Tuesday 5 October 2021, Day 5 of Level 1 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#grateful for a fabulous day, not only the 22 C sunny day, but also relaxed, getting all my work done; for a good night’s sleep, still not able to believe how quiet it is in our building 💙; for buying a stockpile of cat food, given the shortage of Whiskas, having to drive to Pick n Pay down the road, doing a monthly shop which I haven’t done in years, not doing it again in a hurry, with errors on their specials, it taking longer to do the refund than to take my payment 😱; for a walk to Bakoven; for a fabulous 2 hour livestream of the 2021 World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards ceremony this afternoon, it being my dream to attend it live and to rub shoulders with the world’s 50 Best Restaurant Chefs; and for being happy, healthy and free! 🙏💙

My Blogpost today was about Restaurant Week, running until the end of October, and Anatoli’s participation in it.

Restaurant Week puts top SA restaurants on a plate during October, including Anatoli Mediterranean Restaurant!

In my restaurant travels around Europe, the USA, the UK and South America since 2016 I have eaten at a number of World’s 50 Best Restaurants, it being my restaurant bible. The last list was announced in 2019, the year in which I ate at the South American World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The restaurants that are still on the list this year are: Central in Lima (number 4), Don Julio in Buenos Aires (number 13), Arpège in Paris (number 23), Septime in Paris (number 24), The Clove Club in London (number 32), Borago in Santiago (number 38), and Le Bernardin in New York (number 44). I can’t wait to travel overseas again and to eat at more excellent restaurants. Denmark is on my list, with the number 1 and 2 on the 2021 World’s Best List being in Copenhagen.

Noma new 2021 Top World’s 50 Best Restaurant; Wolfgat new SA and Africa restaurant representative !

The Corona Virus Lockdown (Level 5), announced by our President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier to commence on 27 March 2020 and to continue until 16 April, subsequently extended to 30 April, lowered to Level 4 from 1 May, lowered to Level 3 from 1 June, lowered to Level 2 from 18 August, lowered to Level 1 from 21 September, and moved back to Adjusted Level 3 from 29 December,  extended to 15 February on 11 January 2021, extended but relaxed on 1 February, and relaxed back to Level 1 on 1 March 2021, moved back to Adjusted Level 2 on 31 May, moved back to level 3 on 16 June, and moved back to Adjusted Level 4 on 28 June, extended by two weeks on 11 July,  returned to Level 3 on 26 July, returned to Level 2 on 13 September, and returned to Level 1 on 1 October is an unprecedented event in my lifetime. I am posting my daily Facebook post to journal this Corona Lockdown Journey, perhaps to serve as material for a future Book.

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whaletalesblog.com www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuide