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You are here: Home / South Africa / SA Sunday: Bo-Kaap & Atlas Trading Company

Posted on August 17, 2014 | Last updated on August 17, 2014 | By Chelsea Cole | 3 Comments

SA Sunday: Bo-Kaap & Atlas Trading Company

Bo-Kaap was one of the first things I discovered when Googling about Cape Town when Fiance and I were talking about moving here. And it definitely helped win me over.

Bo-Kaap is also known as the Cape Malay Quarter. The Cape Malay people are descendent of slaves from Southeast Asia brought over by the Dutch during the 16th and 17th centuries. Although the neighborhood was originally built to house low-income families, properties in the area are now sought after. It’s well known for it’s brightly colored houses and beautiful architecture.

This excursion was for more than just goggling at the pretty houses, though. I had read about a spice shop in the neighborhood called Atlas Trading Company and really wanted to pick up some of the good stuff for the Chicken Tikka Masala recipe I was writing.

The shop was fairly small but packed with tons of spices. The place smelled amazing!

They had their own pre-packaged spices and spice blends on shelves.

They also had huge bins of bulk spices. Fiance had to remind me that I didn’t need a one pound bag full of smoked paprika.

I would have gone home with all the varieties of masala without a little guidance, so I asked for a little help. I saw that there was a “Mother-in-law Masala” and a “Father-in-law Masala” and asked what the difference was. The man responded: “Mother-in-law is much spicier” with a smile and a wink. Although this alone made me want to get those varieties, he told me their Leaf Masala was the most popular so I went with that, and it was incredible.

Our short trip to Bo-Kaap was really fun! We’re definitely going back to try the food at Biesmiellah and to explore the museum.

Filed Under: South Africa, Travel

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Comments

  1. Erin T. says

    August 21, 2014 at 9:26 am

    I visited Cape Town in May and brought home leaf masala and mother-in-law masala from Atlas. I’m finally planning to open the leaf masala tonight (along with a bottle of wine I brought home from Fairview), and I can’t wait!

    By the way, Biesmiellah is delicious!!

    Reply
    • Chelsea says

      August 21, 2014 at 11:24 am

      That’s awesome! I’m going to miss the wine here so, so much. You’ll have to tell me what you think of the mother-in-law masala!

      Reply
  2. Yael sarig says

    December 5, 2015 at 11:58 am

    Hello,
    I visit your place last August
    It was amazing!
    Do you send also overseas?

    Reply

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Chelsea

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Hi! I'm Chelsea.

I'm the author of Everday Sous Vide: It's All French to Me, a digital marketer by day, and food blogger and freelance content creator by night. I'm a University of Oregon grad currently in Portland, OR, my hometown. I first started this blog as a college student hoping to encourage other students to branch outside of pizza and boxed mac and cheese. While some things have changed since I finished school, I still rely on simple recipes to produce fun, comforting food!

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