Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The Elite 100 fine-dining restaurants in the world have been announced for 2014, with three Cape restaurants on the list: The Test Kitchen at 45th place, The Tasting Room at 82nd, and Rust en Vrede (which the Cape Argus placed in Durbanville rather than in Stellenbosch!) at 85th place. The world’s top 10 restaurants, according to Elite, are Alinea in Chicago, Daniel Restaurant in New York, The Fat Duck in Bray in the UK, Eleven Madison Park in New York, Le Bernardin in New York, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona in Spain, Azurmendi in Vizcaya, La Pergola in Rome, The Ledbury in London, and Osteria Francescana in Modena in Italy. The Cape Argus incorrectly created one restaurant name out of the 7th and 8th ranked restaurants! A surprise is the omission of five hundred at The Saxon, which kitchen is headed by South Africa’s Top Chef David Higgs.
* After 45 years in the local and international hospitality industry, which includes the One&Only hotel group, Sol Kerzner is retiring, after selling a substantial stake of his Kerzner International Holdings to a Dubai-based company.
* New York Travel focuses on Spring Travel in South Africa, specifically in Cape Town and surrounding areas. In Cape Town the article mentions I Love my Laundry, the The Crypt Jazz Restaurant and The Marly in Camps Bay. It also refers to Cape Town’s role as host of World Design Capital 2014. Outside Cape Town its focus is on Paternoster.
* Villiera is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its Tradition Brut MCC with a label design upgrade. Originallymade from red grapes only, the new label reflects that both red and white grapes are now used. (received via media release from Grapevine Publicity)
* The City of Cape Town is adding more buses on certain MyCiTI Bus routes, including the Oranjezicht, Gardens and Civic Centre routes, allowing buses to service passengers every 15 minutes instead of every 20 minutes during peak hours, reports The New Age. In peak times in the morning and late afternoon, an additional bus each has been allocated to the Camps Bay, Civic Centre, and V&A Waterfront routes. Three of the eleven buses servicing the Queens Beach – Civic Centre route have been withdrawn, due to low demand. The number of buses between the Civic Centre and Du Noon and Tableview has been increased from 24 to 38 during peak times, clearly the most popular route of all!
* The application for the extension of the licence by Skyline to operate domestic flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg has been denied by the Department of Transport.
* The Franschhoek Bridal Showcase has been postponed to April 2015. (received via media release from Smart Communications and Events)
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage