Tag Archives: Coca Cola

Riedel gourmet glassware makes wines taste better, enhances restaurant experience!

Riedel display Whale CottageI sat next to The Reciprocal Wine Trading Company Cape Town representative Tarryn Thomas at the ‘Chefs who Share‘ Gala Dinner last week, and she invited me to attend the special tasting of wines in the Riedel glassware which they represent in South Africa.  The tasting on Tuesday at The Local Grill function venue was made more special in that it was led by 10th generation Georg Riedel, currently heading up the Austrian-based company. Herr Riedel encouraged the restaurant managers and sommeliers present to invest in glassware and a glass washing machine to bring out the best in the wines they serve.

We were welcomed by Michael Fridjhon, owner of Reciprocal, and he introduced Herr Riedel.  It was the first time that I met Michael, and sat next to him during Riedel Michael Fridjhon Georg Riedel Whale Cottagethe tasting.   I had brought my glass of water into the venue, and was quickly told to put it away, and we were all told that we should not open the bottle of water on the tasting sheet nor taste anything before we were given the go-ahead by Herr Riedel to do so.

Herr Riedel led us to question what makes a restaurant visit successful, the welcome, the food, and the wine selection combined making the cost seem good value or not. Eating at a restaurant is a ‘multi-layered symphony’, he said, to describe the functional and emotional experience of eating out.  He feels that wine Continue reading →

Entrepreneurs are born, not made! A business perspective on the Franschhoek Literary Festival!

Franschhoek Literary Festival Michael Jordaan Whale Cottage PortfolioWe have written about the odd titles given to the Franschhoek Literary Festival 2014 workshop sessions.  One of these was the discussion about entrepreneurism, entitled ‘Business Bundu Bashers’.  The alliteration in no way reflected what the topic of discussion was about!

Michael Jordaan, former FNB CEO, newly elected Chairman of WOSA (Wines of South Africa), and Chairman of Mxit (left), was the chairman of the panel of four writers, which had one hour exactly (well less to be exact, due to the slow microphone wiring) to discuss whether in essence entrepreneurs are made or born.  Panelists were Peter Vundla (author of ‘Doing Time’), Angela Makholwa (a crime author and writing agency owner, who seemed out of place on the panel, despite her charm), Herman Mashaba (writer of ‘Black Like You‘, a play on words of his very successful African beauty product company Black Like Me), and Bertie du Plessis (writer of ‘Your Small Business Nightmare’).

Peter Vundla worked at Ogilvy & Mather for ten years many moons ago, and shared that he used to watch his white colleagues, thinking that he could run an ad agency better than they could.  He called this process of learning by observation ‘Doing Time’, the title of his book.  He went on his own, setting up HerdBuoys, our country’s first Black-owned ad agency, and they saw tough times initially, having their homes and cars repossessed, in not having any start-up capital. But nothing could break their determination to succeed. Books have been ‘the companions of my life‘, he said.  peter-vundla-doing-timeVundla said his autobiography includes (former President) Thabo Mbeki, his father, the current government, and HerdBuoys.   He proudly shared that he brought the Zara retail outlets to our country, being the local partner of the  international clothing store.  He said that he is not afraid to say what must be said, even in his book, and he attacked the Franschhoek Literary Festival for most of the attendees of the discussion session being ‘White’.  He called for a Soweto Book Fair!  Vundla said it’s lonely to write a book on your own. For him it is not about the money he can make from a book, but about how many persons read it.  The agency did well, taking on Coca Cola, General Motors, and Sprite as some of its top client brands.   Makholwa said that the sale of the Continue reading →

City of Cape Town spends millions of Rands on dreadful new logo!

City of Cape Town logo newThe City of Cape Town has commissioned a new logo, which has been shot down in flames by locals on Social Media.  The backlash was so severe that Mayor Patricia de Lille had to announce on radio that she will make a statement about it on Monday.

Radio station Kfm showed the old and new logos on its Facebook page, and the vote unanimously was for the existing logo, which depicts Table Mountain as the icon for the city.  The new logo has a vaguely recognisable Table Mountain too, but the meaning of the various colours in it is unclear, looking like a police badge, or a cog, reminding me of the uncomfortable table tops at Truth on Buitenkant Street.  A large part of the criticism is the money that the design would cost, and to what better use it could have been put!

The City of Cape Town also announced via a Kfm news broadcast that the logo that had gone viral was not the final choice, and had merely been presented for comment!

The City of Cape Town’s Tourism, Events and Marketing Directorate will have been responsible Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Tashas in V&A Waterfront friendly staff, shocking unhealthy food!

Tasha's Fruit and lights Whale Cottage PortfolioMy friend Whitney and I decided to give the new Tashas in the V&A Waterfront a try, after we had both heard good things about the restaurant, which opened in the previous Mugg & Bean space a month ago. It was a poor experience, leaving a bad taste in our mouths, both Whitney and I getting ill from the food.

The owner and chef Raynne Roll told us that each of the eleven Tashas created around the country over the past eight years is themed decor wise, and has signature dishes and specialist wines to tie in with the theme. The theme of the WaterfrontTasha's Rayne Roll Whale Cottage Portfolio branch is Spanish, and hence the additional Tapas menu and Spanish style cakes, which are unique to the branch. Bowls and paella pans have been bought in from Spain for the new restaurant.  Tashas Constantia is French Country inspired, Pretoria is South African, Melrose Arch is ‘Sushi, Oysters and Champagne’, Rosebank in Johannesburg is New York, and the Nicolway branch is Portuguese.

I arrived before Whitney did, and walked in from the mall entrance, where the branding is so small that it is easy to miss.  The iron gates do not look relevant to a

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