Isabella Niehaus of Langtafel op die Duin in Langebaan is one of our 2022 Top 10 Women Chefs, and has received this accolade for the third year in a row.
Congratulations Bella.
The Top 10 Women Chefs in Cape Town and the Winelands were announced on Women’s Day. Each winner receives a 1 litre tube of Rio Large Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Last week I met with Marlene Truter, owner of the new wine brand less, with Chardonnay 2021 and Pinotage 2020 cultivars. Its focus is more on sustainability, being sustainably grown, containing less alcohol, and uses the lightest glass bottles available.
The sustainability also pertains to the employee ethics, and so Marlene had a difficult task to find a wine producer who met her sustainability criteria, and would make the wine available in a smaller quantity, as she is starting off from scratch. Viljoensdrift in Robertson was chosen as a partnership that created an excellent fit, given her less brand values. Continue reading →
The Sweet Service Award goes to The Green Goddess and its owner Rosy Krämer-Schrott, producers and distributors of quality herbs and vegetables, for delivering the most sumptuous box of organic vegetables, herbs, and eggs. The box included Happy Eggs, spinach, kale, carrots, baby beetroot, a pumpkin, a butternut, cucumber, green/black peppers, black potatoes, tomatoes, baby marrow, cherry tomatoes, chives, rocket, parsley, and thyme, a gift delivered to me to try. Continue reading →
For most South African businesspersons the Corona Virus Lockdown has been a disaster. For Iconic Brands’ Mark McCarthy it was a catastrophe, being a sales representative for a number of leading alcoholic beverage brands. Yet it brought out the best in him and his partner Tanja, in that an overseas gift of salt created a spark of an idea to launch something similar, leading to the creation of a range of five Bespoke Kalahari desert salts, which are 100% natural, organic, handcrafted, preservative-free, additive-free, colourant-free, flow agent-free, and micro plastic particle-free. Continue reading →
Saturday 23 May 2020, Day 23 of Level 4, after 35 days of Level 5 😷
Corona Gratitude 🙏
#Grateful for a day that didn’t go as planned at all, but was filled with highlights; for our Building Manager Henry coming for the day, doing a fantastic job of cleaning up and doing gardening, so lovely to see him again after 8 weeks of him being at home 🙏; for a very short and sweet Exercise Time, my shortest since 1 May; for going shopping at the Oranjezicht City Farm Organic Market with Shubha Shukla; for meeting Farmer Ian at the Oranjezicht Farm and learning so much from him about the underwater springs and their ’architectural’ style of gardening there; of reaching the milestone of 4000 members in the Facebook Restaurant Food Delivery Group; for returning to my beautiful clean apartment block, after Henry’s hard work; for taking Henry back to Wynberg, giving me an opportunity to have a look at Four&Twenty Café, now purely a Deli during Lockdown; for Miss Minsky 🐱 being delivered to me just as I got home, both of us excited yet very nervous 😱; for dancing far less than usual, having to give love to both Minsky 🐱 and KitKat 🐱; for going to bed early after a busy day; and for being happy and healthy. 🙏💙 Continue reading →
Through a stroke of luck I was invited to visit Santiago in Chile for four days, and in this time I was able to drink some Chilean wines. I also visited Casablanca, a wine region outside Santiago, with my friends Guy and Pia, who live near Casablanca. Continue reading →
Whilst visiting Buenos Aires, I was very fortunate to be able to reserve a table each at Tegui (86th Best) and at Don Julio Parrilla (34th Best) on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant List. The two Argentinian restaurants swopped rankings this year, Don Julio having previously played second fiddle to Tegui, and the steak specialist restaurant jumped an incredible twenty one places to make it into the World’s 50 Best List, whilst Tegui dropped 31 places. My Tegui Review is on my Blog, and explains why the restaurant lost its standing this year. Continue reading →
Last Saturday I had to be in the ‘Deep South’ of Cape Town, attending a media breakfast at the new Tintswalo at Boulders in Simonstown, so decided to have lunch at Stargarden Boutique Café in Fish Hoek whilst I was in that part of our city. The ‘Boutique Café’ descriptor in the name gives it away, a creative Eatery serving creative dishes. Continue reading →
Despite a hugely challenging year for the wine industry due to the drought, CapeWine 2018 is an impressive showcase of optimism, friendliness, and proudly South Africaness, running at the Cape Town International Convention Centre until tomorrow. I attended yesterday, with my Parisian friend Aurelié Jullien, and we were both impressed with the magnitude and professionalism of the exhibition, held every three years, and attended by the local and international wine trade. Continue reading →
I have been an avid supporter of OpenWine, ever since Seth Shezi and I went to pop in to see the wine tasting service and wine shop, which opened on Wale Street in August last year. I enjoyed their weekly wine estate introductions and tastings, which were held for a couple of months. On Tuesday Llewellyn Lambert and I attended a new format wine educational and tasting at OpenWine. Continue reading →