Sal’s main tourist town is deceptively large, with a long beach and restaurants and cafes dotted off it. Cape Fruit is towards the far end, located one street back from the beach and not far from the square. It’s not big and is easy to miss, which is why I wanted to make sure that I managed to get it into a Cape Verde Cafe Review.

There is a lot of fried fish on offer here in Santa Maria, much of it excellent. But sometimes you fancy something a bit different and Cape Fruit offers this with a wide variety of salads and sandwiches, and a huge array of smoothies and fruit shots.

It is not a friendly place. On the counter is an exhortation to make sure you have smiled today, but clearly the staff got that out of their system far earlier in the day, because there was not even a hint of welcome.

The Food

But luckily we weren’t there for the charming atmosphere (although it is comfortably furnished and had a very clean toilet).

I had a Stewed Octopus salad. I was a little surprised to find the stew was warm, and the lettuce cold, but that didn’t detract from the dish too much, which I really enjoyed. Mrs N had the “Cabo Verde” which is basically a local version of a Feta and Watermelon salad, but with local goat cheese and papaya (you work with what you’ve got…)

She also had a Coconut Lemonade (first enjoyed last year in Columbia), which she pronounced satisfactory (it disappeared quicker than I could get my camera out)

With a bottle of water, is was less than 30,000 Escudos (about £22), so much better than a Pret Salad for about the same cost.

Conclusion

Rating: 4/5

Cape Fruit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-m5HL47YQRj4tgGu52B1FXkqg6vThAq/view?usp=drive_link