Tag Archives: Karoo

Grande Provence adds tasty Tapas Treats to its Tasting Room!

August 24, 2014

Grande Provence Tasting Room Whale Cottage

I was invited to try the new Tapas Menu at Grande Provence yesterday, a day after it was introduced in the attractive industrial steel-decorated Tasting Room on the wine estate in Franschhoek. While The Restaurant at Grande Provence may be perceived to be on the expensive side, the Tapas Menu is excellent value for money, and in a class of its own, compared to very average offerings generally available.

The Tasting Room was buzzing at the counter made of steel, with its funky bar stools for which the seats are made to resemble tractor seats, very comfortable and stable seating. A group of about twenty filled the Tasting Room, having arrived with the Franschhoek Wine Tram, it being their fifth stop of winetasting. They are fetched from the Wine Tram railway line stop and taken to the Tasting Room by trailer linked to a tractor. The driver told me that

Grande Provence Wine Tram guests Whale Cottage

they are very busy due to the Wine Tram on weekends.

I sat at the only table in the far corner of the Tasting Room, and Chef Zayne Grobler (deputy to Executive Chef Darren Badenhorst who was out of town for the weekend) came to greet me, and talked me through the new Tapas menu. There is a big board on the right hand wall as one enters, listing the Tapas items and the prices, and a mobile one, which was brought to the table. As Chef Zayne and I went through the menu, we noticed some spelling errors, Continue reading →

Feast at Cape Leopard Trust charity auction 10th anniversary lunch at Leopard’s Leap!

August 17, 2014

Yesterday The Cape Leopard Trust’s celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Charity Auction lunch at Leopard’s Leap, a perfect synergy between the good work done by the Trust, and the winery’s focus on leopards. We were treated to a fine feast prepared by three chefs, and all left happy that R519000 was raised for The Cape Leopard Trust.

Barbara Lenhard and Florian Gast of Opulent Living are an amazing powerhouse couple in organising events, in addition to publishing their Opulent Living magazine. They managed to attract 180 guests, at R1500 per head, to attend the Charity Lunch on a picture perfect day in Franschhoek. Outside Marco Cianfanelli’s sculpture of a leopard welcomed arriving guests. We were offered a glass of Leopard’s Leap Culinaria Brut MCC on arrival, and were shown to our seats, where we were lucky to have great company, including Darryl from The Light House in Paarl, and Dr Tracey and Brett Garner. Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp of the Expresso Show and her husband Ian Bredenkamp of Kfm and Cape Talk were the MCs, keeping a steady pace for the proceedings throughout the afternoon, interviewing chefs, the performers, and sponsors, which included Mercedes-Benz, FNB, and cennergi.

The outgoing CEO of the Cape Leopard Trust, and its founder, Dr Quinton Martins, became very emotional when he spoke, close to tears in seeing so Continue reading →

Justin Bonello passionate and patriotic Cooked in Africa Films food TV producer! Ultimate Braai Master Season 3 on the grill!

March 30, 2014

Yesterday I was invited to attend the judging of the Cape Finals of Season 3 of Ultimate Braai Master held in the parking area of The Lookout at the V&A Waterfront. Not only was it a good way to catch up with a number of chefs who judged the Cape Finals, but it was also an opportunity to meet Cooked in Africa Films producer Justin Bonello.

Justin chatted to blogger Thuli Gogela of Mzansi Style Cuisine Blog (she appeared in the Bloggers episode of season 2 of MasterChef SA) and I as the judging came to an end at the Finals. One sensed his overriding passion for food, which has grown into TV production, with 21 productions to date, including two previous Ultimate Braai Master seasons, two seasons of Charly’s Cake Angels, as well as ‘Seasons at Terroir‘, which was launched last week and focuses on Chef Michael Broughton, and his restaurant Terroir at Kleine Zalze. Justin denied that Terroir not making the Top 20 Eat Out restaurant list last November was a blow to their production, saying that Chef Michael’s food is beyond Top 10 competitions, clearly a fan of the chef’s food. He is fascinated by the revolution of growing one’s own vegetables and herbs, and proudly showed me a photograph of his vegetable garden at home, out Hout Bay way, which will become the subject of a TV series ‘Green Time’ at the end of 2015, with seven pilot projects of vegetable gardening at schools being developed. Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 21 – 23 March

March 23, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* American wine economist Mike Veseth writes that South Africa has a large production of wine, and should therefore be better known in the USA, given that our country’s wine production is 10% less than that of Chile, and 4 times larger than that of New Zealand. Part of the reason is that Americans do not know about our country and where it is, and therefore he describes our wines as ‘the invisible wine’! Lack of awareness of our country plus the re-emergence of our country’s wines at the same that the New World countries launched their wines internationally made it more difficult for South African wines to be noticed in the USA. Initially, our wine exporters suffered logistical problems, in a market ‘which is structurally difficult to penetrate‘ and faces strong competition, which added to the lower visibility in the USA.

* The MyCiTi Bus service has increased passenger numbers by 89% in the past four months, the City of Cape Town claims. More than 400000 ‘passenger journeys‘ in November 2013 increased to over 700000 by February this year, when the Hout Bay, Oranjezicht, Sea Point, Camps Bay, Dunoon, Melkbosstrand, and Century City routes were added. However, the growth in passenger numbers has not been without its problems, with applications to have the service stopped by the Golden Arrow bus company having been dismissed in court; and complaints have been received about overcrowding, timetable inaccuracy in the afternoons especially, and the MyConnect card. The timetable problems may have led to the City firing Lumen Technologies, the company which was contracted to control scheduling. The Atlantis, Khayelitsha, and Mitchell’s Plain routes will open this year in the next four months. The City has spent close to R5 billion on the service to date.

* South Africa has become a backdrop for music videos shot for some very well-known music stars. The most famous Continue reading →