There is a particular kind of magic that exists only in childhood – the unguarded, wide-eyed kind that makes you believe, without question, that the world is far stranger and more wonderful than anyone is letting on. Most of us lose it somewhere between school fees and spreadsheets. We stop looking for wonder in the ordinary. We forget, entirely, that it was ever there. The Royal Countess Zingara remembers on your behalf. And right now, for a limited remaining time, the sparkly Spiegeltent is wowing audiences in Cape Town with the show entitled La Dolce Royal. From mid-May, the tent will fold, the performers will take their bows, and the whole magnificent dream will relocate to Johannesburg. So, if you’ve been meaning to go, stop meaning to. Book the table. The world outside can wait.
“She had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible,” wrote Lewis Carroll.
The Royal Countess – Madame Zingara Reimagined
To describe Madame Zingara purely as a circus experience would be like describing the Northern Lights as a weather event – technically accurate and entirely missing the point.
You arrive at the tent, located opposite Canal Walk shopping mall, in Century City. There is ample nearby parking, so no need to fret. Arrive a little early – there are pre-drinks to enjoy, whimsical face painting to say yes to, and an entire world to take in before the show even begins.
Crossing the threshold into the tent is something like stepping into the pages of a storybook. We were greeted at the door with a welcome drink by a costumed hostess, and within minutes of arriving, the life we had left outside was blissfully forgotten.
For the next four hours or so, we were somewhere else entirely. There is no outside here. No news, no noise, no relentless scroll of ordinary life. There is only this – a swirling, shimmering, gloriously chaotic world of performance, colour, laughter and spectacle that folds itself around you.
The Magic Is Very Much Alive
After a hiatus of almost ten years, many wondered whether The Royal Countess Zingara could live up to the memory. The answer arrives quickly, and it arrives in sequins. The performers are new, the acts are fresh, and the sense of awe is every bit as wonderful as it ever was. Because here is the thing about watching a body launch itself from a trapeze with impossible, breathtaking grace – it never gets old.
What makes it all the more remarkable is that every person in that tent – every performer, every character, every gloriously costumed waiter – is entirely, unflinchingly committed to the world they’re creating. Night after night, show after show, they give every audience the same electric first-time energy. The rabbit delivering your starter believes he is a rabbit. The pirate pouring your wine is, without question, a pirate. That total immersion is undoubtedly more difficult than it looks, and it is precisely what elevates the evening from entertainment into something closer to enchantment.
The Royal Countess Zingara was recently honoured with the prestigious ‘Top Experience Journey’ accolade at the annual Restaurant of the Year Awards.
Don’t be shy about leaning in yourself – say yes to the face paint, embrace the dress-up, allow yourself the joy of not taking yourself seriously for one evening.
A Banquet of food
Dinner at Madame Zingara is generous, well-paced and good. The fact that the kitchen is simultaneously feeding an entire tent full of guests is, frankly, its own kind of performance. Courses are delivered on cue by characters who never once break.
It begins on arrival with a spread of bread and mezze – a mini braided loaf served with harissa butter, alongside a grazing board of dips, marinated olives and grissini sticks. A small glass of soup is also served, and the platter is left for you to nibble on while you settle in with your crew.
The pasta course – Primi Piatti – is a butternut ravioli in a creamy sauce scattered with pine nuts. It’s a tasty, solid course that does exactly what it needs to.
The main event offers four choices. The standout dish that Madame Zingara is best known for is the choc-chilli steak: dark Belgian chocolate, rosemary and chilli sauce served over beef fillet, topped with a tower of crunchy noodles. Mine was cooked correctly and generously sized. Others at the table ordered the salmon and were very happy with it. The food is good, it is plentiful, and for a four-course meal included in the ticket price, it absolutely delivers on value.
Worth Every Rand, and Then Some
For a four-course dinner and hours submerged in magic, the value at Madame Zingara is, quite simply, unbeatable. There are very few experiences that offer this quality of wonder for the ticket price.
It is an evening made for celebrations, for groups, for anyone craving something that reminds them what it feels like to be genuinely delighted by the world – something we all definitely need more of.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice.
We spend so much of our adult lives being sensible. Practical. Measured. We forget that we were once people who believed in magic without needing to be convinced. Madame Zingara doesn’t ask you to believe in anything; it simply opens a door and lets you walk through. What you find on the other side is the realisation that wonder was never really lost – it was just waiting for the right invitation.
Madame Zingara closes in Cape Town on the 17th May before the dream moves north to Johannesburg. Go soon, while the tent is still pitched and the magic is still here, right on your doorstep.
A Magical Crush Offer to see The Royal Countess Madame Zingara!
The Countess Zingara is offering CRUSH magazine subscribers a special rate of R1150 per person for the balance of the Cape Town run, which ends on 17 May. WhatsApp 060 663 1461 to book your seats!
La Dolce Royal runs Tuesdays to Sundays until 17 May 2026 at Century City.
Gates open at 18h00 and the show begins at 20h00.
All bookings are via www.zingara.co.za, boxoffice@zingara.co.za or 021 891 0448.
Disabled parking is available with a valid disc directly outside the venue, which also offers ramp access. PG 10.
For up-to -the-minute news, follow @zingara_royalcountess.
