Tag Archives: mediterranean

Restaurant Review: Sirocco in Knysna more than loadshedding problems, service-shedding too!

Sirocco facing Sushi Bar Whale CottageI had been led to believe that one of the better restaurants in Knysna is Sirocco, and I do recall having eaten there once before, when it was more of a fine-dining restaurant.  I was very disappointed when I spent part of my S&T allowance from the Department of Justice at Sirocco last night. Sirocco entrance Whale CottageLoadshedding was not the only problem the restaurant had to cope with, Manager Sonia de Lange having shed her service ethic too!

I had popped in at Thesen Island earlier in the afternoon, and had a look at the fire-damaged Ile de Pain, speaking to staff at a neighbouring shop, and they recommended Sirocco.  When I visited Knysna a month ago, also with the compliments of the Department of Justice, I had experienced
dreadful service at three restaurants I had attempted to eat at, in particular at the Island Café at The Turbine Hotel & Spa! On Facebook a number of visitors to Knysna shared that the town appears to have a problem with restaurant service.

It was hard to see the entrance to the restaurant, as there is a Col’Cacchio now, and Continue reading →

Bree Street: Cape Town’s favourite restaurant street!

Chefs-Warehouse-Chef-Liam-and-chefs-Whale-Cottage-Portfolio-300x225Slowly but surely Bree Street in the Cape Town city centre has become the most talked about restaurant street, with ten new restaurants having opened in the past twelve months, and more are to come.

We have compiled a list of the 26 restaurants on Bree Street below.  While Kloof Street has about ten restaurants more, the Bree Street restaurants generally are of a higher standard, with only one franchised restaurant outlet on Bree Street, unlike Kloof Street.  We have started our Bree Street restaurant list from the Table Mountain side, moving down towards the harbour, the FNB building being the bottom boundary: Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 19 December

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   South Africa is the most attractive tourist destination in Africa, overtaking Egypt for the first time, and is on the Top 25 global tourism destination list,  in the Bloom Consulting’s Country Brand Ranking Tourism Edition 2014/2015. Close to 200 countries were included in the survey, which measured the performance of the tourism industry, brand strategy, and online presence.  South Africa was followed by Egypt and Morocco in Africa.

*  South African accommodation establishments Babylonstoren, Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Grace hotel, and the Saxon Boutique Hotel & Spa have made the Condé Nast Traveler 2015 Gold List of 100 World’s Best Hotels. 

*   Global tourism should exceed 1 billion this year, already at  978 million between January and October this year, as Continue reading →

‘Chopped South Africa’: first SA professional chef reality TV competition show!

ChoppedSA Banner Whale Cottage‘Chopped South Africa’ was launched at Giggling Gourmet Jenny Morris’ studio in De Waterkant yesterday, to publicise the 10 programme Food Network series on DStv channel 175, commencing on Wednesday 23 July at 21h00.

‘Chopped South Africa‘ is the first professional chef reality TV competition in South Africa, based on the American ‘Chopped‘, but with a South African flavour. It is the first international adaption of the programme, and was created due to the series’ very strong following in our country, with 25000 viewers per programme, I was told by Nikki Cooper, the Commissioning Editor of ‘Chopped South Africa‘, based in London and working with programming for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.  She said that she was ‘blown away by the talent and graciousness’ of our local chefs.  Due to the strong support of South African viewers, Food Network is investing in creating content for our country, but with appeal to its international viewers too.

We were welcomed by Jacques Verster. He introduced the four judges, being Jenny Morris who has hosted programmes on Moroccan and on Mediterranean cooking for Food Network (and who turned out to be a tough judge, explaining that she wanted to be honest with her feedback, and for it to have integrity); David van Staden, the Executive Chef of the Tsogo Sun Group; Siba Mtongana, who has her own ‘Siba’s Table’ program on Food Network; guest judge Rebecca Hurst, who runs the Hurst cookeryChopped SA judges Whale Cottage school; and guest judge and Chef Lindsay Venn of Tsogo Sun The Cullinan (not in the photograph).  We were told how strongly the judges believed in their standards, and fought for their point of view in deciding which chef would be ‘chopped’. Heinz is the main programme sponsor, while Shoprite-Checkers provided all the ingredients for the cooking on the program.

Nikki explained how the series works, with each of the ten programmes having four contestants, 40 selected from many applications received from young professional chefs in South African kitchens.  Shot in Johannesburg, hosted by Denvor Phokaners, produced by Sue Nel from Snelco in association with Continue reading →