Tag Archives: Marijke Duminy

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 24 November

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Washington Post has visited, and was so impressed with the Van Ryn’s Distillery outside Stellenbosch, and the taste of brandy, that the writer recommends that tourists should go for our brandy instead of our wines!  The writer visited Jorgensen’s Distillery Upland Organic Estate, both in Wellington, as well as Tokara.

*   The 2014 BestCities Client Workshop will be held in Cape Town from 8 – 10 December, hosted by the Cape Town & Western Cape Convention Bureau.  Delegates representing 22 international associations across a diversity of disciplines such as pharmaceutical, medical, science, academia, and technology will meet.  Cape Town and its conference facilities will also be showcased to the delegates.

*   The City of Cape Town is awaiting input from the public to its draft Coastal Management Programme, with a deadline Continue reading →

Fun foodie day in Cape Town with MasterChef Finalist Seline van der Wat!

Seline van der Wat 4 and 20 Cafe Whale Cottage PortfolioIt was on Twitter that I saw Seline van der Wat, MasterChef SA Season 2 Finalist, request suggestions for food destinations in Cape Town.  I had so enjoyed her spunk on MasterChef SA that I invited her to join me in sharing my Foodie Cape Town yesterday.

We met at Melissa’s on Kloof Street, where I had my favourite iced coffee for the day, and Seline gave me some feedback about where she had been in Cape Town relative to my list of favourite food destinations.   The Neighbourgoods Market at the Biscuit Mill and Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants were the only two food stops she had been to already.

We talked about MasterChef SA Season 2, and she wore the wooden rabbit brooch which she had worn throughout the show.  She wears it every day, and her sister and fellow MasterChef SA Finalist Leandri was given an identical one as a gift.  One senses that they are very close, Seline being slightly older, and having an older sister who recently made them aunts, as well as a younger sister who is still at school.  She lives in Pretoria, and has resigned her job as an engineer working on renewable energy via Hydropower.  From a rigid day job she would escape to the kitchen to express her creativity via cooking, she and Leandri sharing an apartment. Seline could not stop raving about Chef Chris Erasmus at Pierneef à La Motte, loving his passion for food, and his sense of community.  She plays the piano, guitar, and cello.  They grew up in Mafikeng, and lost their mother about ten years ago, necessitating them to cook for the family of four daughters and their dad.  Having such famous daughters has made their dad a celebrity in their home town, and he has met many more of the locals since his daughters were on TV.  He himself now hosts Moroccan dinner parties, while the youngest sister is starting to learn to cook and bake as well.  Seline said that she and Leandri did not watch soaps on TV Continue reading →

Four & Twenty Café Sweet Service and Woolworths Sour Service Awards!

Four & Twenty CafeThe Sweet Service Award goes to Four & Twenty Café, and its co-owner Marijke Duminy, for preparing a special portion of  their home-made mayonnaise for me on Heritage Day.   I am a huge fan of their home-made mustard and mayonnaise, but there was no mayonnaise in their product fridge, having always been available when I have stopped there in the past. Marijke made up a portion of the mayonnaise, despite it not being on her do list. Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Four & Twenty Café & Pantry cute character Cape Town Café!

Four and Twenty Interior Whale Cottage PortfolioWe had heard good things about the Four & Twenty Café & Pantry, which opened in Wynberg’s trendy Wolfe Street two months ago, and popped in for a cappuccino and pastries three weeks ago.  From outside, the Café & Pantry looks impressive, a large space which has the Café in the front section, and the Pantry as well as coffee shop seating in the back section.  It is a cute Café and Pantry with character and energy.

The origin of the Café & Pantry is an interesting story. Tracy-Leigh Genricks studied at Silwood School of Cookery, and stayed on as a lecturer when she had completed her course.  One of her students was Marijke Duminy (right), who had previously studied law at UCT.  They became firm friends, which they could not reveal whilst in the student/lecturer relationship, but decided to open a restaurant, Marijke having done her internship at La Colombe as part of her studies.  To prepare for this, the two 24 years old Cordon Bleu trained chefs went on a one month ‘eating fest’ in France. When getting to the Eiffel Tower, with a handful of macaroons, they knew that the restaurant had to have a French theme, as they loved the French obsession with food.  They do not only serve French style food, serving Asian and Spanish foods too.  Returning to Cape Town they had to wait for the right spot to make their dream come true.  The name for the Café & Deli came from their age at the time of making the decision to open the restaurant, from 24 hours in a day, and from a line in their favourite childhood rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’: ‘Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie‘. Continue reading →