Yesterday the German Gala online magazine posted an article about the ‘Hot Spots of Summer’, paired with outfits supplied by LASCANA for each of the six cities on its Hot Spots list.
Cape Town is one of the six Hot Spot Summer destinations on its list.
Sunday 18 July 2021, Mandela Day, Day 21 of Level 4 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#grateful for a beautiful summer day, at 24C, locals at the beach and swimming in the Tidal Pool, and a huge traffic jam through Camps Bay from the Hout Bay side right now, ahead of a cold and wet three days from tomorrow; for surviving on 5 hours sleep, when the Nigerians started a party in our block at 6h00 this morning 😱; for a hardworking writing morning; for a Camps Bay walk at midday; for a Vit D shot on my terrace and managing to sleep for another hour; for a Bakoven walk, sensing how happy everyone is on this beautiful day ❤️; and for being healthy and free. Continue reading →
A mutated Corona Virus variant, which has appeared in the UK, and now is evident in South Africa, is causing havoc in that most European countries as are other countries, are banning flights from the UK from today, and South Africa has been added to this list by four countries to date too.
The new Virus strain is not said to be any worse than the current one in terms of its symptoms, but it is spreading 70% faster. It has led the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock to state that the Corona Virus in that country is ‘out of control’, and for a harsh Tier 4 Lockdown to be imposed in London and Southeast England. Yesterday the country recorded its highest number of new infections, at 35928 cases.
The Department of Home Affairs has just announced its revised list of Red countries, being the countries whose citizens and residents may not travel into our country as Leisure Tourists. The initial List of 60 countries was announced on 30 September, with a promise of it being updated every 14 days, but the announcement today is late by five days!
Very sadly Germany has been added to the Red List, making all the Big Five source markets for our country Red! Spain has been added to the List too, it having been a surprise that the country was not on the initial Red List.
A long list of 60 countries has been red-listed for non-Business Leisure Tourism to South Africa as of tomorrow, a list that the Government will update fortnightly, it was announced by International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor this afternoon. Sadly for our Tourism industry, Tourists from our larger source markets, namely the UK, USA, France, Holland, India, Portugal, and Switzerland will not be allowed to enter our country currently. Good news for me personally is that Tourists from Germany will be allowed to visit South Africa. All visitors from African countries are welcome to visit South Africa, as are those from Asia, and from Australia and New Zealand.
A number of errors were made in the Government’s list initially, admitted to and apologised for by the Department of Home Affairs!
Dear Blog reader
By the time you read this Blogpost I will have arrived in New York, for what is the most exciting journey I have ever undertaken, focusing on the best restaurants in the Big Apple as well as in London. Continue reading →
Chef Luke Dale-Roberts of The Test Kitchen is to set up a pop-up restaurant at The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg on 21 January 2016.
This will be the third pop-up restaurant that Chef Luke opens, having previously popped-up with The Pot Luck Club in Verbier, and earlier this year in Austria. The duration of his pop-up at The Saxon has not been announced.
Despite Chef David Higgs leaving The Saxon in December, where he is in Continue reading →
I have enjoyed such an active program in Munich, with dinners at Cocoon with the Obholzers of Simelia Wines and Innerhofers of Capelands on Monday night, and the celebration of the birthday of Opulent Living’s Florian Gast at Marais Soir in Munich on Tuesday evening! It turned out to also be a surprise reunion of four of the seven international chefs who cooked at Chefs who Share 2014, the chefs coming from all parts of Germany and Austria to celebrate Continue reading →
Yesterday we went Italian at worldly Mondiall, enjoying nine very fine and fantastic Fantinel wines, with a broad spectrum of Prosecco, light white wines, and rich earthy red wines, introduced by Dr Marco Fantinel, President of Gruppo Vinicolo Fantinel. The company is adding South Africa to its list of elite distribution points.
We were served a glass of Fantinel Prosecco Extra Dry as the welcome drink, and served canapés of ceviche on sesame crisps, as well as pork belly. The pork belly canapés appeared just as we were going upstairs for the tasting, and were finished before I could photograph them!
Dr Fantinel traced the development of the company back to his grandfather Mario Fantinel, a hotelier and retaurateur in Fruili, in Continue reading →
Jardine at Jordan Manager and former Sinn employee Riaan Moll told me recently that Chef Thomas Sinn, once an Eat Out Top Restaurant Chef, has closed down all his restaurant interests in Cape Town, and has opened Rivendell Restaurant on the road to Hermanus, near the turn-off to Kleinmond and Arabella. On our way back from a trip to Hermanus my colleague and I found an oasis of 
food, in the middle of nowhere, offering a whale of a good value.
Rivendell is referred to in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, ‘Lord of the Rings’ amongst others, and means ‘deeply cloven valley‘, referring to the Bot River valley lying between two mountains. The wine estate Rivendell is owned by Austrian couple Heimo and Maria Talhammer, and they invited Chef Thomas to open the restaurant on their farm three months ago. The restaurant building is set back on the estate, and is not visible from the road to Hermanus. It was previously the tasting and functions venue, but the Continue reading →