I ate at KONG Bar & Grill in De Waterkant last Thursday for the first time, at the invitation of its PR Consultant Marina Nestel, and then watched the World Cup Rugby Semi-Final there on Sunday. Not expecting much from the ‘Grill’ part of the name, I was surprised to meet Chef Coenraad Spauner, who heads up the kitchen and who worked at a Michelin Plate restaurant in France last year. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Pongracz
Boudha Lounge serves authentic Cantonese cuisine in town, DJ René plays Tuesdays in October!
On Thursday I was invited to try the newish Boudha Lounge on Buiten Street, in the block between Loop and Long streets, offering Cantonese cuisine. Its marketing is managed by well-known Justin Paul Jansen, and his formula is to offer a restaurant and bar service to guests, as well as a DJ box, with a line-up of different DJs on different evenings. DJ René will play on Tuesday evenings, from 19h00 until late. Continue reading →
New Tiger’s Milk Restaurant & Bar Splendido on Kloof Street splendid success! New Friday venue for DJ René music and dancing!
In less than a week after opening its newest Tiger’s Milk Restaurant & Bar on Kloof Street in Cape Town, the restaurant is operating smoothly, as if it has always been there. It is already busy, attracting custom with little marketing effort to date by the Harbour House Group. A hugely exciting attraction is that DJ René Tanguy will be playing at the newest Tiger’s Milk on Fridays, starting this week. It is the 26th Harbour House Group restaurant to open. Continue reading →
La Parada Constantia Nek toasts new Toast Brunch on first Sundays!
La Parada is my favorite Constantia venue, spending every Sunday afternoon there, enjoying the music of DJ René Tanguy, and dancing. From tomorrow onwards, Toast Brunch will be served at Constantia Nek on the first Sunday of the month, from 10h00 – 14h00, at R 350 per head. Continue reading →
Grand Café & Beach reopens as transformed chic beach restaurant and bar, largest in Cape Town!
After a few weeks of closure for a complete renovation and expansion of its facilities, the Grand Café & Beach has re-opened, ready for the summer season lying ahead. Yesterday a number of writers was invited by Manley Communications to experience the Grand, on a perfect sunny summer beach day. 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 →
Divas Unite celebrates Women’s Day 2015, benefits women’s cancer charity!
Women’s Day is a unique public holiday, celebrated only in South Africa. Yesterday our country’s women were celebrated with an almost all-women cast of musical performers at Divas Unite, held at the City Hall in Cape Town.
The event was organized expertly by Opulent Living’s Barbara Lenhard, overcoming severe obstacles in making the event happen so smoothly. When we arrived, Frey chocolates greeted us with bowls of their chocolate balls, while main sponsor Infiniti offered 
guests packets of jelly beans. My friend Jenny Stephens and I were extremely grateful to have been allocated such fabulous Continue reading →
Diners Club salutes top Western Cape winelists, Bushman’s Kloof judged best!
The Diners Club Winelist Awards for the Western Cape were held at Shimmy Beach Club yesterday, saluting the restaurants in the province, and the standard of their winelist content and presentation. Bushman’s Kloof won best Winelist in the Western Cape. During the course of this week the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal awards will also be presented.
A judging panel, led by wine judge Dave Hughes, and consisting of Winnie Bowman, Nikki Dumas, Fiona McDonald, and Christine Rudman, evaluated 208 winelists nationally, and 100 from the ‘Cape‘, a province which has not existed for years! Diners Club threw the Western Cape and Eastern Cape into one ‘Cape’ pot in reporting on the results and in handing out the awards yesterday! A substantial number of Western Cape restaurants did not enter the competition this year, down from 96 entries last year to 80 this year.
Odd was the choice of venue, being the Bar section of Shimmy Beach Club, which did not have 
enough parking for the attendees, some walking for more than 1 km to get to the venue. We were welcomed with a glass of Pongracz, and the food was very meagre, being macaroni cheese croquettes and sushi! There was not enough seating for everyone, in a room which had some round tables, a few chairs and couches, but had no presence in making this function special for the award winners, compared to the venue used at the Vineyard Hotel last year. It also was not a finalist for the Winelist Awards! Very odd was using Anna Trapido as the MC, not generally known to the local restaurant wine stewards and sommeliers, in being the editor of the 2015 ‘Diners Club Rossouws Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 19 August
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Cape Town’s hosting of World Design Capital 2014 has benefited only a few Capetonians, says mega-moaner ANC City Councillor Tony Ehrenreich, while Grant Haskin, African Christian Democratic Party caucus leader, agrees. Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing Garreth Bloor disputes this, many of the 450 design projects initiated this year having a longer-term legacy. The City of Cape Town is spending R40 million on the project this year.
* Despite there being no cases of Ebola in South Africa, some tour groups from Asia have cancelled their trips to our country, for fear of the West Africa cases spreading to our country.
* Artist Aleta Michaletos from Pretoria will exhibit 32 of her works at De Oude Drostdy, the home of Continue reading →
Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa High Tea goes pink for Women’s Month!
I am a fan of High Teas, and was delighted to receive an invitation from the Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa communications agency FIVESTAR PR to try out their new Pink High Tea, which celebrates Women’s Month in August, and Breast Cancer Awareness month in September.
I invited my friend Whitney to join me, having recently joined me for the Alphen Hotel’s 5Rooms’ new Afternoon Tea, which we experienced as being very disappointing. The first thing that impresses at the Twelve Apostles is the friendliness of the staff, from the time one enters the front door. The High Tea was served in the Leopard Bar, and we were lucky that the sun had come out at the time we were there, giving us a lovely view of Lion’s Head. Phumlela looked after us perfectly, bringing more tea and cappuccino, and topping up our water. The second impressive aspect is the time which management and the staff
make to chat and to obtain feedback. First to greet us was Assistant Food & Beverage Manager Dominic Berenato, who has moved across from The Westin, and who was very friendly and helpful in finding us the perfect table. Next to pop by was Jill Wagner, who is in charge of Sales & Marketing for the Red Carnation hotels in our country, including The Oyster Box and Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve. Then GM Michael Nel came to greet us, clearly enjoying his new role at the hotel.
Phumlela talked us through the Pink High Tea. She told us that it costs R160 per person, and it includes Continue reading →