Cafe Grill at Twelve Apostles Hotel undergoes complete transformation!

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12-apostles-lions-head On Thursday late afternoon a number of Cape Town food writers was invited to attend the launch of the completely renovated Café Grill, the second restaurant at the Twelve Apostles hotel in Camps Bay, which operates 24 hours a day on seven days a week.

We were welcomed at the pool, with a beautiful view onto the Atlantic Ocean, with a blue cocktail to match the new color scheme of the Café Grill, made with Malibu, Archers peach schnapps, and lemons. The Tollman family has a home in the South of France, and it is the blue colours there that inspired them to add more blue into the Café Grill. I was told that they all have two wine stewards dedicated to the Café Grill, Alfred who is finishing his WSET 3 wine qualification, and Richard who is already qualified. We were offered a glass of Du Toitskloof MCC as a welcome drink too, and Bouchard Finlayson winemaker Chris opened his Blanc de Mer 2015, and Hannibal 2014. Canapés representing new menu items were offered, first at the pool, and then inside Café Grill.

In his talk, GM Michael Nel told us with a laugh that the transformation began with the cutlery, when Red Carnation co-founder Mr Stanley Tollman said that he did not like the cutlery in the restaurant. Not only was the cutlery changed, but everything else as well – new floor tiles, new furniture, new uniforms for staff, new blue cushions on the chairs, a new counter top on which the cakes and sweet treats are displayed, and new shelving for wines from sister company Bouchard Finlayson, and other wine brands on the wine list. Michael said it is ironic that so much money was invested in the Café Grill, when it was intended as a ‘year of austerity’!

The transformation of the hotel did not end there – the downstairs kitchen feeding both Azure, Café Grill, and room service was complete transformed too, all equipment having been replaced other than one special stove. I was told that all the bedrooms had a makeover too. The Spa at the hotel has also been refurbished, we were told. In the public areas carpets and wall fabrics were also refreshed.

The Café Grill menu was completely revised, with Chef Christo Pretorius and co-founder Mrs Bea Tollman going through the menu items to add and to drop, to reflect the guests eating needs over a 24 hour day. They are paying more attention to children staying at the hotel with their parents, for whom a range of gourmet milkshakes (chocolate, bubblegum, and maple and pretzel) have been designed. The menu was designed to offer something for everyone to enjoy. It was emphasised that The Café Grill is no longer a second dining option of the hotel, but rather is an ‘alternative dining option’.

Chef Christo spoke about the new menu, and samplers of roast tomato soup, Mrs Tollman’s fish (made from hake) curry with rice and sambals, mini beef burgers, corn beef sandwich on rye with cabbage slaw and pickled cucumber, prawn cocktail, and Bea’s cheesecake, as well as chocolate cake truffles.

The menu offers breakfast items (R115 – R145), sandwiches (R110 – R155), hamburgers (R120 – R130), salads (R95 – R165), light meals such as soups and pasta dishes (R95 – R185), seafood (R145 – R245), grills (R215 – R235), and desserts (R85 – R 115).

On the counter were sweet treats of a vanilla cake with cream cheese icing, a chocolate butter cream cake with white chocolate chards, and chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese icing. On the counter too are mini Smarties and marshmallows, which one can request, and are offered at no charge. We were told that a new pastry chef Gina Marziani will join the hotel from Indochine on Monday.