Tag Archives: Cape Tow

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 22 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Only two South African hotels have made the Conde Nast Traveler list of 60 Hot Hotels, on the basis of ‘Good Food’.  This is a surprise award for the Mont Rochelle Hotel & Vineyard (now owned by Sir Richard Branson, but not much is new or ‘hot’ in this restaurant, having the same chef and waitron staff since he took over!).  The Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff has also made the list in this category, with a chef unknown to most.

*   Travel agents and tour operators are no longer marketing South Africa as a destination due to the new Continue reading →

Tokara goes ‘Beyond the chocolate handkerchief’ with MasterChef SA Season 2 Finalists Seline and Leandri van der Wat!

Tokara Leandri, Chef Richard Carstens, Seline Whale CottageLast night I attended a collaboration dinner between Tokara Chef Richard Carstens and Leandri and Seline van der Wat, the two sisters who made it to number two and three, respectively, in Season 2 of MasterChef SA last year. The dinner was entitled ‘Beyond the Chocolate Handkerchief’, and was a huge success, being sold out, and will be repeated tonight.

I had the pleasure of spending a day with bubbly Seline van der Wat earlier this year, showing her all the foodie hotspots in Cape Town.  More recently she and younger sister Leandri visited Cape Town, and we had lunch together at Chef’s Warehouse.  A subsequent Facebook post announced the dinner, and I booked immediately, not having seen the two sisters in cooking action except for the MasterChef Season 2 episodes, in which they both won the hearts of viewers who enjoyed the Continue reading →