You come to Clay Cafe to paint ceramics and eat. The Hout Bay location has been running since 1999, when it started on an old dairy farm, and now has seven sister cafes across South Africa. Over 180 pre-made ceramic pieces wait on the shelves — mugs, plates, figurines — ready for you to paint with the studio's colors and tools. The staff glaze and fire each piece after you finish; you return weeks later to collect it hardened and shiny.

The cafe serves meals alongside the painting. Families fill the tables, children working on their ceramics while parents order from the menu. The Hout Bay branch has a play area with a stream running through it, and trees shade the outdoor seats. Special events run through the year — Valentine's sip-and-paint evenings, Father's Day promotions where dads get free beer with their burgers.

All the ceramics are made in the cafe's Cape Town factory, which produces seventy-two thousand items a month. The Hout Bay location runs partly on solar power, with panels installed across its roof. They filter their own water for the restaurant and the painting studio.

You leave with your name on a waiting list for the finished piece, and an appointment to come back when it has been fired.