Tag Archives: Mouille Point

Future of Cape Town Stadium and Green Point Urban Park in hands of Cape Town residents!

The City of Cape Town has not managed to sort out its problems in making the Cape Town Stadium financially viable, and an extensive public participation process is to be launched to give ratepayers and residents in the Green Point, Mouille Point and Sea Point areas in particular an opportunity to make themselves heard about the Stadium and the ‘Green Point Park’ (sic), the City not knowing its correct name! The public has until 31 March to express its concerns and respond to the choice of options proposed.

The City blames the prolonged recession, its failure to find a premium anchor tenant, and ‘restrictive zoning laws’ for the Stadium not being financially viable, and for placing a financial burden on the citizens of Cape Town.  One wonders why the City fathers did not research the future viability of the R4 billion stadium, built only for eight World Cup 2010 matches!

According to the Atlantic Sun, City of Cape Town Councillor Bev Schafer said the participation process is one of the largest ever, and will influence how the Green Point Urban Park and the Stadium will be run.   She has urged locals living in the affected areas to study what is being proposed.  The City has printed 3000 copies of the 48-page plan, and distributed them to ratepayers’ associations, libraries, and other community bodies, with five options proposed for the area:

*   The City of Cape Town operates the Cape Town Stadium, with an anchor tenant (very likely with naming rights, which may be at the cost of brand ‘Cape Town‘)

*   An independent operator operates the Stadium, with an anchor tenant (same risk of losing the ‘Cape Town‘ brand)

*   The anchor tenant is the operator too

*   The City of Cape Town operates the Stadium, without an anchor tenant, or an independent operator runs the Stadium, without an anchor tenant

*    A public/private partnership between the City and the private sector.

Mayor Patricia de Lille is quoted as saying that the public participation process is designed to find a long term sustainable solution for the Cape Town Stadium.  The Cape Town Stadium and the Green Point Urban Park generated R13 million in the 12 month period since August last year, compared to a reported cost of more than R50 million per annum.  Mayor de Lille shared the plans to increase the revenue, which include the refurbishment of the Stadium Visitor Centre; the introduction of an on-line Fan Retail Store by the end of 2013; the creation of a conference facility; more mobile food and beverage vending machines will be allowed on the 6th floor and in the external podium area; Ajax soccer club has signed a three year deal to use the Stadium for its practice sessions; the City is still negotiating with Western Province Rugby to move to the Stadium; Big Concerts is bringing big acts such as Justin Bieber and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers; and a hotel option has been expressed, as has a hospital, a sports clinic, and a sports-related education facility.  For the Green Point Urban Park it is proposed to build an eco-centre, and to open both a tearoom and a ‘green café’.  In the Business Plan Mayor de Lille writes that making the Cape Town Stadium viable will help make Cape Town the Events Capital of Africa!

City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Tourism, Events and Marketing Grant Pascoe said that they have received four proposals for motor racing events, including Formula One,  but expressed concern and sensitivity for the residents in the area, saying that events must be spread across all of Cape Town and not just be concentrated in the Green/Mouille/Sea Point areas, and that residents in these areas have tolerated much disturbance already! ‘I don’t want to burden this area and irritate them to a point that we start (fighting) all over again’, he is quoted as saying.  The Green Point Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association has been critical of the traffic problems which were caused by the Linkin Park and Lady Gaga concerts held at the Stadium recently.

The five options sound similar but have vastly different implications from a branding perspective, and the ratepayer burden in funding the loss in operating the Stadium, but probably make little impact on the residents on the area. What is of concern is the attempt to turn the Stadium area into a late-night party area with restaurants and bars, as well as shops, creating more noise!  The building of two four-storey buildings, one to house a hotel, sport science centre or offices, and one for parking, will cause further congestion when events are hosted at the Cape Town Stadium!

‘Business Plan for Cape Town Stadium and Green Point Park’

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

So what impressions did Cape Town Tourism’s international travel bloggers make on Cape Town?

We have seen in the past that Cape Town Tourism likes to blow its own trumpet, so when we received the media release on 31 July to brag about how it ‘uses Crowd-sourcing to clock over 13 million impressions on Twitter‘, it attracted interest.  It appears that it exaggerated the impact of the four international travel bloggers who were invited by Cape Town Tourism as iAmbassadors to spend a week in the city, and to share blogging tips at the Getaway Travel Blog Conference.

On Sunday a week ago (29 July) Cape Town Tourism announced a one hour brainstorm (‘crowdsourcing‘) via Twitter from 7 – 8 pm, using the hashtag #LoveCapeTown, requesting suggestions for what the four international bloggers should see and do while in Cape Town. Six questions were asked, relating to typical Cape Town food to eat, places to visit, adventure activities to participate in, places to learn more about the city’s history, people watching spots, and favourite hidden gems.  The Cape Town media release claimed that in a 24 hour period #LoveCapeTown generated ‘1500 Tweets, 13521392 impressions and reached an audience of 623041 followers’. On its blog three days later, Cape Town Tourism grew its claim to ‘4000 #LoveCapeTown tweets were sent. As many as 800000 unique Twitter users were reached by the hashtag and 30-million tweet impressions were achieved’ in the one week period.

Not having heard of a Twitter ‘impression‘ measurement before, I Googled the term.  It describes the cumulative total of followers of persons who use a hashtag (or specified Twitter address) multiplied by the number of Tweets per Twitter address that used the hashtag.  The measurement does not deduct the duplication of the same followers on more than one Tweeter’s list. It also does not measure the actual readership of the Tweet(s), only measuring the potential readership.  Newman PR company, one of the oldest in America, wrote on its blog about the dilemma of presenting statistics to its clients, and came to the conclusion that ‘Twitter Impressions can impress, but actually mean little‘, and decided against presenting this information to its clients.  ScoopDog’s Blog suggested that ‘Twitter reach calculations should be in the 10 – 12% of a follower list’, according to a Harvard study.  The writer calls for reliable benchmark information on measuring performance on Facebook and Twitter, and says that more meaningful measurements should be sales and lead generation.  Stanzr Blog says that only ‘Twitter can verify what users actually are online and observing Tweets‘, and that no hashtag measurement company can verify how many users were actually impressed with a hashtag or a Tweet.  LoCulReign wrote :“While there are many standardized metrics such as follower, mentions, or even impressions, these metrics are not the end-all answer to the broader question (what is the value of social media), they are simply a slice of the pie. There are many intangible benefits of social media, such as building strong brand awareness or reputation that cannot be measured by total brand mentions or the bit.ly clickthrough rate in a week.”

Not being privy to how Cape Town Tourism generated its statistics (no source is quoted in the media release), we used the Hashtracking.com service to measure the power of #LoveCapeTown in the 24 hours prior to midday on Saturday 4 August.  In this period 483 Tweets generated a total of 461399 followers and 2,4 million impressions.   This measurement tool shows the source of the top 10 impressions, and 84% of this top 10 list generated just over 2 million of the impressions, being the four international travel bloggers, Cape Town Tourism CEO Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, Cape Town Tourism Communication Manager Skye Grove, Cape Town Tourism, blogger conference organiser Getaway, the @CapeTown aggregator for all mentions of Cape Town, and SA Tourism’s @gotoSouthAfrica. Skye Grove is the Cape Town Tourism Tweeter, so she Tweets the same Tweets on both accounts, usually re-Tweeted by her boss Mrs Helmbold too.   It is safe to say, from the Tweets in the timeline, that the bulk of the impressions were Cape Town-based, giving locals a tremendous feel-good about their home city. American and Australasian Twitter followers of the international bloggers may have been asleep at the time of the Tweet-up, and weekend days are poor Twitter days anyway.  Of the 11 #LoveCapeTown Tweets printed out alongside the measurement on HashTracking.com, six were spam accounts, showing that potentially #LoveCapeTown Tweets could not have had more than 600000 impressions (instead of the claimed 11 million) last Sunday!  To bring the measurement of ‘impression’ closer to home, we ran @WhaleCottage on Hashtracking.com at the same date and time, and found that one Tweet (“Tourism is the bread and butter of economy, says Western Cape Minister of Tourism @AlanWinde”), which was re-Tweeted three times, had achieved 449700 impressions alone.

Mrs Helmbold enthused about the success of the Twitter campaign, saying that it ‘truly let Capetonians ‘sell’ their own city and it added instant authenticity to our campaign’. She added that so many suggestions were received that it proved that tourists need more than one week to visit Cape Town.  The numerous suggestions made to the international bloggers via the Twitterthon were not recorded anywhere for future visitors to Cape Town, other than some having been recorded in the media release, showing how short-lived Twitter information is.

During the Getaway Travel Bloggers Conference on Saturday, one of the speakers (@TravelDudes) quantified the value of the 24 hour Twitter coverage at €56564, which was proudly re-Tweeted by Cape Town Tourism.  Again, there is no known standard to quantify the value of a Tweet or an impression. Weird is that the hashtag for the Bloggers Conference changed to #gtbc, losing #LoveCapeTown in all Tweets from Saturday onwards, despite Cape Town Tourism having been a sponsor of the Conference.

In the week that the international bloggers spent in Cape Town, disappointingly little was written about Cape Town by the bloggers:

*  Keith Jenkins of velvet escape wrote two blogposts last week, one called ‘Iconic Cape Town view’, just containing a photograph of Table Mountain, with a link to a blogpost ‘Ten things to do in Cape Town’ which he wrote in 2009!  The other was written on his arrival, requesting participation in the #LoveCapeTown Twitterthon. He Tweeted mainly about Cape Town in the week that he was here, and it was noticeable that he used other hashtags liberally in his non-Cape Town Tweets.  He was good at responding to Tweets including his handle, and re-Tweeting. This was his fourth visit to Cape Town, and he called the city his ‘second home‘.  He has 16069 Twitter followers.

*   Wild Junket’s Nellie Huang wrote ‘We’re off to Cape Town, South Africa’ two weeks ago, inviting suggestions of things to see and do in Cape Town, and writing that she would be ‘cycling through Kayalitsch‘ (sic), hiking up Table Mountain, and going on a wine tour to Steenberg.  During the week she wrote two blogposts, one being about Table Mountain, which was a collection of photographs taken from the mountain, including onto Camps Bay, and the other blogpost was a collection of photographs of the villa in which the four bloggers were accommodated in Camps Bay.  She has previously visited the city, says she loves Cape Town, and said that ‘I wish that I could live here’.  She has 21591 Twitter followers, and was an active Tweeter about Cape Town in the past week, creating dialogue.

*   Traveldudes‘ Melvin Böcher is an occasional blogger, it would appear, not having posted more than four blogposts per month, but more commonly only one per month on average. He has not blogged since his arrival in Cape Town.  On his website he carries guest posts about various aspects of Cape Town, none written by him.  He has 86814 Twitter followers.  He is an über-Tweeter, obviously pre-scheduling his Tweets, so that his few Cape Town Tweets were largely lost in his daily average of 50 Tweets about a multitude of international destinations.  Noticeable was that he too is a heavy user of hashtags in every Tweet, using non-Cape Town ones for Tweets about other destinations, which must confuse his followers, in receiving so many Tweets about diverse destinations every few minutes every day.

*   Matt Long of Landlopers wrote about his forthcoming trip three weeks ago, and also requested input to things to do in Cape Town.  He has not written about Cape Town in the past week. He said he did not know much about the city before his arrival (odd for a travel writer), therefore coming in ‘blind’. He writes for Lonely Planet too. He has 16071 Twitter followers.  Similarly to Melvin Böcher, he generates about 50 Tweets per day, about a diversity of destinations and they too are heavily (non-Cape Town) hashtagged, once again causing confusion amongst his followers.  Few of his Tweets were about Cape Town in the past week. He repeats links to his blogposts and to a competition a number of times per day, one notices in his Tweets. Odd is that he has protected his Tweets, and one must request permission to follow him!

In the past week, the four travel writers were taken to Gansbaai for shark cage diving and seeing whales as well, hiked up and down Table Mountain (Matt Böcher undiplomatically said the ‘gondola was not working’ when he should have been told that it was closed for its annual maintenance), went to Robben Island, cycled through a township, visited Cape Point, Boulder’s Beach, Hout Bay, The Fringe creative precinct which included a stop at Charly’s Bakery, learnt to cook curry in Bo-Kaap, tasted wine at Groot Constantia (they do not appear to have got to Steenberg), visited some unnamed ‘cocktail spots‘, went on a Jazz Safari, visited The Castle, had dinner at Reuben’s at the One&Only Cape Town, had a drink at the Planet Bar, had a braai at the villa in which they stayed, ate at (unknown) Ethopian restaurant ‘Bebie Rosie’, and had a pizza at Jason’s.   What was noticeable was that the program for the travel writers’ visit to Cape Town was pre-planned, as was evident from Nellie Huang’s pre-visit blogpost, and therefore the Twitterthon on 30 July, billed as being a list of suggestions for the writers to experience whilst in Cape Town, was a con! Predictably they saw the usual tourist highlights of Cape Town, and their eagerly anticipated highlight of paragliding off Lion’s Head was cancelled due to the bad weather yesterday.  Yesterday afternoon three of the travel writers left for Johannesburg, on their way to Botswana today.

At a cocktail event held on Thursday, invited guests were shown the new one minute video made for Cape Town Tourism by National Geographic called ‘The Sounds of the City’, showing a young girl enjoying different parts of the city, including Bo Kaap, Greenmarket Square, the ocean, penguins, the V&A Waterfront, the view from Signal Hill (but not showing the iconic Cape Town Stadium) and the view over Table Bay from the top of Table Mountain.  The sound effects, meant to be the theme of the video, are a vibey rap song ‘Cape Town’, into which are woven the sounds of seagulls, the ocean, lots of minibus taxi hooting, drumming, and a marimba band.  As a Capetonian I missed the Cape Town sounds of Friday afternoon mosque prayers, the sound of the South Easter, the foghorn at Mouille Point, and the ship’s horns entering/leaving Cape Town harbour.  The YouTube video only has 320 views to date.

It appears that Cape Town Tourism wildly exaggerated the impact of its Twitterthon, and the stature of the international travel ‘bloggers’, who appear to be digital travel editors rather than bloggers, rarely blogging!  Mrs Helmbold clearly had not done her homework about her panel of visitors’ blogging habits, or lack of. Interesting is that no blog readership figures were provided for the international visitors, and that their standing was measured only in terms of Twitter following, yet Cape Town Tourism wrote on its blog the following exaggerated and unsubstantiated claim that the writers ‘reach millions of readers each month through their own online channels’!  No readership statistics are quoted on any of the four writers’ websites, nor did Cape Town Tourism divulge this in the run up to the Conference, only quoting Twitter follower statistics.   One does not know how much Cape Town Tourism paid to bring the international travel writers to Cape Town, and how it will ultimately measure the value of the impressions they made for the Cape Town tourism industry, in translating into creating awareness, leading to enquiries, and generating bookings!

POSTSCRIPT 11/8: The danger of sponsoring travel writers became evident today, when Melvin Böcher of Traveldudes Tweeted a link to blogger Michael Hodson’s blogpost ‘New 7 Wonders of the World: the scam behind the sham’, knocking the New7Wonders of Nature competition, and billing it as a money-making scam.  In Hodson’s blogpost he slates most of the Top 7 list, including our Table Mountain, saying it isn’t even a ‘Top 7 mountain…let alone a top 7 natural wonder’, and he has a beautiful photograph of the mountain in his blogpost.  It raises the question of the loyalty one would expect from guest who was brought to Cape Town, and his services paid for.  The blogpost was written by Hodson on 14 November last year, and even more odd that Böcher should Tweet the link nine months after it was written, and less than two weeks after he himself had hiked up Table Mountain!

POSTSCRIPT 15/8: Last night we received an e-mail from Anton Groenewald, Executive Director of Tourism, Events, and Marketing at the City of Cape Town, the funders of Cape Town Tourism.  Initially I offered him anonymity, in recognition of the support I had received from him, but he wrote an e-mail this morning, saying that he is happy for it to be made public. This is what he wrote last night: ‘Thanks very much for an insightful analysis and critique of the bloggers visit. I share much of your scepticism in regards to this issue’.

POSTSCRIPT 15/8: Cape Town Tourism issued another media release to justify the #LoveCapeTown Twitter campaign today, and one can assume that it is meant as a response to this blogpost (they have not posted a comment to it on this blog). In the media release they have changed their tune, admitting that there is no standard way to measure the success of Social Media marketing: ” Whilst the #LoveCapeTown hashtag ultimately clocked up over 36 million Twitter impressions, it is still difficult to measure the impact of these statistics. Says Du Toit-Helmbold; “We know that this campaign was a success from many points of view. It was instant – and yet there are still many more blogs and tweets that will follow as a result to ensure maximised exposure and reach for Cape Town. It also crossed over onto many other platforms (blogs, Twitter, facebook, Instagram, Pinterest) as today’s social media influencer is multi-channelled. The campaign was followed with interest by traditional media, but the biggest success of this campaign was the citizen engagement it led to. For us, it proves that often we should just initiate and guide the conversation, setting up platforms where it can unfold. Cape Town knows how to sell itself!”

In terms of actual return on investment, Cape Town Tourism agrees that there is no one reliable tool to measure the value of social media, but there is no denying the importance of digital media marketing. Says Du Toit-Helmbold; “We see this campaign as one in which we piqued interest and that was our intention. Now we have to convert that interest into a community that can help us drive more awareness and ultimately conversion and more visitors to Cape Town. People do not just arrive in a destination; they do research beforehand and social media – as an extension of word of mouth – is influencing more and more travel decisions. We are acutely aware that word of mouth through social media is the most powerful tool for any destination marketer today and if we can continue to mobilise more local voices to help promote Cape Town through their own on-line networks of friends and followers, we have a winning recipe. Our work in digital media marketing is attracting global attention and we will be presenting case studies at the forthcoming World Travel Market in London.”

POSTSCRIPT 27/8: @Traveldudes has close to 90000 followers today, yet the Klout score of Social Media influence is only 67 out of 100 (ours is 65, by comparison).  This begs the question of the value of a high number of Followers. At the Blog Conference Klout was not mentioned as a measurement of Blogging or Tweeting success.

POSTSCRIPT 29/8:  A Tweet by Melvin Böcher about his #TOTT (Travel Talk on Twitter) hashtag success took me to his seldom-written Traveldudes blog, and a blogpost about the success of the hashtag.  It makes for fascinating reading, in that he bragged on 19 July already (i.e. 10 days before coming to Cape Town) about the hashtag having created 30 million impressions, exactly the same figure Cape Town Tourism used in its media release a few days later about their misleading one hour #LoveCapeTown Tweet-Up, which included Böcher!  The question style of asking five questions is the same Böcher uses, which means that he organised the Tweet-Up and how it was run, and calculated the ‘impressions’. It explains why he has taken exception to this blogpost, and his childish reaction to it.  Ironic however is by his own admission that ‘impressions’ mean nothing! “Every single week #TTOT reaches up to more than 2 Million users on Twitter and creates with the #TTOT hashtag around 30 Million impressions! Just to get you back on the floor… If someone tries to tell you what this number is worth…  It’s worth NOTHING! :). Travelers join events like #TTOT, as they are looking to socialize with each other, not to get a special deal for this or that. It’s about the fun sharing experiences and everybody can be part of it. And the best is… For Free!“

POSTSCRIPT 30/8: In News24 yesterday, an interview which they had conducted with Melvin Böcher of Traveldudes was published.  He clearly is very taken with the quantification of the value of Tweets and blogging, something we have not seen quantified by anyone to date!  He answered about the quantification in reply to a question about the biggest challenge he has had to overcome since starting his website: “The biggest challenge is, that people still don’t have a clue about the real value blogging, social media, or the internet in general provides. Who would have guessed that a single tweet of mine would be valued at more than EUR 160 – right!? Or that I can provide a ROI of over EUR 20 000 when promoting a destination in 5 days via writing about it on Traveldudes.org. But this problem is a general one, which all magazines, newspapers and bloggers have”. One wonders what he charged Cape Town Tourism for his services.

POSTSCRIPT 21/9: In a Mail & Guardian article written by Mrs Helmbold herself today, she refers to the four international ‘travel bloggers’ as ‘Travel Twits’, an absolute insult!

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

World Cup anniversary: focus on ‘CapeAbility’- infrastructure benefit, tourism loss!

Today the World Cup 2010 started a year ago.  While many may remember the wonderful 30-day period nostalgically, the hard reality of this largest world event is attracting criticism in its impact on the hospitality and tourism industry, which has reached its lowest low, something other mega-event cities have experienced before.  The event was commemorated yesterday with the launch of a new coffee table book ‘CapeAbility: Stories and Successes from the 2010 FIFA World Cup’.

The infrastructure benefits of the World Cup cannot be denied : Cape Town has a renewed station building, a world-class airport, and far improved access into and from the city on its N1 and N2 highways. It has a beautiful Cape Town Stadium, which has become a tourist icon for the city in itself.  It has a most wonderful Green Point Park, which was developed next to the Stadium, as well as a general upliftment of the Green Point and Mouille Point area.  It led to the roll-out of the recently completed and far improved public transport MyCiti service.  It added more international hotel brands to the city’s five-star hotel portfolio.  It created an Ubuntu amongst Capetonians and the city’s visitors, on its festive flag-decorated Fan Walks.  It positioned Cape Town, and South Africa with it, as a safer country than had been perceived before.

But the downside appears to outweigh the benefits a year down the line: there is no operator for the Cape Town Stadium since SAIL Stade de France reneged on its contract with the City of Cape Town.  Cape Town ratepayers will have to carry the cost of operating the Stadium, not making ends meet with the few events that have been hosted in the venue since July last year.   The tourism industry suffered poor pre- and post-event bookings last year, and  was led to believe that it would benefit from a tourism boom that would last for years to come.   The industry was conned by MATCH, the FIFA accommodation booking agency, with massive cancellations just days before the start of the Wold Cup.  Surprisingly, the industry is experiencing its worst ever year, and even more surprisingly, Cape Town Tourism told its members yesterday that it was to have been expected, given the Sydney experience – a 5-year slump after the 2000 Olympic Games, largely because the city tourism authorities assumed that no marketing was required after the widely publicised event.  Cape Town appears to have made the same mistake, an error which is compounded by the poor UK economy, the largest tourism source market for the city, the strong Rand, and high airfares.

Not unsurprisingly, tourism consultants Grant Thornton, who badly overestimated the World Cup tourism numbers, praised the R40 billion national capital expenditure on the World Cup, the consultancy’s Gillian Saunders saying it was money “well spent, with some areas still to be leveraged”, reports the Cape Times. She states that the infrastructure benefit had ‘significant legacy value leading to a better quality of life and provided long-term valuable assets’.  She admitted that the slow recovery from the global recession was responsible for the lack of the tourism boom which had been predicted.  Yet she said that “a large number of tourism businesses would not have survived the economic slump if it weren’t for the event”.  She reminded the industry that R3,6 billion revenue had been generated and that just more than 100000 tourists had visited the Western Cape, and just more than double this number visited Gauteng.

Cape Town Tourism has blamed SA Tourism for focusing too much on wildlife and the natural beauty of the country, and too little on its cities, in its marketing of the country.  The World Cup had created a greater city focus, but this has not been sustained by SA Tourism in its post-World Cup marketing, Cape Town Tourism says.  To strengthen brand Cape Town, Cape Town Tourism proposes that the “city’s urban identity, innovative outlook, entrepreneurial spirit, academic excellence and pioneering medical and science sectors must be added to the brand palette in order for it to effectively compete in the domestic and global market”, in addition to its leisure tourism positioning, it is reported in BizCommunity.com.

The Cape Argus yesterday ‘shouted’ in a headline:”Post-World Cup tourism boom ‘non-existent'”, stating that the benefits have been the international performers who held concerts in the Stadium, the city’s improved infrastructure, and the survival of a number of tourism businesses.  It quotes Cape Town Tourism as saying that Cape Town is in a ‘brand vacuum’.  The annual operating cost of the Stadium is quoted as being R57 million.  Two concerts have been booked, and a further two are in the pipeline, according to the city’s new head of Tourism, Grant Pascoe.   Talks with Western Province rugby continue, he said.   He added that the city is receiving more event applications than it did prior to the World Cup. Developing the Fan Walk into a 24/7 facility is also being considered.  The oversupply of hotel accommodation can be attributed to nine new hotels with 1500 rooms in total, which were built for the World Cup, says Dirk Elzinga, Chairman of FEDHASA Cape.  He naively states that many hotels have already received repeat World Cup business, and that the ‘extremely low occupancies’ of some hotels ‘was normal for the off-season’!

Launched by Premier Helen Zille and Mayor Patricia de Lille, the ‘CapeAbility’ book documents the ‘planning, delivery and effect’ of the World Cup on the Western Cape, says BizCommunity.com.   The book “makes every effort to extract honest lessons to understand the hosting of such mega-events better.  It is designed therefore not as a memento of the event, but a review of what worked, what didn’t and what could be done better and become a guide to hosting future events”.   “The book is meant to play a marketing role and points out that it is crucial that opportunities, such as the World Cup, are converted into more than just short-term profits for a small tourism and events sector, but into huge brand building opportunities for a country”. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Hot Restaurant winter 2011 specials in Cape Town & Winelands

We are delighted that many restaurants in Cape Town and the Winelands have seen the benefit of offering specials, and have done so since last winter, many running through summer too.   The winter specials for Cape Town and Winelands restaurants follow below, and will be updated continuously:

*   Pure at Hout Bay Manor: 3-course dinner for R195, includes 2 glasses of Groote Post wine, 10 May – end June. Closed July.  Tel (021) 790-0116.

*   Pepenero in Mouille Point : sirloin and chips R79, seafood platter R 129, 1 kg prawn platter R99, oysters R9 each, sushi platter R109.  Half price sushi all day.  From 9 May. Tel (021) 439-9027

*   Sinn’s Restaurant at Wembley Square:  lunch (6 options) at R50.  3-course dinner with glass of wine R150.  Sunday Buffet – 2 courses plus coffee R120, 3 courses plus coffee R150.  Winter. Tel (021) 465-0967

*   Theo’s on Beach Road, Mouille Point: oysters R6 each, 1 kg prawns R99, line fish R79, for lunch and dinner.  300 gram sirloin steak, spatchcock chicken peri peri, 500 gram spare ribs all R79 for lunch only.  Full sushi platter R99, half platter R50. Winter. Tel (021) 439-3494.

*   Sevruga in the V&A Waterfront: half price sushi Monday – Saturday 12 – 6 pm; 25 % off sushi Sunday 12 – 2pm, 50 % off Sunday 2 – 6 pm, 3-course menu R160, daily, lunch and dinner; 2-course lunch R120. 3-course lunch and dinner R160. End September. Tel (021) 421-5134

*   Myoga at Vineyard Hotel, Newlands: 7 course dinner, with 5 choices per course, for R195, Mondays – Saturdays, throughout winter. Tel (021) 657-4545

*   Beluga, The Foundry, Green Point: 1 kg Prawns R99; 50 % off sushi and cocktails all day Sunday, and from 12h00 – 19h00 weekdays. 2-course lunch R120; 3-course lunch and dinner R160.  End September. Tel (021) 418-2948.

*   221 Waterfront:  3-course meal at R135 on Wednesdays.  Dine & Cruise package: 1,5 hour cruise, 2 glasses sparkling wine, 3-course meal R370; Lunch & Cruise package: 1 hour cruise and meal R210.  Winter. Tel (021) 418-3633

*  The Lookout Deck, Hout Bay:  Seafood Platter with line fish, mussels, calamari and prawns R65. Until 31 August. Tel (021) 790-0900

*   La Mouette, Regent Road, Sea Point (photograph above): Tasting Menu (items change monthly) 6 courses R240 for 2 persons, Tuesday – Sunday dinner, Friday and Saturday lunch.  Winter. Tel (021) 433-0856

*   Bertha’s in Simonstown: 1 kg Queen prawns cost R99 each, Calamari, mussel, chips, BBQ chicken and wing platter R99, 600g ribs plus 500ml Windhoek draught R99. Winter. Tel (021) 786-2138

*   Aubergine:  2-course lunch R184,  3-course lunch R235.  2-course dinner R200, 3-course dinner R275.   Wednesdays – Fridays except public holidays. Winter.  Tel (021) 465-4909

*   Ferryman’s Tavern, V&A Waterfront: Combo-specials R100 (linefish + calamari), R85 (sirloin + calamari), R99 (pork rib + chicken wings), Mussel hotpot R75.  Winter. Sunday Hot Pot Buffet Eat as much as you like R120, Sundays, until end August.  Tel (021) 419-7748

*   Hildebrand: 2 courses R99, 3 courses R130 if eat before 19h00;  Winter. Tel (021) 425-3385

*   Leaf Restaurant and Bar: 50 % off sushi all day, Dimsum 30 % off, Burgers R50 – R65.  Winter. Tel (021) 418-4500

*   Blowfish in Blouberg: Breakfast specials: egg and bacon sandwich R19, Three Cheese and Mushroom omelette R25, Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs R25; Lunch specials of Surf ‘n Turf, Rack of Ribs, Thai Chicken Curry, and Mussel and Chorizo Chowder at R49 Monday – Saturday 12h00 – 17h00; Dinner specials: seafood platter, slow roasted lamb shank, oxtail stew, and seafood curry R99, Monday – Saturday 17h00 onwards. Winter. Tel (021) 556-5464

*   Vanilla, Cape Quarter:  1/2 price sushi 12h00 – 18h00,  half-price cocktails 4 – 6 pm. Winter. Tel (021) 421-1391

*   Knife restaurant, Century City:  Bagel R35; Salad R45; Rib, meatball, chicken wing and chip platter R60, all specials include a beer/glass of wine/colddrink and coffee.  Lunch special, 12h00 – 15h00, Mondays – Fridays. Winter. Tel (021) 551-5000

*   Saul’s Sushi @ Vegas, Sea Point: 30 piece sushi platter R99 – Wednesdays and Thursdays; two for the price of one – Sundays.  Winter. Tel 087 151 4595

*    Bhandaris Indian Restaurant: Buffet R99 Wednesday dinner and Sunday lunch and dinner. 30 % off for pensioners on Tuesdays. Lowest value meal for free if buy bottle of wine or two drinks for a pre-booked table of up to 10, on Monday evenings; Lamb R79, Chicken R69, Fish R85 – Tuesday – Sundays.  Winter. Tel (021) 702-2975/Tel (021) 782-1525.

*    Zorba’s, Lagoon Beach Hotel, Lagoon Beach Drive, Milnerton: Seafood and meat platter for two plus two glasses of Hartenberg wine R199  19 August – 19 September. Tel (021) 528-2093

*   Trees Restaurant, Townhouse Hotel, Cape Town:  Casserole or steak with starch of day and glass of wine R105.  Winter. Tel (021) 465-7050

*   Down South Food Bar, 267 Long Street: Rib & Prawn Platter including a side and sauces R75.  Winter. Tel (021) 422-1155.

*   Il Cappero, Barrack Street: Daily lunch main course special at R40.  Three month Winter Special Card, costs R 140 for 11 starters, 11 main courses and 11 desserts, at 50 % off the menu price.   Monday – Friday. May – July. Tel 461-3168

*   Cape Town Fish Market:  “All you can eat Breakfast Buffet” R 60, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays; Seafood lunch buffet R125, Sundays and public holidays.  Winter. Tel (021) 418-5977

*   Trinity, Bennett Street:  “All you can eat” Dim Sum R135. Two-for-price-of-one burgers Wednesdays. Pizza R50 until 7 pm daily.   Seafood platter R100  on Thursday.  “All you can eat” ribs Mondays R99.  Two for the price of one sushi and Dim Sum Monday – Saturday 12h00 – 20h00.  Pizza R50 Monday – Saturday 12h00 – 19h00. Winter. Tel (021) 418-0624

*   French Toast, Bree Street: Bruschetta tapas free  Monday – Saturdays, 5 – 7 pm.  All wines costing R 400 or less half price on Mondays.  2-course lunch consisting of soup and choice of two tapas plus glass of wine or cup of coffee R89, Monday – Friday 12h00 – 16h00.  Winter. Tel (021) 422-3839.

*   Cru Café Restaurant & Wine Bar, Cape Quarter: Scrambled egg and salmon breakfast for 2 plus bottomless cup of coffee R 78, Weekdays; 2 gourmet burgers with onion rings, French fries and Stella Artois beer R120 weekday lunch; Comfort food (Bobotie or Bredie) for two for R119, including 2 glasses of wine, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. T-bone steak (350g) for two at R150, Friday and Saturday evenings. Until September. Tel (021) 418-6334

*   Krugmann’s Grill, V&A Waterfront: 250 g rump or sirloin R45, 19 – 21 August; 250g rump and starch R59, daily.  Winter. Tel (021) 418-9393

*   The Square, Vineyard Hotel, Newlands:  ‘Tastes of 2011’ focuses on different theme every month, from April – September.  British menu change weekly,  2 courses R140 or 3 courses R170.  Dinner only, Monday – Sunday.  Tel ()21) 657-4500

*   Dunes, Hout Bay : Sunday buffet with smoked salmon, oysters and cooked breakfast R100. Current. Tel (021) 790-1876

*   Arnold’s on Kloof, 60 Kloof Street, Gardens: Jack Black stew (type of stew changes throughout winter) for two plus bottle of Altydgedacht R99.  Tel (021) 424-4344. Throughout winter.

*   Five Flies, One free main course for every main course ordered.  Until end August. Tel (021) 424-4442

*   Balducci’s, V&A Waterfront: Alfresco Lunch specials – soup and salad R89, fish R89, calamari R89, seafood platter for two R245, Steak Roll and chips R85, Steak and chips R99, Burgers R55 – R75, Glass of wine R27, bottle R99.  daily 12h00 – 16h00. Tel (021) 421-6002

*   Harbour House, Kalk Bay: 2-courses R140, 3-courses R160. Excludes Sundays.  September. Tel (021)  788-4133

*   Live Bait, Kalk Bay: Seafood platter R65. Sunday – Thursday evenings, and Monday – Friday lunch. September. Tel (021) 788-5755

*  Polana, Kalk Bay: Mozambique-style prawns, Algarve salad and chips. R50, Sunday – Thursday dinner and Saturday lunch. September. Tel (021) 788-7162

*   Massimo’s Pizza Club, Hout Bay: “Order any 2 adult take away (pizza, pasta salad)” to a minimum value of R100, and get an &Union beer, Darling Brew beer or a 500ml bottle of Bob’s Your Uncle wine for free, all day Wednesdays and Thursdays, Fridays until 17h00.  Lunch offer – Free glass of house wine or beer when ordering main course, Wednesday – Friday, 12h00 – 16h00. Until August Tel (021) 790-5648.

*   Codfather, Camps Bay:  half-price sushi 12h00 – 18h00, daily.  Winter. Tel (021) 438-0782

*   Caffe Milano, Kloof Street: Lunch specials – Rump on a baguette R70; Pizza with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella and basil, R 70.  Winter. Tuesday – Sunday. Tel (021)426-5566.

*   Black Marlin, Simonstown:  2-course meal R115, 3-course R140 includes glass of wine.  Until July. Tel (021) 786-1621

*   Savoy Cabbage:  2-course R175, 3-course R195 includes glass of wine .  Until end August. Tel (021) 424-2626.

*   Bayside Café: for every main course, get another lesser-priced main course.  Lunch Monday – Friday,  Sunday – Thursday.  Until October. Tel (021) 438-2650.

*   Mamma Mia Restaurant,  Steenberg:   2-courses R150, 3-courses R175.  Until August. Tel (021)  701-8585

*   Café Chameleon,  Plattekloof: lunch pizza minus 10%, until August. Tel (021) 911-1025.

*   Cape Town Fish Market, “All you can eat Breakfast Buffet” R60, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; Seafood buffet lunch R125, Sundays and public holidays. Winter. Tel (021) 554-5962.

*   Tobago Restaurant, Radisson Blu, Granger Bay: two main courses for price of one, Monday – Saturdays.  Until 30 September.  Tel (021) 441-3414

*   La Bruixa, Sea Point:  Seafood paella for two for R260, includes a salad.  Lunch 12h00 – 15h00.  Until June.  Tel (021) 434-8797

*   Sinatra’s, Pepper Club Hotel, Loop Street:  Glass of bubbly and 6 oysters for R 60.  Fridays from 16h00.  Until December.  Tel (021) 812-8826

*   Chai yo, Canal Walk: Buy two main meals and get lesser priced one free.  Winter. Monday – Sunday.   Tel (021) 555-0620.

*   La Boheme, Sea Point:   2-courses R95, 3-courses R115.  Throughout 2011. Tel (021) 434-8797.

*   Food Barn, Noordhoek:  3-courses with 2 glasses of Steenberg wine R165,  4-courses with 3 glasses of Steenberg wine R185,  5-courses with 4 glasses of Steenberg wine R215.  Lunch daily.  Wednesday – Saturday dinner, May – October. Tel (021) 789-1390

*   What’s On Eatery, Watson Str:  2 course dinner at R 99, includes a glass of wine. Breakfast weekdays R25.  Lunch R39, menu changes daily, on weekdays, R5 extra for glass of wine or milkshake, every 7th lunch is free with What’s On Loyalty Card. 11 May – October. Tel (021) 422-5652

*   Nobu, One&Only Cape Town, Cape Town:  5-course R299, May – August. Tel (021) 431-4511.

*   The Kove, Camps Bay: 2-courses R 120, 3-courses R150.  Rump steak R79, Fillet R99, Grilled Norwegian Salmon R99, Peri Peri baby chicken R90, Line fish R90, Seafood platter R165, Gourmet Burger R60.    Winter. Tel (021) 438-0004

*   The Greenhouse, Cellars-Hohenhort Hotel, Constantia: 6-course meal with wines from Klein Constantia R295. Tuesday – Friday.  Until September. Tel (021) 794-2137

* Dear Me,  Longmarket Street: 25 % off standard price of 3-course (R240) or 5-course (R350) dinner.  Thursdays.  From 19 May until July.  Tel (021) 422-4920

*   Zenzero, Camps Bay: 2-courses R150, 3-courses R180.  Parmesam lamb R99, Veal Saltimbocca R89, Beef & Reef R 120, Gnocchi Ragu R69, Pancetta and pea risotto R79, Canneloni R69, and Kingklip R99.  Winter. Tel (021) 438-0007

*   The Round House, Camps Bay: 7-course lunch and dinner R240, or R460 paired with wine.   Winter. Tel (021) 438-4347

*   Planet Restaurant,  Mount Nelson Hotel:  4-course Vegan Journey menu R300, 4-course The Journey menu R220, 6-course The Journey menu R300.  Winter. Tel (021) 483-1000.

*   Brio 1893: 3-course dinner R165.  Monday – Thursday.  Closing down 12 August. Tel (021) 422-0654

*   GOLD Restaurant: Winter special R200 + 10 % service fee.  June – September. Tel (021) 421-4653

*   Salt Restaurant, Ambassador Hotel:  2 courses R120 amd 3 courses R140.  Receive a voucher for a free bottle of Hartenberg wine for the next visit if order two 3-course meals.  Until 31 August. Tel (021) 439-7258

*   Tuscany Beach, Camps Bay: 50 % off partner’s main course, Dinner, daily; 25 % off Sushi, 12h00 – 18h00, daily.  Winter. Tel (021) 438-1213.

*  1800 Degrees, Cape Royale Luxury Hotel: Hot and cold Tapas and jazz, with a bottle of Diemersfontein wine per couple R195 per person, Sundays, 12h00 – 15h00. 100 gram sirloin, 100 gram rump and 100 gram rib eye steaks R99 plus one sauce and jacket potato.  Winter. Tel (021) 430-0511.

*   St Elmo’s: 2 large regular pizzas R99,90,  2 medium regular pizzas R69,90 Take-away, Daily.  2 Large pizzas R79,90 on Tuesdays;  1 Large pizza plus 400g rack of ribs and chips for R109,90, Take Away, daily; Small pizza plus 330ml Coke R24,90, Monday – Friday lunch. Winter. www.stelmos.co.za

*   Café Delicieux, Welgemoed: 2-course dinner R125, 3-courses R155.  Friday evenings.  Winter. Tel (021) 913-1053

*   Café Manhattan, 74 Waterkant Street and 247 Main Road, Three Anchor Bay: Burger and a glass of wine R45.  Winter. Tel (021) 421-6666/Tel (021) 439-9666.

*   Pigalle, Green Point: 3 course dinner and show R330 – R350, 8 June, 21 July, 10 August, 14 September.  Tel (021) 421-4848

*   Pepper Club on the Beach, Camps Bay: Seafood platter R149,95; Sirloin plus 3 prawns R 98,95; Prawn platter R98,95.  Until 31 December. Tel (021) 438-3174

*   Mint, Taj Hotel: 3 courses plus a glass of Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc or Merlot R185, Monday – Sundays, Until 30 September. Tel (021) 819-2000

*   News Café, Green Point: English Breakfast R19, 7h00 – 9h00 Monday – Friday, 7h30 – 9h00 Saturday and Sunday, until 1 February 2012

*   Long Street Café: Butter Chicken Curry and rice, R55, until 10 June, Monday – Sunday.  tel (021) 424-2464

*   Savour Restaurant, 15 on Orange: 3-course meal R180, Monday – Sunday, Until 31 August. Tel (021) 469-8037

*   La Colombe, Constantia: Lunch – 3-courses R240, 3-courses plus wine R280, Monday – Saturday, until 30 November.  Dinner – 5-courses R310, 5-courses plus wine R390, Monday – Saturday, until September. Closed 30 May – 20 June.

*   Catharina’s, Steenberg Hotel: 2-course lunch R165, 3-course lunch R195, 3-course dinner R215.  Until 1 September.  Tel (021) 713-2222

*   The Grand Café and Beach Granger Bay: 2-courses R 125, 3-courses R150, Tuesday – Sunday. Winter. Tel (021) 425-0551

*   Constantia Uitsig: 2-course lunch and dinner R190, 3-course lunch R220, 3-course dinner R250, Monday – Saturday. Until 30 September.  Closed 4 – 26 July.

*   Blues, Camps Bay: 2-courses R120, 3-courses R150, includes a glass of wine and cup of coffee. Monday – Sunday.  Until 1 September.

*   River Café, Constantia: 3-courses and carafe of wine R180, lunch, Monday – Saturday.  Until 30 September. Tel (021) 794-3010.  Closed 10 – 30 August.

*   La Cuccina, Hout Bay: Homemade meal for two plus bottle of wine R100. Monday – Saturday. Until 30 December.

*  Mugged on Roeland: All you can eat Pizza R80, Friday evenings. Until 30 December. Tel 084 5894 665

*   Chapman’s Peak Hotel, Hout Bay: Free bottle of Elements wine plus 2 Amarula Crème Brulee with two meat main courses ordered; 1 kg prawns R99; Soup R35; Malay Lamb Curry R89; Mussel Mexicana R69; Winter Platter R99.  Monday – Saturday lunch and dinner. Until 30 September. Tel (021) 790-1036

*   Rick’s Café Américain, Park Road: Tapas or Mezze Platter plus 1/2 litre house wine R105; 1/2 litre Paulaner, Erdinger and Valentins beer R 30, 5 – 7 pm; Lunch specials from R39; and more specials on drinks. Winter.  Tel (021) 424-1100

*   Barocca, Camps Bay Club: 2 for the price of one burgers Tuesday evenings; Pasta and a glass of wine R50 Thursday evenings.  From 5 pm.  Winter. Tel (021) 438-1992

*   Seaforth Restaurant, Simonstown: Deep fried prawns R90 Tuesdays; hake and chips R38 Wednesdays; Eat as much calamari as you like R49 Thursdays; Steak and calamari R78 Fridays; Eat as much as you like pork spare ribs R88 Saturdays. From 6 pm. June. Tel (021) 786-4810

*   Pizzeria Villagio, Howard Centre, Pinelands: Free glass of Teddy Hall wine with home-made pasta on Tuesdays.  Winter. Tel (021) 531-4473.

*   delish, Hout Bay: Cooked breakfast R35; Soup and ciabatta R30, Monday – Friday lunch; Tagines, ragouts and curries plus glass of wine or beer R75, from 12h00, daily.  Winter. Tel (021) 790-5324

*   Café Sofia, Sea Point, Kloof Street, Camps Bay and Green Point: Buy 2 main courses and get one free, from 17h00, daily.  Winter.

*   Saul’s Taverna, Sea Point: 2-course meal and cocktails for two R140.  Winter. Tel 087 151 4592

*   Adega, Sea Point: Lamb shank R69, Feijoada R89, 1kg King Prawns R95. Winter. Tel (021) 434-3029

*   La Grotto, Plumstead: 300g rump steak R89. Winter. Tel (021) 797-8420.

*   Wangthai, V&A Waterfront, Constantia, Lagoon Beach, Somerset West:  Free glass of Durbanville Hills wine with Curry Festival meal.  Winter. Tel (021) 421-8702/(021) 794-0022/(021) 551-9254/(021) 855-0112.

*   Addis in Cape Ethiopian Restaurant, 41 Church Street: 2-course set menu R130.  Tel (021) 424-5722. Winter

*   Ocean Basket, Western Cape: Oysters R8 each, until 15 July.

*   Azure Restaurant, Twelve Apostles Hotel, Camps Bay: 4-courses R370, 5-courses R495, wine flight prices R50 – R135, until October. Tel (021) 437-9000

*   Diva Pizza, Buitenkant Street: 2 large margherita pizzas with choice of two toppings R85 on Tuesday and Saturday evenings.  Until 31 August. Tel (021) 461-0013

*   Harveys, Winchester Mansions, Sea Point: 2-course lunch R130, 3-course lunch R160; 2-course dinner R150, 3-course dinner R 180.  Monday – Sunday. Winter. Tel (021) 434-2351.

*   Savour, 15 on Orange Hotel: Sunday Lunch Buffet plus ‘never-ending supply of Methodé Cap Classique’ R265.  Winter. Tel (021) 469-8000

*   Karibu, V&A Waterfront: 220g rump, Malay chicken, calamari, and bobotie R49.  Monday – Sunday lunch, Sunday – Wednesday dinner.  Until 31 August. Tel (021) 421-7005.

*   Hussar Grill, Green Point and Camps Bay: 2-courses R99, no corkage.  Winter. Tel (021) 433-2081/(021) 438-0151

*   Tokyo Restaurant & Sushi Bar: Buy one get one free daily; Sushi Buffet Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday evenings R110.  Winter. Tel (021) 424-5108.

WINELANDS

Franschhoek

*   Allee Bleue, outside Franschhoek: choice of three 250g steaks at R115, including a glass of estate wine, current. 3-course lunch R 100, and R150 with wines paired.  Chicken and Prawn Potjie with Roti and glass of Allee Bleue Isabeau or Shiraz R85.  Lunch, Wednesday – Sunday. Until end September. Chicnic picnics daily (weather depending), R145 per person. Summer Tel (021) 874-1021

*   Ryan’s Kitchen at Rusthof, Franschhoek: 3-course dinner R195; 6 course Taste of Africa dinner R295.  Winter. Closed 27 June – 14 July.  Tel (021) 876-4598.

*   Reuben’s, Franschhoek: 2-course lunch and dinner R 220, 3-courses R268, 4-courses R315.  Current. Tel (021) 876-3772

*   Allora in Franschhoek: 3-course Sunday lunch R100.  Winter. Tel (021) 876-4375.

*   L’ermitage, Franschhoek: 1-course R93, 2-courses R125, 3-courses R175, and glass of wine with each option. Lunch. Winter. Tel (021) 876-9200

*   French Connection, Franschhoek: 2-courses R95, 3-courses R125.  Winter. Tel (021) 876-4056

*   Grande Provence Jonkershuis, Franschhoek: 4-course lunch and dinner, minimum 8 guests, R200.  Monday – Saturday dinner, Monday – Sunday lunch.  Closed 18 – 31 July.  Until 30 September. Tel (021) 876-8600

*   Mon Plaisir @Chamonix, Franschhoek: 2-courses R 170, 3-courses R199.  Winter. Tuesday – Sunday lunch, Wednesday – Saturday dinner.  Tel (021) 876-2393.

*   Monneaux Restaurant, Franschhoek Country House: Cape Malay Curry R95, Wednesday evenings; Firecracker Menu – 2 courses R145, 3 courses R175, all nights.  Winter. Tel (021) 876-3386

*   Salmon Bar, Franschhoek: 3-course dinner plus glass of Porcupine Ridge R150, Fridays and Saturdays.  Winter. Tel (021) 876-4591.

*   Mange Tout, Mont Rochelle Hotel, Franschhoek:  2-courses plus glass of wine R150, 3-courses plus glass of wine R190, Winter Brunch Buffet plus glass of bubbly R150.  Winter. Tel (021) 876-3000.

*   Fyndraai, Solms Delta, Franschoek.  2-course Sunday Lunch Buffet R125. Tel (021) 874-3937.

Paarl

*   Laborie Restaurant in Paarl: 5 food portions each paired with wine R395.  Winter. Tel (021) 807-3095

*   Freedom Hill: 10 % off discount with Loyalty Card.  Closed July and August.  Winter. Tel (021) 867-0963

*   Bosman’s, Grande Roche, Paarl: 2-courses R120, 3-courses R155.  Monday – Sunday lunch.  Until April (except 20 December – 10 January). Tel (021) 863-5100.

Stellenbosch

*   Olivello, Klapmuts, outside Stellenbosch: 2-course meal R115, 3-course meal R135 plus glass of wine.  Winter. Tel (021) 875-5443

*   96 Winery Road, Stellenbosch: 3-course lunch and dinner from a la carte menu (with a few surcharges), with glass of Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc or Petit Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, R180, Winter; 4-course Chocolate dinner in conjunction with Lindt Chocolate Studio.  R300. 15 June. Tel (021) 842-2020

*   Warwick, Stellenbosch:  Tapas menu range R15 – R45 per dish. Winter. Tel (021) 884-4410

*   Dornier Bodega, Stellenbosch: Meat-free Mondays, Comfort Tuesdays, Pasta Wednesdays, Soup Thursdays, Fish Fridays, all R79, lunch, May – September, Tel (021) 880-0557

*   Towerbosch Restaurant, Knorhoek Wine Estate, Stellenbosch:  Soup & Bredie Menu with soup and bredie R90, Wednesdays – Saturdays; Asado Argentian-style braai on Sundays R165.  May – August. Tel (021) 865-2958

*   Tokara Restaurant, Stellenbosch: Chef’s Menu – 3 courses and amuse bouche and palate cleanser R225.  From 10 May, during winter. Tel (021) 885-2550

*   Jordan Restaurant with George Jardine, Stellenbosch: 1-course meal with glass of wine R95; 4-course meal with 2 glasses of wine R 225. Tuesday – Saturday lunch, Thursday and Friday dinners.  From 10 May in winter.  Tel (021) 881-3612

*   Terroir, Kleine Zalze estate:  2-courses R170, 3-courses R195.  Includes glass of Kleine Zalze wine.   May – September. Monday – Saturday lunch and dinner,  Sunday lunch.  Closed 1 – 11 July. Tel (021) 880-8167

*   Restaurant Christophe, Stellenbosch:  4-course dinner R150 Tuesday – Saturday.  Inexpensive Bistro lunches Tuesday – Friday.  Closed down 24 June. Tel (021) 886-8763

*   Overture, Stellenbosch: 2-course meal R 160.   Winter, but closed in July.  Tel (021) 880-2721

*   Wild Peacock Food Emporium, 32 Piet Retief Str, Stellenbosch: 3-course dinner and glass of wine R140.  Wednesday evenings. Winter. Tel (021) 887-7585

*   Delaire Graff, Helshoogte Pass, Stellenbosch : 3-course Organic Tasting Menu with 2 glasses of wine R295, Monday – Friday lunch, Wednesday – Friday dinner.  Winter. Tel (021) 886-8160

*   Johan’s at Longridge, Stellenbosch: 2-course lunch plus glass of wine R150.  Friday – Tuesday lunch (closed Wednesdays and Thursdays).  Winter. Tel (021) 855-2004.

*   Delheim, Knorhoek Road, Stellenbosch: 3-course Mushroom Week mushroom menu R120 for 3 courses and 3 glasses of Delheim wine.  Until 10 July.  Tel (021) 888-4607

Somerset West

*   Waterkloof, Somerset West: Receive a R100 voucher off for a meal in June, for meals in May.  Tel (021) 858-1491

Hermanus

*   Season in Hermanus: Sunday lunch roast from R65; Afval plus soup and glass of wine R65 on Wednesday for lunch or dinner; Lowest priced of two steaks ordered on Friday evenings is free.  August. Tel (028) 316-2854

*   The Class Room, Hermanus: 3-course Sunday lunch R130.  Winter. Tel (028) 316-3582

*   Rossi’s Italian Restaurant, Hermanus: Half price pizza and pasta Mondays;  free bottle of house wine for table of 2 or more on Wednesdays; Children under 4 eat free on Thursdays. Winter.  Tel (028) 312-2848

*   Mediterrea, Hermanus: 50 % off all main courses, Sunday – Thursdays.  Until 31 August. Tel (028) 313-1685

*   Joe’s Restaurant, Stanford: Abalone Buffet (abalone fritters, sausage, scotch eggs, burgers, curry, samoosas, and lasagne) R95, daily lunch. Winter. Tel (028) 3410 662

Plettenberg Bay

*   Nguni – Friday dinner special R50.  Every Friday.  Winter. Tel (044) 533-6710

POSTSCRIPT 5/5: TV presenter Liezel van der Westhuizen has praised her Restaurant Special meal at Blowfish as follows: “Thank you for your HotWinter specials on your site, tried out the lunch special at BlowFish, it was good value for money xoxo”

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Copyright: Whale Cottage Portfolio