Category Archives: Woodstock

February 2022 Restaurant Update: Can restaurant owners survive any more of the Lockdown? No new restaurants open.

 

The past 22 months have taken their toll on the restaurant industry, with restaurant owners suffering nervous breakdowns, having committed suicide, or suffered anxiety and stress, in worrying about how to pay their bills, with landlords and suppliers no longer being as generous in coming to the party as they did in earlier Levels of Lockdown.

It is no surprise therefore that no new restaurants have opened in the past month, international tourist numbers being surprisingly low, especially from the UK and Germany, the local market largely carrying the restaurant industry over the Festive Season.

Continue reading →

Corona Virus: Lockdown Journey Journal, Day 25 of Level 1, 25 October 2021

 

Monday 25 October 2021, Day 25 of Level 1 😷

Corona Gratitude 🙏

#grateful for a special start to the week; for catching up on work; for a walk to Bakoven; for a pop in at Honest Café, with a new restaurant upstairs; for receiving a Mayor’s Civic Award for service to the community of Camps Bay, not just for picking up litter but also for keeping Ward Councillor Nicola Jowell informed of maintenance and security issues in Camps Bay, I being one of three recipients in Camps Bay, with Theresa Massaglia and Alan Marsh, and only three recipients in Ward 54, which includes Sea Point and Camps Bay, a huge honour; for the great company of recipients we were in; Continue reading →

The Test Kitchen to close down end September, Third Top 10 Restaurant to close down in 18 months!

 

What a shock announcement it was today: The Test Kitchen, South Africa’s best known restaurant internationally, having climbed up (and down) the World’s 50 Best Restaurants ladder over the past 11 years, and having worn the Best South African Restaurant crown for six years running, until 2017, is to close down at the end of September. This was announced in Cape Town today.

Top Ten restaurants which have also closed down since the beginning of Lockdown are Mosaic at The Orient and Waterkloof.  Ironically both Mosaic and The Test Kitchen announced in 2019 that they would no longer accept nominations for The Eat Out Awards, the 2019 awards being the last to have taken place, due to the Covid pandemic and impact thereof on the restaurant industry since the Lockdown commenced on 27 March 2020.

Continue reading →

Creating a gem of a new handcrafted pink Gem Gin at Distillers & Union!

 

 

I was invited by Martyn Mills to participate in a tasting of the brand new handcrafted pink Gem Gin, designed to appeal to women in particular, being feminine and elegant in its brand personality. The Tasting was hosted at Distillers & Union in Woodstock. It was a form of market research in which I have not previously participated. Continue reading →