The Two Oceans Aquarium in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town recently opened the doors to its new restaurant, Shoreline Café. Under the Aquarium’s own management, Shoreline Café; is already proving to be a runaway success, attracting not only visitors to the Aquarium, but a growing list of regulars who come just for the food and the ambience.

Positioned in a completely revamped space just off the Aquarium’s foyer, Shoreline Café offers exquisite views of Table Mountain, the yacht marina and the upmarket residential apartments and hotels that grace this part of the V&A Waterfront as one of South Africa’s most popular destinations.

Following a brief put together by the Two Oceans Aquarium (and which outlined the ideal eatery experience for Aquarium visitors), Shoreline Café; was conceptualised by well-known restauranteur Hugh von Zahn (of Beluga in Cape Town and Moosehead in Johannesburg fame). The comfortable, contemporary décor was put together by interior designer Greg Viljoen of Design 360 and lends itself to a relaxed beach house ambience. Evocative scenes of the shore selected and designed by Bonny Davidson of Cocreate Design adorn the walls while enormous, contemporary white wood structures reminiscent of sea shells and whale skeletons house subtle overhead lighting.

The food takes a healthy view on wholesome, family oriented meals with the average price per head aimed at R35. From a menu put together with the assistance of celebrity chef Peter Goffe-Wood (of PGW-Eat and Kitchen Cowboys), diners can tuck into fabulous yet affordable fare ranging from traditional egg and bacon breakfasts (available until 11h30) to sandwiches, pastas, quiches, steaks, burgers and fish n chips.

Vegetarians are also catered for and are invited to plunge into spinach and ricotta cannelloni or savour a roasted veg and Parmesan tart. Shoreline Café even serves a scrumptious veg burger!

Shoreline Café is a family restaurant and caters for small fry with an extensive kids’ menu mini cereal boxes, Purity, French toast and fish fingers are just some of the treats waiting to be enjoyed. The restaurant is the first in the V&A Waterfront to house a dedicated children’s play centre complete with grass and funky, durable made-for-kids furniture and playground apparatus, enabling kids to play safely under the supervised eye of trained staff while parents enjoy a cappuccino and a well-earned break. Combine these with decent, stand-alone baby high chairs, toddler-proof glasses, funky kids crockery and a spacious baby changing area, and the V&A Waterfront finally has a child-friendly, all-weather destination that’s a far cry from burger joints and video arcades!

Shoreline Café also prides itself on being eco-friendly (what else would you expect from the Two Oceans Aquarium?), and environmentally-friendly measures are being introduced wherever possible. Diners won’t automatically receive straws with their cooldrinks in this establishment; given that straws are one of the major litter items on our beaches, the Aquarium’s management decided against randomly dishing out these pollutants in its eatery. The restaurant is also SASSI-aware SASSI standing for The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative. This means that each and every diner at the Shoreline Café can make a sustainable choice when ordering seafood as only green list species (including yellowtail, hake and calamari) from SASSI’s recommended consumer seafood list are served in the restaurant. Green List species are from relatively healthy and well-managed populations that can sustain current fishing pressure, and are recommended as the most sustainable choices available.

Of course, there’s much more to the venue than just the food; an entire underwater world awaits at the Two Oceans Aquarium and an Aquarium ticket is valid all day so visitors can pop out to enjoy a snack in Shoreline Café before heading back for the feeding of the fishes in the main exhibit, the I&J Predator Exhibit. And members of the Aquarium Solemates, as they are aptly named - receive 10% discount not only off their bill at Shoreline Café but also on all goods at the Aquarium’s brand new, expanded gift shop, right next door to the restaurant.