After just more than two years of opening in Camps Bay alongside Pick n Pay, with a plan to open a number of Maison J outlets inside or alongside the retailer, the owners have closed down the coffee, croissant, and bagel outlet, and reopened on 1 November a completely plant-based food and beverage outlet called okja, in the same space, still selling its coffee and bagels. The French-themed music and turquoise branding and packaging has been replaced with dark blue packaging, and what sounds like Rock music. Luckily the lovely staff remains the same. Continue reading →
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected every person and business, and restaurants and their owners have not been excluded from its impact. One of our country’s top restaurants, The Test Kitchen in Woodstock, as well as The Foodbarn in Noordhoek, have transformed themselves in their offering, even going so far as to change their restaurant names. These are two restaurants which have reacted to the effects of the Corona Lockdown of the past six months. 
I heard about International Coastal Clean Up Day on Saturday 19 September, and spontaneously decided to organise a Beach Clean Up in Camps Bay, the Cape Town suburb in which I live and in which I have been picking up litter for the past eighteen months, under the CAMPS BAY CLEAN name. While the turnout was lower than I had hoped for, the twenty volunteer locals managed to fill 25 bags with litter, between Glen Beach and the Tidal Pool in Camps Bay. 
Friday 18 September 2020, Day 32 of Level 2, Day 176 of Lockdown. 😷