Ten days ago the Stellenbosch Wine Routes celebrated its 50th anniversary, the largest and oldest Wine Route in our country, with about 200 wine and grape producers in the second oldest town in South Africa. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Meerlust
Dine4Six dinner at best Cape Town restaurant Pierino Penato: how six strangers became six friends!
Last Friday I shared a 7-course dinner at Pierino Penati, at Villa 47, sister restaurant to the one-star Michelin restaurant with the same name operating outside Milan in Italy, as a guest of Dine4Six. I have eaten at Pierino Penati, the best restaurant in Cape Town, previously, and have found it to be the best restaurant in the city. Continue reading →
Platter’s South African Wine Guide 2017 awards record number of 5 star wines!
A number of records were broken last night when 94 wines and one brandy were awarded 5 star status at the launch of the Platter’s by Diners Club South African Wine Guide 2017 at the Table Bay Hotel, a new venue, the event having been held at the Mount Nelson for years. The colour of the 2017 Platter’s Guide is Harvest Green. Continue reading →
John Platter launches ‘My Kind of Wine’!
John Platter’s name is synonymous with the wine industry, having created the Platter’s Wine Guide 36 years ago with wife Erica. His surname is still linked to the Guide by name, even though he has sold the Guide. Launching a new book, it was obvious that it would have something to do with wine. ‘My Kind of Wine‘ is such a book, Continue reading →
Restaurant Review: Vicky Cristina’s adds passion to Camps Bay!
Vicky Cristina’s is the name of a movie made by Woody Allen. Now a Spanish style restaurant with the name of the movie has opened in Camps Bay. Vicky Cristina’s tapas bar y restaurante españo is inexpensive, has an upmarket interior, and good service.
Vicky Cristina’s took over the space from Sofia’s on the upper level of the Camps Bay Promenade, above Pick ‘n Pay, a few months ago. It has sister restaurants in Johannesburg and Durban. The owner of the Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headline : 29 July
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The Tourism Business Council of South Africa has emailed accommodation establishments that amendments made. to the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 last year requires of hotels, motels, boarding houses, lodges, guest houses, and apartment buildings to keep a register of their guests, take a copy of their ID or passport (none of them do), and take the residential address details. Failure to do so may result in a fine and/or imprisonment of up to 12 months! Interesting is that B&Bs are not included in the list, and that Airbnb is excluded, being accommodation in private homes and apartments in the main!
* Cape Wine 2015 will include a number of seminars on topics as Continue reading →
The Hinds Head in Bray: historic British dishes with a twist of Chef Heston Blumenthal!
Yesterday I was spoilt by my friend Katie Friedman, who took me to lunch at The Hinds Head in Bray, one of three restaurants owned by Chef Heston Blumenthal in this tiny Berkshire gourmet village.
Bray first attracted attention when the Roux brothers Michel and Albert opened The Waterside Inn in the village in 1972, and have held a three star Michelin rating for the past 25 years. Chef Heston, whose father grew up in South Africa, was attracted to the village too, Continue reading →
Finding fabulous food in Munich!
Staying in Munich for four days, I did day-time outings to what are regarded food temples of the city, including Dallmayr, Kaiser, and the Viktualienmarkt. Most impressed, others were disappointing.I certainly fell in love with tomatoes on my trip, 
and the rich red shiny stemmed tomatoes attracted not only my attention, but also that of my Facebook followers. I do not recall having seen such fresh looking and smelling tomatoes anywhere in our country. What was an even bigger surprise was the very reasonable Continue reading →
Haarlem & Hope: The new Company’s Garden Restaurant in Cape Town!
On Friday afternoon Haarlem & Hope was officially opened in the Company’s Garden, now operated by the Madame Zingara Group, having won the tender from the City of Cape Town. The restaurant opens to the public tomorrow.
Owner Richard Griffin is an excellent showmaster, which we have seen in his quirky restaurants such as the Bombay Bicycle Club, and his Madame Zingara shows are a must-see in acrobatics, entertainment, 
and food served with precision for hundreds (perhaps Eat Out can contract him to handle the catering for the Eat Out Restaurant Awards in 2015)!
The name comes from the Dutch ship Nieuwe Haarlem, which was shipwrecked at the Cape in 1647. Crew members stayed at the Cape for a year before being picked up by another passing Dutch ship, and in that time the crew planted vegetables, which they bartered for fresh meat from the Khoi living here already. Jan van Riebeek arrived five years later, expanding the vegetable gardening to create the Company’s Garden.
The first thing one notices on arrival is the weaver bird nest-like hanging baskets at the right of the entrance, made Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 24 April
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Tim James has used an aggregation poll of 29 wine retailers as well as writers, some international, to compile a Top 5 and Top 20 South African winery list. The Top 5 ranked list is Sadie Family Wines, Mullineux Family Wines, Kanonkop, Boekenhoutskloof, and Chamonix. The ranking from 6th to 20th is as follows: Paul Cluver, Newton Johnson, Cape Point Vineyards, Hamilton Russell, Vergelegen, Tokara, Thelema, Jordan, Cederberg, Delaire Graff, AA Badenhorst, Klein Constantia, Meerlust, Reyneke, and De Trafford.
* A consumer promotion has been launched in the UK by Kumala wines, the largest selling SA wine in that country, to tie in with the launch of the ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom‘ DVD, with prizes of a visit to South Africa offered, DVDs, and wine.
* Eat Out is inviting nominations for its Eat Out Top 500 restaurants to be included in the 2015 edition. The nominated restaurants will be evaluated by a panel, to choose the top 500 restaurants. The closing date for nominations (on www.eatout.co.za) is 13 May. (received via media release from Irvine Bartlett)
* The inaugural Mandela International Film Festival will be held from 3 – 12 December 2015 in Port Elizabeth. Given Continue reading →