Backpacking from Accra to Cape Coast: Lunch at the Castle Restaurant

We headed back onto the beach next to Cape Coast castle and into a restaurant called Castle restaurant. The restaurant, constructed of wood, had an interesting wall with sculptures embedded into it.

To the left was a seating area overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The fruits, bought from the roadside, which had sustained us so far had now worn off. We were now famished. A quick look at the menu revealed all sorts of local dishes that caught our imagination.

I had had every single meal on the menu with the exception of Fante-Fante. Fante Fante as suggested by its name is a speciality of the Fantes whose homeland, Cape Coast, we were in. The distinguishing feature of Fante-Fante was that it was made with the freshest of fish.

We ordered the Fante-Fante and another local favourite palaver sauce with boiled yam. The story of how palava sauce got its name from was as Cape Coast as it got.

Fante-Fante stew

Palava sauce with yam

Matt to our shock and horror opted for “Beans on toast”. He must have been missing England!

Freshly squeezed pineapple juice and watermelon juice served as refreshments. On second thought we should have passed on the juice as it was not factory made and it was possible local tap water (not bottled) could have been used in making it. I suffered the effects of letting my guard down on this front a day or so later.

Lunch was briefly interrupted when our order to have our names embroidered on wrist bands came through. I had chosen Nii (MyWeku), Matthew had gone for Matt and James Sir James.

We continued to take in the views from our dining area after our meal for a while or until the food had settled. These were splendid views and it was good to see the kids making the most out of their beach as some fishermen in canoes occasionally passed by. They reminded me of the fishermen we had hang out with a few days ago at Kokrobite on the border between Accra and Cape Coast.