Tag Archives: George

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 June

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The EFF is calling for 40 Cape Town suburbs and Western Cape towns to be renamed, to remove references to our ‘colonial‘ past and to go back to the region’s African and Khoi San origins. Camps Bay, Worcester, Hermanus, Plettenberg Bay, Stellenbosch, and George are included on the suggested renaming list.

*   The City of Cape Town has approved the sale of a piece of land called ‘Clifton Precinct‘, currently housing garages used by bungalow owners, a restaurant, and sport grounds, despite resistance from Clifton residents. The City is calling for a bidder to build a parking garage, a retail outlet, and ‘boutique line shops’! Opposition parties in the City Council are also up in arms about the proposed sale.

*   The arrogance of the Department of Home Affairs knows no bounds in terms of its Immigration Regulations, it Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 10 November

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   FlySafair launches its Cape Town – George route on 13 November, at R399 one way, adding to its routes between the Mother City and Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.  Terms and conditions apply, in that extra charges are levied for extra luggage, special seating, and catering is charged for additionally. 

*   The Le Kap Lifestyle Fair will be held at Blaauwklippen on 6 December, and will be a showcase of fashion, food, wine, horses, and cars.  Five top chefs, including Brad Ball, Gregory Czarnecki, Malika van Reenen, and Roland Gorgosilich, will prepare the food, and French champagne will be served. Veuve Clicquot, Glenmorangie, and Belvedere Vodka, as well as the wines of ten wine estates will be on offer, while ‘gourmet food markets‘ will be set up.  There will be a dressage show, as well as a fashion show.   Bentleys will be on display. R500 entrance, tickets via Computicket. (received via media release from Vivid Luxury)

*   Coffee and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance will be the foundation of a new destination store Donford BMW Motorrad in Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 21 October

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   FlySafair took off for the first time last week, offering permanent low-cost flights between Johannesburg, Cape Town, George, and Port Elizabeth.  Extras are charged, including meals, luggage in addition to two pieces of hand luggage, pre-booked seats, travel insurance, and extra-space seats. Base airfares between Cape Town and Johannesburg cost R 499 per direction.

*   The City of Cape Town has launched a Mobile Transport TCT App.  Developed by ‘Where is my Transport’, it is unique in Africa, and will guide commuters as to which form of transport they can use to get to their destination, incorporating the MyCiTi Bus, Golden Arrow Bus, Jammie Shuttle bus, city sightseeing buses, and Metrorail trains.  In addition information relating to shops close by, and directions in getting there, is also provided.  The app can also guide users of private transport, providing travel times, as well as informing them about traffic hold-ups such as accidents, roadworks, and more.  Locals can use the app to report potholes, faulty traffic lights, and bad driving to the City.

*   Award-winning wine blog Terroirist sings the praises of the ‘Swartland‘ generally, and of the wines Continue reading →

Diners Club salutes top Western Cape winelists, Bushman’s Kloof judged best!

Diners Club Winelist banner Whale CottageThe Diners Club Winelist Awards for the Western Cape were held at Shimmy Beach Club yesterday, saluting the restaurants in the province, and the standard of their winelist content and presentation. Bushman’s Kloof won best Winelist in the Western Cape.  During the course of this week the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal awards will also be presented.

A judging panel, led by wine judge Dave Hughes, and consisting of Winnie Bowman, Nikki Dumas, Fiona McDonald, and Christine Rudman, evaluated 208 winelists nationally, and 100 from the ‘Cape‘, a province which has not existed for years!  Diners Club threw the Western Cape and Eastern Cape into one ‘Cape’ pot in reporting on the results and in handing out the awards yesterday!  A substantial number of Western Cape restaurants did not enter the competition this year, down from 96 entries last year to 80 this year.

Odd was the choice of venue, being the Bar section of Shimmy Beach Club, which did not have Diners Club Pongracz Whale Cottageenough parking for the attendees, some walking for more than 1 km to get to the venue.  We were welcomed with a glass of Pongracz, and the food was very meagre, being macaroni cheese croquettes and sushi!  There was not enough seating for everyone, in a room which had some round tables, a few chairs and couches, but had no presence in making this function special for the award winners, compared to the venue used at the Vineyard Hotel last year.  It also was not a finalist for the Winelist Awards! Very odd was using Anna Trapido as the MC, not generally known to the local restaurant wine stewards and sommeliers, in being the editor of the 2015 ‘Diners Club Rossouws Continue reading →