The Stanley Hotel’s legendary pavement cafe is still a traveller favourite, and it caters to most tastes with a good mix of food. The original thorn-tree noticeboard in the courtyard gave rise to the general expression and inspired Lonely Planet’s own online Thorn Tree travel forum. The menu ranges from linguine with crab meat and ginger to Kenyan-style chicken stew.
While the cafe's now onto its third acacia, and the noticeboard’s not quite the paper fest it once was, a little nostalgia is de rigueur, even if only to pause and recognise an original landmark on the Cape-to-Cairo overland trail.