No, there wasn't that kind of fire at Bloemendal wine farm's Wynhuis ("wine house") restaurant. This was the last stop on our all-too-fast tour of the Durbanville wine route, and even though it wasn't as cosy and boutique-like as the others, it was larger, offered food for sale, and had this warm fire glowing so that those not tasting the wine could warm up too. :)
I can't say what the wine tasted like - by this time I'd decided that I'd had enough wine (because, to be honest, I'm not as in love with wine as some of you may be). ;)
Take a look at our route map; the Wynhuis is at the end of the route (on the left).
This month's GeekDinner was held at The Pasta Factory, a restaurant in Park Road, Cape Town. We really enjoyed the venue - it was open, people could hear and see the speaker easily and it was easy to mingle with other geeks and wannabe geeks. :)
The talks ranged from Joe's talk on spectrum (as in wi-fi spectrum) and how we need to conserve and optimally use it, to the viciously entertaining slideshow karaoke by Elodie on how to charge batteries using other batteries. (In slideshow karaoke, the "victim" has to give a talk based on someone else's set of slides, which they've never seen before. The results are always rather amusing, as you can imagine.)
All in all we had a great evening - helped along by plenty of good wine (kindly sponsored by Delheim), as well as a few Jägermeister shots. ;)
Constantia Nek Restaurant, the oldest in Cape Town?
According to their website, the Constantia Nek Restaurant is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. I think that my mother would contest that as she often feels like her kitchen is the oldest restaurant in Cape Town. ;)
Seriously though, I can't confirm whether or not it's true, but based on the fact that the restaurant is in a spot secluded from the city's development I guess that it's possible that the restaurant is the oldest surviving restaurant in Cape Town. I have to be honest and say that we've never had dinner there, but I do remember stopping by for a couple of beers while watching a friend of mine play guitar in a band.
Back then the inside was decorated old-style, with benches that you'd expect to find in an old English tavern. What was really cool about the place was that they had extra-warm (that's slightly warmer than warm) fires burning inside to keep the place nice and toasty during winter evenings. While I stood outside taking this photo, I could hear voices and laughter emanating from the building - it would seem as though that warmth lives on, fire or no fire.
At least one of our UK readers in particular will immediately recognise the inside of Wakame, a popular tapas and sushi restaurant in Mouille Point, located very close to the Green Point soccer stadium. In fact, the stadium is precisely what you can see brighly lit out in the darkness.
While we were enjoying really (very) good sushi, I watched welding sparks dropping to the ground from the structure in the distance. It would seem the stadium's construction workers are putting in some serious overtime to catch up after last week's wage dispute.
... falls mainly on Greenmarket Square. Well, not actually. The rain in Cape Town has been falling pretty much everywhere over the last day or two, and in rather large quantities too.
We had to go into the city for a friend's birthday party, and both wondered at times whether it wouldn't have been better to take a motorboat or canoe instead of our car. There's been flooding in quite a few areas, including Camps Bay, Newlands and Somerset West. Fortunately our neighbourhood seems to have escaped with a bit less rain than everywhere else, so we weren't affected in any way (apart from getting a bit wet walking from our car to the restaurant from which this photo was taken).
Of course, the great thing about Cape Town's winter is that we get all the cold, rainy weather in a few short, intense bursts, and for the rest of the time it's sunny and clear. ;-)
I mentioned in yesterday's post that we spent a great evening tasting BenRiach whisky, but I didn't tell you that the event was held at Sinn's Restaurant at Wembley Square. (You might recall us blogging about Sinn's in the past).
It was the first time we'd eaten a meal at the restaurant - previously we'd only been there for snacks and drinks (very good snacks and drinks they were, though!).
Our food was absolutely excellent (French onion soup, filled chicken breasts on a bed of mushrooms, and malva pudding with koeksuster/Amarula ice cream were a few of the options on our set menu), and the service was great. The waiters were incredibly polite and very efficient, and the portions of food were impressively generous.
If you're a fan of value for money, then don't miss their winter specials - R99 for a 2-course meal or R125 for a 3-course meal, both including a glass of wine. If you're looking for a cosy but stylish spot for dinner, I can definitely recommend Sinn's.
I'm sure it will amuse you to know that when we were leaving Kerry-Anne and I spent five minutes trying to work out why on earth the pay-on-foot parking machine wouldn't take our parking ticket, till we realised simultaneously that I was, in fact, trying to put the parking ticket into the automatic teller machine, conveniently located next to the pay-on-foot machine. And I can't even blame the whisky - its effects had long since worn off. :D
The Lower Deck Bistro at the Blue Peter has never been one of my favourite spots in Cape Town, although it seems a lot of our friends like it - I know this because we keep getting invited to things there. :) Usually these "things" are informal lunch-time meetups or sundowners, but this time it was an evening birthday party.
Although the birthday party itself was lovely (we got to see a whole lot of old friends we hadn't seen in ages), the experience pretty much sealed my impressions of the Blue Peter as A Place I Don't Want To Go To Again. As you may be able to tell from the photo, there weren't a lot of other people at the venue. In fact, there weren't really any other people at all. In fact... yes, I think you get the picture. This struck us as rather odd, given that it was a Saturday night.
Apparently the first members of our party to arrive had been told (at 6pm, before they'd even placed their first drinks orders), "Last rounds are at 21h45... as long as you know that." An odd start to the evening, wouldn't you say? By 20h00, after we'd finished our pizzas, it had become clear that the manager and his waitrons were rather keen for us to move the party elsewhere. We were obviously the only customers there by that time, and they'd presumably decided that getting an early night was a better option than wasting their time serving just one table. They hovered near the entrance, glancing over at us constantly, and the waitress passed a remark at one point that she was "just worried, because no-one's drinking", which wasn't true, of course - we just weren't drinking much alcohol. ;-)
All in all, it became pretty weird and uncomfortable, until we eventually left at around 9pm; and Paul and I certainly won't be going back if we can help it. If you don't mind being watched by the manager while you sip your latte, or having the waitress raise her eyebrows in disbelief when you order your whiskey without ice, then you'll probably enjoy it more than we did. :)
I guess the first thing that I have to say about Neighbourhood is: "What a flippin' awesome venue!". The restaurant is located close to the top of Long Street (the vibrant side), on the upper level, from where you can watch passers-by migrating between nightclubs and bars. The restaurant owner kept an eye on the proceedings, and made sure that we had everything we needed. The service from the (beautiful) waitresses was unexpectedly attentive, giving us the feeling that they genuinely wanted to make sure that we were happy.
The buffet starter table was almost a meal in its own right, laden with trays of teriyaki and chilli chicken wings, chilli poppers, nachos, pita breads with hummus and tahina, olives, and a whole bunch of other yummy things. I had a pretty decent burger for mains, followed by ice-cream with chocolate sauce... and all of this was topped off with a great bottle of Merlot from our wine sponsor, Delheim (more about that in my next post though).
Apologies if it sounds like all we did was eat and drink :). In fact, there were a couple of goodspeakerswho kept us well entertained in between courses and table banter. Thanks also to Bryn for the well-constructed slideshow karaoke*.
*Slideshow Karaoke:"...somebody prepares a set of slides on any topic they want (we've had "Etiquette when dealing with British Royalty", "Common problems with cement tiles", and "A primer on lesser known Norse gods"). Somebody else then presents a talk based on these slides without any prior knowledge of the topic, or of the content of the slides - always to amusing effect." - Vhata Vas Hyah
Every now and again Paul gets a craving for waffles, and although I don't actually have a particularly sweet tooth, I never object, of course.
When we were younger, the best place for waffles and ice cream was undoubtedly Milky Lane. Well, either our tastes have matured, or Milky Lane's waffles have deteriorated considerably...
Sure, it might look yummy, but that's just because Paul takes such good photos. ;-) I actually have no idea what was in the centre of this waffle (you can't see it in the photo) - the poster on the wall said "chocolate mousse", but (a) it didn't look anything like the filling on the poster and (b) it was surprisingly... chewy. Apart from that, the service was iffy, and the waffles were a lot smaller than I remember them being.
So, since we probably won't be visiting Milky Lane in a hurry again, where do you suggest we go next time Paul is bitten by the waffle bug?
Just two days after Cape Town's huge rain storm, we're back to sunny blue skies!
I took this photo in the gardens of the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands. The hotel is a beautiful structure, reminiscent of a previous era of grace and elegance. We knew that the gardens were beautiful and well kept, but taking some time to walk through them gave us a perspective on how much larger they are than we had first imagined. The gardens are made up of large, carefully trimmed lawns, huge beds of neat shrubs and bright flowers, large trees, winding paths, small rivers, quaint bridges, and convenient benches perfect for two. Phew! I think I just depleted my weekly adjective quota.
What I found surprising is that the hotel's website, including the sections about the restaurants, doesn't make mention at all of packed picnic baskets being for sale. I found one sketchy reference on another site, but it is strange to me that such a perfect picnic spot isn't being leveraged. :-/
I think what we'll do is pack our own picnic and find a semi-secluded corner of the garden to have our private picnic... and to make us feel like we're not abusing the hotel's facilities, I think we'll end off our picnic with a cup of tea at the garden lounge.
Shhh... we'll keep this our CTDP-readers' secret, okay? :D
Eric Cloete, Cape Town’s very own accordion player
We snuck away from the belly dancing for an hour or so to grab some lunch at one of our favourite spots, Pastis. When I heard the gentle strains of an accordion starting up as we were ordering our food, I almost jumped out of my seat in glee.
If you've read our About Us page, then you'll know that I was inspired to start Cape Town Daily Photo as a result of my many visits to Eric Tenin's Paris Daily Photo. And I started visiting Paris Daily Photo because we'd visited Paris itself in 2006, and had utterly fallen in love with the city.
Eric Cloete has been playing the accordion since the age of 10. He performs at all kinds of events around the Cape, but incredibly, it was the first time we'd seen or heard him. He stopped at our table for a few minutes, and, when we mentioned how much we loved Amelie, he played us a couple of pieces from the movie. It couldn't have been better - perfect weather, lovely food, me all dressed up in my pretty belly dancing clothes, and a surprise reminder of our second-favourite city in the world. Just one more Cape Town experience to file under "Special Moments". ;-)
Kerry-Anne posted about David's show at On Broadway a few weeks back (while I was away on a business trip). I got a chance to see him performing last night and, as you might have guessed if you saw yesterday's post, I took my mom and dad along to the show as well. As it turns out, Kerry-Anne was right: David's comedy show was insanely funny (click the link to see more photos of the show).
We sat at a large table with a few strangers, and enjoyed a pretty good and reasonably priced meal. After dinner we kicked back to watch, amongst other things, David relate in great detail his experience when visiting a proctologist (which is what what you see happening in the photo above). Only a comedian can turn a topic so... erm... uncomfortable (in all senses of the word) into an evening of hilarity.
"This year I have taken on 'Colorectal Cancer' as my Corporate & Social Responsibility/ Investment Project because, let's be honest, it's a pain in the ass and no one seems to want to talk about it...so I'm gonna." - David Newton.
Good job David, best of luck with your upcoming trip to the USA, and thanks to Matrix Ads for inviting me!
Craving cake and coffee (and just needing to get out of the house) we ended up at Arnold's Restaurant in Kloof Street. While sitting there, I started to wonder about the flipfile of little adverts dotted on each table: I wondered (a) whether or not other parts of the world have this kind of table advertising, and (b) whether or not these ads really work.
For the first question, I'm hoping that you would assist me; and in the case of the second I have an opinion (and I wouldn't mind hearing your opinion of my opinion...). You'll find these little flipfiles of adverts in many restaurants, but I'd be keen to know from any of the advertisers if they've actually brought in much business; I'm not sure that they do bring in any significant amount. The concept of table ads is a great one, but I think that they generally fail in their delivery - in my opinion, of course.
I found myself browsing through a set of boring ads, putting the booklet down, and not thinking of it again. Sure, if I happened to be looking for a painter, or a plumber, then perhaps I'd take down the number... but then again, I'd just as easily find the info in the yellow pages when I'm home. What I'd like to find in these booklets are quirky, funny, interesting and off-beat adverts that catch my attention. I'd give those kind of ads a second look, give the advertiser credit for their originality, probably chat about the ad, and be more likely to take down the number (or hopefully URL!).
Tonight we were treated to dinner at NOBU, the upmarket Japanese restaurant at Sol Kerzner's 3-week-old One&Only Hotel. It was an evening filled with exquisite food, top-class service and really great company, in an elegant yet strangely unpretentious atmosphere.
We all opted for the 7-course omakase meal (if you're not familiar with Japanese dining, eating omakase basically means that you leave the choice of dishes up to the chef), which turned out to be a really good idea - we lost count of the number of dishes the waiters brought out to us, and we sent every single plate back scraped clean. The food was fantastic, and included things like prawn tempura with dipping sauces, black cod, edamame, a selection of sushi, tuna sashimi salad, whitefish sashimi, beef kushiyaki and grilled Cape salmon. Dessert was included too, and featured a lot of yummy oozy chocolate, whisky-flavoured cream, and ice cream (as you can probably tell, I can't remember the actual names of any of the desserts... but they were gooooood).
One member of our party had previously been to the London NOBU, and she said without hesitation that the Cape Town version was better.
I can certainly recommend Nobu if you're in the mood for a special night out. Just be sure to dress up nice and pretty and leave your penny-pinching side at home. ;-)
We met a friend for coffee at Buena Vista Social Cafe, a Cuban-themed restaurant in Green Point. The decor is what I'd expect to find in an old Cuban bar; the best part of all is the old leather couches and chairs - like those you'd expect to find at your grandmother's house - making up a corner lounge-area, where you can enjoy drinks without having to sit at a table.
Buena Vista is a really nice place to visit, and if you've never been there before you should make a turn (and try the lamb and feta nachos!). Just be warned that the restaurant doesn't have a non-smoking section (which I thought wasn't allowed these days), so if you have an allergic reaction to cigars and cigarettes then best check that there aren't too many people smoking when you arrive.
Now that I think of it, perhaps the reason they're able to get away with a fully-smoking restaurant is because of the Cuban theme - you kind of expect to see people smoking cigars in a Cuban bar, don't you?
Ever since James Small, a past Springbok rugby player, opened Café Caprice (on Victoria Road in Camps Bay) we've been meaning to pop in for a meal or drink. There's just never seemed to be space for us, though - we always seem to end up in Camps Bay at the same time as Cape Town's entire population of trendy people! Café Caprice has always been a very popular meeting-place, and I'm not sure that that's just because of the identity of its owner.
We managed to arrive in Camps Bay early (just after 9am is early, isn't it?), and so there was still plenty of space for us to pick a nice sunny seat at the window. So, our first visit to Caprice was pretty good, actually. Our young waiter was sparky and quick to attend. For breakfast we both chose the Madame Caprice (a pocket of French toast, buttered with mustard, filled with bacon and cheese and topped with a fried egg) with coffee.
Madame Caprice was flippin' awesome - except perhaps for the mustard, which Kerry-Anne loved and I felt spoiled the meal a little. I've never been a real mustard fan, and in retrospect I should have asked them to hold the mustard.
Café Caprice's website is one of those annoying Flash sites, but take a look anyway - their menu seems up-to-date and they have a small (though un-maintained!) gallery section with photos from parties held at the restaurant.
Before a vocal part of the Cape Town geek community point it out, let me admit that this photo is a week old. It was taken at the last GeekDinner, codename Majestic Mandarin, which Kerry-Anne and I attended on 31 March.
Tao Yuan, is (kinda obviously) a Chinese restaurant, and they provided our group of roughly 60 people with a set menu consisting of sushi, chicken, sweet-and-sour fish, calamari, peppered beef, and many more delicacies (for a phenomenally good price of R100). Now the reason for bringing up sushi in the title of this post is because I normally don't enjoy this apparently addictive treat. The strange thing however was that I found the few pieces of sushi that I did try pretty darn good, actually... and in fact not as distasteful as I had expected them to be.
To be fair, I avoided any treats containing seaweed and stuck to the ones with mainly fish and rice. What I think made the difference with Tao Yuan's sushi is that the rice was the best I'd had yet. Normally I find that sushi rice contains far too much vinegar to make it appetising. Yet, that night's sushi was just perfect - even for a self-confessed sushi-shrugger like myself. :)
Oh, by the way, thanks to Perdeberg Winery for sponsoring enough wine to make us happy and yet keep us safe on the road. Thanks, guys!
It seems as though we don't go out for dinner much these days unless it's to a function like GeekDinner, 27Dinner, or something similar. I arrived home this evening to a wife not up for cooking and myself not too much in the mood either.
A quick decision was made, which entailed rationalising the fact that we deserve eating out tonight - because we've been working so hard, you see. ;) Anyway, we've been meaning to try Chai-Yo, a Thai restaurant in Durbanville, for some time.
To be honest, we're never really impressed by restaurants in the northern suburbs, and most often find ourselves eating out in the city or in the southern suburbs. The thing that normally counts against restaurants in the north is the service - which is usually just not good, or pretty average at best (to be honest).
But this is what made our visit to Chai-Yo really awesome. The service was impeccable - polite, helpful, and attentive without being overly intrusive. The thinly-cut, seared, tuna starter that Kerry-Anne and I shared was delicious, as were the traditional Thai chicken dishes that we ate as our main course.
So to sum it up, there was great service, good food, and a pleasantly comfortable yet smart ambience. Well done Chai Yo, please do keep it up!
David Newton is a brave guy. Fortunately, he's also very, very funny. You see, David is a Cape Town-based stand-up comedian who has taken on the tough job of raising awareness around the very unglamorous topic of... wait for it... ... Colorectal Cancer.
I was invited to attend the launch event for Colorectal Cancer Awareness, which took the form of dinner, drinks and a 2-hour comedy show at On Broadway in the city centre. Following this, I have three recommendations for you:
1. If you're in Cape Town, get yourself a ticket for David Newton's next show, which will be held on 4 May at On Broadway. Unless you have some sort of old sports injury that makes laughing very uncomfortable, or something like that, of course, because he WILL make you laugh. About everything. Everything.
2. If you can't make it to David's show, book for one of the other shows at On Broadway - it's a beautiful venue, with excellent service, and the portions of food are HUGE. Trust me on this. I couldn't even finish half of my meal - and I'd arrived hungry! Their prices are really reasonable too. Oh, and the restrooms... well, have a look at today's photo and judge for yourself. Pretty, innit?
3. Take five minutes to read through the information on the Colorectal Cancer Awareness site - this kind of cancer is treatable if caught early, but can become very aggressive if it's not. And for the sake of those who love you, if you think you might have any of the symptoms, don't ignore them. Make an appointment with your doctor, and get it checked out.
On Wednesday we showed you the view from Wakame; this photo was taken from the same section of the restaurant (the upstairs bar area), but facing in a slightly different direction (looking up Beach Road, towards the lighthouse and Sea Point). And it was at night, of course. ;-)
We don't often find ourselves in this area on a weeknight, and so we were very surprised to see just how busy this part of the Atlantic Seaboard was. We had to drive around the block quite a few times to find parking - pretty impressive, considering it was 8pm on a Thursday...
A killer restaurant view – Wakame in Mouille Point
We met up with friends for drinks and a light lunch at Wakame, a multi-level restaurant in Mouille Point, on Sunday. By multi-level I mean that they have a traditional restaurant on the second floor of a three-storey building, with a more casual tapas restaurant and bar on the top floor.
The view that you see here is of the outside lounge area and Table Bay. If you look very (very) carefully, you'll also see Robben Island on the left side of the photo. We enjoyed an assortment of tapas, from calamari to prawns, and lamb chops to chicken wontons. After spending some time inside, munching on our meal, we ventured out onto the deck to relax with a good cup of coffee. All things considered, it was a great experience. Well done, Wakame, and thanks to Beverley and David (who were visiting from the UK) for introducing us locals to a darn fine restaurant!
Kerry-Anne's parents were given a restaurant voucher for their wedding anniversary last year, and kindly invited us to join them in spending it last night at Sevruga, a restaurant close to the water's edge on the V&A Waterfront's harbour pier. If I'd taken a step or two back from where I took this photo, I would have been bobbing around in the water!
We had a pretty good time at Sevruga. The service was friendly and good (albeit a little slow, I felt), and the food was well-prepared and well-presented, and tasted very good indeed. Considering the quality of the food, Sevruga's prices are not bad at all, as you can see on their menu.
Sevruga offers a half-price sushi and cocktail special every day between 2 and 5pm. They have an extensive range of cocktails and a huge sushi menu (I'm not a sushi fan, but Kerry-Anne said that the sushi starter she shared with her mom was superb, as was her seared tuna main course. My steak was excellent - tender, perfectly cooked and tasty.)
All in all, a really lovely experience, and we'll definitely be back to sample some of their other dishes.
If you need a party or conference venue in Stellenbosch…
If you've been reading Cape Town Daily Photo for a while, then you might recall us mentioning something called a GeekDinner once or twice before. Normally these dinners happen at a restaurant in the city or the southern suburbs, but last night we held the very first Stellenbosch GeekDinner at Lovane Boutique Wine Estate, located just outside Stellenbosch on the M12.
Please don't read on if you're hungry right now, because you'll just end up hating me. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;-)
Dinner was a-ma-zing. For starters we had fresh beetroot slices filled with goat's cheese; the main course was a buffet of sirloin steak, creamy mushroom sauce, potato slices, baby marrows, carrots, butternut ravioli and walnut salad; and the dessert was an unbelievably moreish helping of homemade toffee/fudge/vanilla ice-cream. The steak had been cooked on an open fire, with some sort of lemongrass basting, and it was done to absolute perfection. I actually don't have enough adjectives to tell you just how good this meal was.
Lovane is a really beautiful place too, both inside and out. We even got taken on a tour of the cellar (which is where this photo was taken, of course), where we learnt a little bit about the process of winemaking.
If you're looking for a party or conference venue in the winelands, I can certainly suggest Lovane. Great service, a really lovely setting, and excellent food... what more could you want?
While visiting DelVera we discovered a gem of the Stellenbosch winelands, Mama Joan's Farm Kitchen. When one is away on business or vacation, the novelty of eating out at restaurants wears off pretty quickly. For me this is roughly after the second day. :) Kerry-Anne and I were delighted to happen upon Mama Joan's at DelVera - a restaurant where you can still buy "homemade" meals.
Although we only stopped in for a cup or two of vanilla tea, we couldn't help but notice how good and wholesome the meals passing by our table looked. I also noticed that the menu indicated that some of the dishes on offer were made from organically-grown produce only... a sure plus in today's GM-driven world!
We'll certainly go back for a meal some time, and we'll be sure to report back.
Heading in the direction of Stellenbosch, DelVera is located about 10KM from the N1 highway, along the R44 towards Stellenbosch.
Mandela Rhodes Place is an upmarket mixed-use development located in one of the oldest parts of the city (very close to the Company's Garden, in fact).
About four or five years ago the idea of inner-city living began to regain some popularity in Cape Town, and one of the most notable developments that originated during that period was Mandela Rhodes Place. The developers, Eurocape, restored several old buildings on the corner of Wale Street and Burg Street, the idea being to preserve the facades and historical architecture of these buildings, while entirely revamping the interiors.
Mandela Rhodes Place was launched in November 2006, and now houses a number of luxury apartments, a 5-star hotel, a winery, retail stores, restaurants, cocktail bars and coffee shops. I've only been there twice (at night on both occasions), but I must say, I love the atmosphere inside - it's quiet and stylish, with a real feeling of spaciousness.
At short notice, several members of the Cape TownTwitter community pulled together and organised an event at Doppio Zero, allowing Cape Town to be part of the worldwide Twestival (it's a silly word, I know ;-) ). "Twestival" (yup, it's still a silly word) involved Twitter members gathering together in 186 cities across the world, on the same evening, to raise funds for charity: water, a non-profit initiative working to provide safe and clean drinking water in developing nations.
Guests at Cape Town's Doppio Zero were entertained by the beautiful and inspiring singer Verity, central African musician Sylvestre Kabassidi, Marcel (hands-down the best magician and close-up entertainer I've met), and the energetic entrepreneur Eran Eyal, who co-founded Springleap with Eric Edelstein.
I've been a bit of a link pimp in this post, but I think that the kind people who made this event possible deserve credit for a job well done on extremely short notice. Thanks to you all!
