My friend Tony Ward and I went to try the month-old Giulio’s Italian restaurant on Loop Street yesterday, and we were charmed by the down-to-earth friendliness from mother and son owners Giulio and Franca Loreggian.
I noticed the use of the olive branch and wreaths to bring Italy into the restaurant, given the Loreggian’s Italian descent. We were lucky Continue reading →
Over the years Kamers (vol Geskenke in the past) has established itself as a national pop-up treasure trove of handcrafted creativity, celebrating its 13th Kamers in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Organised in Cape Town in partnership with the Cape Craft & Design Initiative (CCDI), Kamers opens in the City Hall on Thursday, and runs until Sunday. Last year the four Kamers shows jointly attracted 58000 visitors, and showcased about 250 invited exhibitors. The organisers continuously look for new design talent, and display this in a pop-up venue, often changing. Last year I was impressed with the use of The Castle as the pop-up venue. It is only the second year that Kamers is on show in Cape Town.
Some of the more than 100 Cape Town exhibitors include M Patisserie from Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The latest quarterly survey by the Bureau of Economic Research shows a sharp drop in confidence in the Accommodation sector, with an index of 36 in the first Quarter of this year, to a projected index of 22 in this quarter, and down to zero in Quarter 3. Rates are seen to be reduced in Quarter 3, and Business Confidence has dropped from 76% in Quarter 1 to 56% in this quarter! (received via e-mail from the Bureau of Economic Research)
* Huffington Post praises Cape Town, and lists ‘Top 10 Things to do in Cape Town, South Africa‘, but in reality it lists far more than ten things: visiting Cape Point; the penguins at Boulders Beach; the Winelands, including Le Petite Ferme, Môreson, Haute Cabrière, Delaire Graff, La Residence, The Franschhoek Wine Tram, Tokara, Kanonkop, and Groot Constantia; Umi restaurant and the Marly hotel in Camps Bay; Robben Island; Table Mountain; a township tour; eat at The Test Kitchen, Pot Luck Club, ‘Bistro’ (sic) Bizerca ‘Signal‘ (sic), Charly’s Bakery, and The Tasting Room; the V&A Market on the Wharf; shopping at Merchants on Long and Chandler House; and High Tea at Belmond Mount Nelson.
* New Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has accused the DA-run City of Cape Town of buying the vote by spending millions of Rands for the title for Cape Town as World Design Capital 2014, Continue reading →
On Thursday I was invited to the opening of the Kamers food and design pop-up event, which is being held inside and outside the extensive The Castle, an apt venue as The Castle of Good Hope was home to the market in Cape Town in early days.
Kamers started off in Stellenbosch twelve years ago when a collection of friends organised it as Kamers vol Geskenke, and its timing was close to Christmas, allowing one to buy unusual, unique, and stylish presents to give as gifts. At that time they started with 40 stands, now they have 140, chosen out of a list of 600 applicants, we were told by the founder of the event, Wanda du Toit. Her official title is Creative Director. Other members of the organising team include Magdel Kemp, Amelia van Zyl, and Hesta du Plessis. Kamers has never been held in Cape Town, so hosting it in the city as well as in The Castle is a double historic event. Now Kamers is spread over four events throughout the year, in Stellenbosch, Pretoria, and for the first time in Johannesburg and Cape Town this year. It is organised by a team of twelve, and no one ever leaves, said Wanda. Unique to the Cape Town event is the collaboration with the Cape Craft & Design Initiative (CCDI), a collective of 5000 small design and craft enterprises, which are offered business and marketing support to assist them in growing their businesses, to help them grow, and to enable them to employ staff, said Erica Elk, its Executive Director. World Design Capital 2014 has endorsed Kamers.
On arrival at The Castle, we were guided to park furthest from The Castle building, and fill up the space in this way, not making sense at all, the latecomers being lucky enough to park closest to The Castle building! It was difficult to find the venue for the media launch, a number of us entering the building housing the William Fehr Collection. An Iziko Museums staff member was unfriendly in pointing us generally down a passage with her walkie-talkie, without explanation. 
She had no clue about Kamers taking place on the property, or where the media function was, and fortunately a colleague could guide us to a completely different building. In the launch address Wanda hinted at some of the issues they had in using The Castle buildings, being a Military-owned property with rules and regulations, which created some challenges for the organisers, but these were not visible to us, other than the attitude of the Iziko staff and the parking ‘organisation’. I fed back the problem with the Iziko Museums staff to Calvyn Gilfellan, the CEO of The Castle, who told me immediately that the Iziko Continue reading →