost became one of those media types who don't pitch when they say they will. In my defense the heavens had recently opened, and I could only find parking a block away and knew my shoes would be sloshing water before I arrived at Cafe Alo. Still, because I am so often infuriated by no-shows and John French, who had invited me to lunch, was a friend first and a PR chap second, I braved the torrent. Cafe Alo's  (0861 22 33 25) white tile floors aren't designed to cope with wet Cape Town and they had a staffer permanently mopping away foot prints. When I arrived there was a "fishbowl" in the wall which, after a few minutes converted into a "fire grate with blazing logs". It's a fun use of technology and I think I began to feel warmer because of it - or perhaps it was the white hot chocolate with a shot of espresso (R15) to get the heart racing. 

I'm a sucker for good deals. It takes all my critical faculties to pass by a two-for-one special and I often - like at La Romantica in Tyger Valley  leave disappointed. Perhaps there is something in my psychological makeup about getting more out of a situation than most people do that drives me to find the next good deal? Durbanville folks seem to fall in the same category. For all the reports about there being more wealth in Durbanville per capita than elsewhere, locals throng to La Romantica (021 914-7063) in High Street on Monday's for the half-price pasta. I ordered the Tuscan (R28.50) but found that the chicken breast was tough-as-old-takkie, they used Vienna instead of chorizo sausage, the shrimp was tasty but the flavours didn't meld at all. I wanted to send it back but couldn't bare to wait while JP finished eating his.

At Harbour Lights (021- 856-1830) in Gordon's Bay Harbour I ordered the Kingklip Neptune (R85) off the Specials board. Grant, our over-keen waiter, made it sound delicious. There was a power cut while we were there and confusion in the kitchen over my order and I was served the regular Kingklip (R65) instead which I promptly returned. Mistakes happen and I don't want to me like those arseholes who scream down a restaurant when something isn't to their satisfaction. I'm am especially pleased though when compensation is offered. I was only charged for the regular Kingklip which was R20 less than the Neptune - with prawns, aubergine, baby potato and a delicious tomato sauce - and we were offered coffee on the house.

I'm not one for roughing it. Having just returned from staffing at my fifth New Warrior Training Adventure (a programme offered by The ManKind Project (www.mkp.org.za) held at Boys Town in the Magaliesberg near Johannesburg, I'm searching for creature comforts. The difference in the way men live is, perhaps, more acute to me now than usual. On Wednesday I spent the night at The Westcliff, arguably one of the most luxurious hotels in Johannesburg, while on Thursday night, sleeping in the dormitories where the Boys Town children usually do, I was so cold that my minus-five degree sleeping bag, track suit and beanie didn't keep me sufficiently snug for a good night's sleep. Earlier that day we'd visited the museum nearby at the Sterkfontein caves at The Cradle of Mankind and I felt a connection to the earth and my ancestors who millions of years earlier, had first walked there..

I learnt some things about myself this weekend. My minimum requirement for comfort is warmth, two-ply toilet paper, water and soap. This surprises me. I'd considered myself spoilt after nearly a decade of living well - knowing how to determine the thread count of one kind of linen over another or working to hone my senses to determine exactly what defines luxury. While that skill is a source of income for me (and I'm guessing an amusement or vicarious pleasure for you) in truth it is nonsense. I'm not an apologist for the rich as I have every intention of joining them but I find it more difficult than before to revel in my comfort when men; friends - not strangers by the side of the road - have to live like I did for one night, for most of their lives. 

I was struck by one diorama at the museum in particular of man and his mate defending against the predators. I may well be able to live on much, much less than I do. What I cannot live without - and I'll bet this applies to you too - is love and support from other men and women - despite how much I may pretend to the contrary.