Category Archives: Stanford

February 2022 Restaurant Update: Can restaurant owners survive any more of the Lockdown? No new restaurants open.

 

The past 22 months have taken their toll on the restaurant industry, with restaurant owners suffering nervous breakdowns, having committed suicide, or suffered anxiety and stress, in worrying about how to pay their bills, with landlords and suppliers no longer being as generous in coming to the party as they did in earlier Levels of Lockdown.

It is no surprise therefore that no new restaurants have opened in the past month, international tourist numbers being surprisingly low, especially from the UK and Germany, the local market largely carrying the restaurant industry over the Festive Season.

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Chef Bertus Basson’s ‘In die Sop: Restaurant Evolusie’ kykNET series comes to an end, revitalises 10 country Restaurants!

 

Chef Bertus Basson and his team of restaurant and interior designers have transformed 10 restaurants in the Western Cape, each restaurant closed for three days for an instant make-over in its interior design, its kitchen design, its menu, and in some instances, its name.

The work that has gone into each restaurant transformation has been documented in ten ‘In die Sop: Restaurant Evolusie’ episodes on kykNET, with an eleventh episode summarising the series, and Chef Bertus revisiting some of the restaurants, to check on their progress.

The idea for the restaurant transformation series came from the realisation that it was not only the Lockdown that affected restaurants, but that their interior design, menu, and even restaurant name can impede their success!

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South African grape crop at lowest level in 14 years, wine grape area shrinks!

 

Attending a Tour Guiding course this week, one of our topics was the South African Wine Industry, taught to us by winemaker and consultant Pieter de Waal of Hermit on the Hill. Generously he gifted me the latest The South African Wine Industry Directory 2020, a publication which I have never seen. I have extracted some key information from the publication below. Continue reading →

Hermanus with Cape Whale Coast named UNESCO City of Gastronomy, the first in Africa!

 

Hermanus, and neighbouring towns in the Cape Whale Coast region, has recently been named the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) City of Gastronomy, in a bid led by Darryl David, surprisingly from KwaZulu-Natal. Hermanus takes its place alongside top international cities of Gastronomy, such as Parma, Italy; San Antonio in the USA; Phuket, Thailand; and Bergen, Norway.

 

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Hordes of new restaurants in Cape Town and Winelands!

Naturalis (326 of 375)BuildingThe flood of new restaurant openings continues, especially in Cape Town. We update information about newly opened and closed restaurants continuously.

Restaurant Openings

#   Chef Luke Dale-Roberts has opened Naturalis, as an ‘incubation hub’, for lunches, and a venue for occasional dinners and events (photograph).

#   The Harbour House Group is planning to open two new restaurants on the Muizenberg beachfront: a 160-seater Live Bait, and Howlin’ Wolf, a burger and beer quick service restaurant

#   Blacksmith’s Kitchen has opened in Paarl Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ episode 5: Whale of a time in Hermanus and Stanford, no mention of its wine stars!

Hayden Quinn Hermanus old harbour‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ focused on the Overberg last night, visiting Hermanus and Stanford, as well as Elgin, but this was not mentioned, being described as being just outside Hermanus!  It was a whale of an episode highlighting the Southern Right whale visitors, the sustainable apple and pear farming in Elgin, and Marianna’s sustainable restaurant in Stanford.  No mention was made however of Hermanus’ produce nor its world-renowned wines in the Hemel en Aarde Valley!

Hayden raved about the Southern Right whales, which visit  Hermanus’ Walker Bay from July, he said incorrectly (they arrive from the Antarctic from May onwards) until early December.  On the Facebook page of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa‘ it is incorrectly claimed that Hermanus is the ‘Whale Watching Capital of the World‘, copywriting nonsense.  Hermanus is however known as the offering the best land-based whale watching in the world, which is something different, and Hayden did say words to this effect in the episode!

To add some real adventure to his visit to Hermanus, Forest Adventures’ Clinton Lerm (infamous for wanting to change the name of the village to ‘Lermanus‘ when his family tried to take over the tourism management of the town, to their own Continue reading →