The results of the 2021 Great Wine Capitals’ Best of Wine Tourism Awards have just been announced, not only the best Winery per country, but also the winners in a number of categories in each of six countries in the Great Wine Capitals Global Network. Creation Wines in the Hemel en Aarde Valley has done our country proud by winning the Country Award for South Africa. The wine estate also won the South African award in the Innovative Wine Experience category. Continue reading →
The Michelin Guide has introduced a worthy new symbol to restaurants which care about the environment. Using a five-leaf clover, it was introduced in France on 27 January 2020 for the first time, when the new symbol was awarded at its annual star event to 50 restaurants out of a total of more than 3500 Michelin-recognised restaurants. The Sustainable Gastronomy symbol will be awarded to Michelin restaurants internationally as and when the new 2020 Michelin Guides are published this year. Continue reading →
In the latest issue of SARIE KOS (Summer 2020), the reader receives a detailed introduction to the new KLEIN JAN restaurant which Chef Jan-Hendrik van der Westhuizen, of Michelin one-star restaurant in Nice, plans to open in November 2020 at Tswalu Private Game Reserve in the Kalahari Desert. It will become even more South African in its cuisine than its big brother JAN. Continue reading →
I have only just paged through the Eat Out 2020 magazine, and was interested in the article on restaurants trends observed during 2019 whilst Eat Out Head Judge and Chef Margot Janse and her team of judges roamed the country to evaluate our country’s top restaurants for the 2019 Eat Out Awards. Personally, I’m happy to see that table cloths are back in. Nothing worse than eating at a bare table, Continue reading →
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.
I cannot remember when an Eat Out Awards event was so exciting in its Top 10 countdown, with so many surprise restaurants on this year’s list, reflecting how more daring the Eat Out judging team has become, no longer playing it safe, which is highly commended. Since Chef Margot Janse took over in heading the Eat Out Awards judging panel in 2018, she has been ruthless in her restaurant recognition, which we already noticed when Eat Out announced its Top 30 nomination shortlist for this year, in some of the top restaurants it excluded! Continue reading →
The publishers of the Gourmet Guide 2020 have made it really difficult to write this post, in that it is not revealing its full list of 36 restaurants that received its one, two, or three plate awards on Monday, until January 2020, its website states. One can surmise that it wants the Gourmet Guide 2020 to be bought so that it can generate income. By January these Awards will have long been forgotten! Continue reading →
On Friday I needed to travel to Hermanus, and stopped at Terra Madre in Elgin, being overwhelmed by the energy of owner Chef Nicole Precoudis, and her organic-style home-prepared produce, which can be purchased on their farm, online, as well as at an increasing number of outlets in Cape Town, or one can have it delivered weekly to one’s home. Terra Madre is true to its promise of ‘Handcrafted with Love’. Continue reading →
At the Eat Out Restaurant Awards 2017 this evening, held at GrandWest, some shock results stunned the restaurant industry. Eat Out continues its love affair with Chef Luke Dale-Roberts, with three of his four restaurants making the Top 10 Restaurant List, a spectacular achievement! The biggest shock was the spectacular slide of La Colombe, the restaurant which had all the opportunity to make the number one slot, but only making the seventh rank, a karmic reaction to the restaurant losing focus, opening too many restaurants, and getting involved in restaurant politics! Continue reading →
Last week a group of ten writers was invited to experience the recently upgraded Upstairs Deck, upstairs of the Harbour House restaurant in the V & A Waterfront. It specializes in small plate dishes, served in a generous size. It was a picture perfect day, the Upstairs Deck overlooking the yachts and boats which take tourists out to sea. Continue reading →