N and I had a wonderful time in Cape Town and the surrounding areas over the Christmas-New Year's holidays. We went to 2 wineries and 1 brandy distillery, and spent lots of time touring around the beaches, including Cape Point where the penguins are. I highly recommend Biesmiellah in the Bo-Kapp neighborhood for authentic Cape Malay Muslim food. It's very similar to Indian cuisine, but with more sweetness and other distinct touches. Don't go to the V&A Waterfront except to see the seals, even though they're somewhat stinky.
We stayed a couple of nights at a sleepy town called Langebaan, situated on the lagoon by Saldanha Bay. We went mostly to have a New Year's Eve dinner at Die Strandloper, a restaurant literally on the beach. It's an all-you-can-eat affair (except for the crayfish) and while they do have a bar you can BYO all your drinks for no corkage fee. The menu is generally the same whenever you go--we just got champagne as part of the NYE package.
--Homemade bread baked in their bread oven, with butter and jam
--Steamed mussels and shelled mussel stew with garlic
--Braai'd (grilled) harders, which are like sardines
--Fish curry and garlic bread
--Braai'd snoek with potatoes, "patats" (like turnips), and rolls cooked on the braai. Snoek is a uniquely Western Cape fish that's similar to a mackerel--more here
--Lamb and waterblommetjies bredie (stew). I know it may be unusual to have lamb stew at a seafood restaurant, but the main ingredient really isn't the meat but rather the waterblommetjies, an aquatic plant that's also only really found in the Cape.
--Braai'd Hottentots (a type of sea bream) and smoked angelfish (Atlantic pomfret)
--Half a crayfish. These are local crayfish which are harder and harder to get these days. They're smaller than lobsters but much larger than Louisiana "crawfish"
--Strong coffee brewed on the fire, rooibos tea, and koeksisters (fried dough braids soaked in sugar syrup)
The only drawback is that all of this is cooked over wood fires, so you and your clothes are completely infused with wood smoke by the end.