We arrived at Waterfront for a night of good food and amazing company. My boyfriend asked me to choose the restaurant that we’d go to that evening. I felt under so much pressure because I know I’m so indecisive, so I got a recommendation for a restaurant at Waterfront for a place called Sevruga.

I got all dolled up. I didn’t want to look all ashy next to my boyfriend, who was all dressed up in a suit.

We arrived at Waterfront, and although it took us a while to find the place, we found it.

Sevruga was closed! The restaurant was under construction, and we were left without a place to eat.

After the initial disappointment, I looked across the walkway and saw another restaurant, Harbour House. It looked really elegant, and I felt it was fitting for our formal attire.

We walked into the restaurant and we were seated at a little table. We were handed our menu by the very friendly waiter and boy did I wish I hadn’t opened it. The prices scared me.

I looked over to my boyfriend, eyes huge.

“Babe, did you see the prices?”

He nodded.

“Maybe we should leave, but that would be kind of embarrassing. Maybe just take something not too expensive,” I said.

He looked at me and said, “Let’s have a starter.”

I was confused, I thought we were trying to save money but not die of starvation.

“Let’s go all out,” he said, smiling. By ‘all out’ he meant let’s eat whatever we want.

“Really?” I asked excitedly.

“Yeah.”

Before we chose our starters, the waiter told us about the special. He even mentioned that the fish was imported from some island – I forgot the name of it. But if a restaurant’s fish is specially imported, then you know that you’re in for a good evening.

For my starter, I chose some prawns, while my partner chose calamari. The prawns were spicy, but nothing too intense to shy me away from them. I would normally eat prawns with my hands, but I felt so self-conscious that I figured out a way to eat them with a knife and fork. I got the hang of it eventually.

For our main course, I had some lamb chops, and my boyfriend had steak. We ordered that with a side of chips.

The presentation was so pretty, as if you didn’t want to eat it at all. The food was divine. I enjoyed every bit of it. I was too full to finish all my chops, so I passed it along to my boyfriend and he seemed to really enjoy it too.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t taste some of his steak, but alas what can a woman do? In any other circumstance, we would share and I would taste some of his, and he of mine. However, this time around, I felt like if we did that we might just be kicked out of the restaurant. Everything was just too fancy and elegant. We didn’t even take a single photo.

We talked about whether we should get dessert or not, but I eventually succumbed to temptation. Mind you, I suffer from irritable-bowel syndrome (IBS), so I shouldn’t be having anything with milk in it, but I was too tempted to say no.

“Okay, let’s have some,” I said, smiling.

My boyfriend was all too happy because he said that a man couldn’t eat dessert without his partner having something too.

I ordered something called Eton Mess, and my boyfriend had Crème Brule. It was both delicious, but the Crème Brule won in my opinion, although the berry sorbet in my dessert was really yummy too.

We tried guessing what our bill would come to, and I was off by R100. I will not disclose the amount because it still gives me heart palpitations to this day!

The waiter was so very nice and told us how he didn’t expect us to have a three-course meal. My boyfriend and I laughed in agreement. Mind you, everyone in the restaurant was way older than us; could’ve been our parent’s age or older.

Overall, we had a wonderful experience at Harbour House. I don’t think I’ll ever be silly enough to walk into a restaurant without checking out the prices online first, though. This was like a once in every few months – or even years – sort of experience.

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Tell us: Have you ever done anything so spontaneous? If not, would you?

Read more here on the red bus Cape Town tour.