Tag Archives: Hermanuspietersfontein

Restaurant Review: Biga Cafe, Bakery and Deli in Hermanus has ‘organic breads’, very rude owners!

Biga Exterior Whale CottageWithin 2 minutes of walking into Biga Café, Bakery, and Deli the rudeness of co-owner Hanli Carstenson came to the fore, and this continued from her, magnified by a rude departure ‘greeting‘ from fellow co-owner Glen Herringshaw, when I popped in there yesterday, after visiting the Hermanuspietersfontein market further down the street!

Biga (meaning sourdough starter in Italian, Hanli said) has been open since December, and has taken over the space of former Season, one of the few restaurants in Hermanus which I enjoyed eating at (mainly for its calf’s liver and mash).  It has also taken over some of the space of Hornbill House, an art gallery, Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 3 November

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Bad news for the Cruise Tourism industry in Cape Town is that the planned announcement this month of the winning tender for the new cruise liner terminal has been cancelled, with a new tender being called due to none of the tenders meeting the basic requirements of the Request of Proposal.  Western Cape Tourism Minister Alan Winde said: ‘I was not happy with how long the process was taking anyway, and then when they phoned me and said they’ve decided to pull the plug on the tender process and readvertise, I was a bit grumpy‘.  New tenders are expected within the next six months.

*   Eskom appears to have made a plan to get more coal to the Majuba power station, where its silo cracked over the weekend, thereby allegedly preventing further power outages.

*   Crown Princess Mary from Denmark is visiting Cape Town, to open a Danish design exhibition as part of World Continue reading →

2014 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 announced at Nitida, Neil Pendock gets some of his own medicine!

FNB Sauvignon B All Top winners Whale CottageI have not been to Nitida wine estate in Durbanville in a long time, nor to its Cassia restaurant.  As the FNB Top 10 Sauvignon Blanc awards were held at the wine estate, it was a good opportunity to revisit, and to experience the new function venue, which comfortably seated 120 guests for lunch yesterday.

Invited guests included two representatives each of the FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 20 shortlist, writers, and FNB staff as well as their clients.  Prior to the lunch, each of the 20 Sauvignon Blanc producers manned a tasting table, and provided information, making it a good opportunity to rub shoulders with other guests.   Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 20 October

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   World Design Capital 2016 will be hosted by Taipei, and the city received the baton for the bi-annual event from incumbent Cape Town last weekend from the President of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, with Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille present. Taipei’s theme will be ‘Adaptive City: Design in Motion’.  

*  Crown Princess Mary of Denmark will open the ‘Danish Showroom for Design, Architecture and Consumer Goods‘ at Youngblood in Cape Town on 3 November.  Danish design products of ten companies will be on display, and the exhibition aims to improve collaboration between our country and Denmark.  Entrance is free, from 4 – 6 November.

*   A Ghandi tourism route has been developed, and was launched in Johannesburg by SA Tourism, with thirteen places on Continue reading →