On Saturday my friend Gary Peterson and I did a road trip to the Winelands, delivering the prize of a 1 litre tube of Rio Largo Extra Virgin Olive Oil to each of the five chefs who made the 2022 Top 10 Women Chefs.
Our first stop was at Le Lude in Franschhoek, and we were lucky that Chef and owner Nicolene Barrow was in her Orangerie restaurant, as she almost always is. Continue reading →
Now that Chef Liam Tomlin’s planned Russian restaurant in Moscow is unlikely to see the light of day for some time to come, he is putting all his energy into the renovations of an historic three-storey Tintswalo-owned building across the road from his first-ever Chefs Warehouse in Heritage Square, now called Pinchos.
It is said that Chef Liam is planning to leave or close Pinchos, the branch just not as successful in attracting customers as the Chefs Warehouses at Beau Constantia, Tintswalo, and Franschhoek. Tomlin has recently walked away from his Mazza and Local establishments in the former HQ, also located in Heritage Square.
Hazendal Executive Chef Michelle Theron is a busy lady, running five restaurants on the spectacular Stellenbosch wine estate, which I visited for the first time last weekend. Unfortunately I was unable to meet Chef Michélle, as she had already left after preparing breakfast for guests renting the Hazendal Homestead. I left her prize of a bottle of Adhara Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil with her colleague, in recognition of being selected as a 2021 Top 10 Woman Chef. Continue reading →
In celebration of the 15th anniversary of StreetSmart, an organisation that raises funds for the upliftment of street children, it is going up Table Mountain on 27 February 2020 to host a High Tea, the highest High Tea served in Cape Town on that day! Continue reading →
A chance bumping into the new Table Bay Hotel Pastry Chef LeeAndra Govender on a walk in Camps Bay a week ago, led to her invitation to try the new Afternoon Tea offering, which she had redesigned. I brought my Parisian friend Aurélie Jullien with me, to enjoy this treat. Continue reading →
Last Friday I joined a media table to experience the new High Tea offered at Harbour House Constantia Nek, the first and only High Tea offering in Constantia. Continue reading →
Last year I visited Hartford House for the first time, better known to me over the years as the leading award-winning restaurant in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) when it was headed up by Chef Jackie Cameron. I found a young passionate chef in Constantijn Hahndiek, and an excellently run boutique hotel by GM Duncan Bruce. On my return visit this month, I found that the bar had been raised even higher at Hartford House.
I spent eight days in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) last week, in search of the perfect food experience, in a province I had last visited about ten years ago to attend Indaba, and the well-known Midlands area, which I had last visited more than 25 years ago.
The encouragement to visit the province was made more than a year ago by Chef Jackie Cameron, who is the most passionate proudly-KZNer I encountered on my journey, making it her business to support KZN produce, from the Midlands in particular, in using and in marketing it at every opportunity. Jackie has put KZN on the food and restaurant map over the past twelve years that she worked at Hartford House, making the Eat Out Top 10 Continue reading →
The Beverly Hills Hotel Pastry Chef Jodi Gillespie is a very talented creative lady, and has put the pink hotel in Umhlanga on the map as serving the most creative High Tea in KwaZulu-Natal, and even in our country! I was lucky to check into the hotel yesterday afternoon, in time to see the High Tea, and enjoy a taste of it, the most creative High Tea display I have ever seen.
Chef Jodi is from the Durban area, and studied at the Christina Martin Culinary School. From there she moved to Dubai, working at Continue reading →
The Sweet Service Award goes to FedEx and its manager Peter, who assisted in getting the Kokkedoor cookbook delivered, after various attempts to receive it failed. Despite an instruction to call and make a delivery appointment, the delivery staff just arrived, when we were not at the delivery address. We were then sent an sms, detailing how many times they had attempted the delivery, requesting that we call FedEx! I did call them, although I felt that they should have called me. The duty manager could not divulge what was in the parcel – 2 weeks prior the same delivery company had put me through Continue reading →