Wow! What a roller coaster of a year! We came out of a tough 2019 (our drought scared people away from visiting Cape Town) and entered into 2020. The year looked like it was off to a great start and we were almost fully booked for May & June. Our forward bookings were looking wonderful and I was ready to do a happy dance. South Africa Lock Down! In March our world started coming to an abrupt halt as…
All of us are trapped at home at the moment. We are living in an unreal world where nothing seems normal. And we are all longing for the same thing. To escape and to explore the world again. We are longing for the wild outdoors, and even for the not so wild, we want to be able to feel that we are in nature. We simply want open spaces and sky. I love the new hashtag people are using at…
We want to make sure that you don’t miss out on tasting our traditional South African cuisine when you visit our country! As such we are going to take you on a visual journey through some of our favourite South African local treats. We hope you have a “lekker” (delicious/yummy/fabulous) time nibbling your way through our country. BRAAI or SHISA NYAMA Our favourite way of eating on the weekends is to make a fire out of either wood or…
There are a couple of food trends that Cape Town is following this year. This blog is going to explore Trend 1 – The rise in demand for more interactive, personalized and meaningful dining experiences. I am tired of the anonymous experience of entering a restaurant and leaving without knowing much about the place, the food or the chef. Often without a good server the food is also left to speak for itself. Somehow a story adds hugely to…
Chakalaka is a traditional South African spicy vegetable relish. It is usually served with pap or samp & beans and is most commonly found in black communities across the country. It has become so popular that one can now buy it in cans in the supermarket and order it at KFC! Everyone’s recipe for Chakalaka is different – I have never tasted two that taste the same. It can range from mild to searing hot – depending on the cooks…
Cape Town is a creative hub with many artists and artisans who are channeling their creativity into the food, design and entertainment. This creativity is best felt and experienced by exploring areas of the inner city and its fringe areas e.g. Bree Street, the central city area, Bo-Kaap, De Waterkant and Woodstock. All of which have emerged as the new hip zones of Cape Town. The trend over the last few years has been a return to artisan roots and to support the smaller…
In 2010 a street artist called Freddy Sam started a street art revolution in Woodstock. He started by asking residents if they would allow him to paint on open walls – showing them the art before painting and getting their permission first. This has inspired other local and international artists to come and work in the area. You can now book for a walking art tour of the neighbourhood to see about 40 artworks. Juma is a local street artist…
All I can say is WOW! Charles Back is a marketing genius! By buying the Seidelberg Estate (two farms down from Fairview) – he has created a hub of artisan fun on the Suid Agter Paarl Rd that is too hard to resist. The first step of the metamorphosis from Seidelberg to Spice Route was to bring the Spice Route wines across from Fairview and to turn the original tasting room into the Spice Route tasting centre. The odd thing…
The Dog’s Bollocks has found a wife and she has the slightly rude name that I am sure must be grabbing drivers attention as they head down Buitenkant Street. The Dog’s Bollocks are now serving breakfast and lunch – admittedly all under different names – what a fabulously unusual approach! At the back of the L-shaped property Deluxe micro coffee roastery have moved onto the property. I headed down there yesterday to try their new delicious sounding sandwich…
It took a visit to DV chocolates to realize that chocolate has become a commodity. Chocolate is of course made from Cocoa Beans. These beans come from many different regions and their flavour profile not only changes from region to region – but will also be affected each year by things such as climate – eg a dry year. As such chocolate can have an estimated 600 different flavour compounds!! So how do the big chocolate guys make their chocolate…