Tag Archives: Mount Nelson Hotel

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 26/27 July

July 27, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* While international sporting events boost tourism to South Africa, our country has a great potential to increase tourism spend. Two constraints to tourism income have been identified: the perceptions about crime, created through media reports; and the negative publicity relating to the new Immigration Regulations, making it far more onerous for international tourists to visit our country, especially if they have children.

* Charlize Theron and Sean Penn were seen at the Mount Nelson Hotel with co-star Javier Bardem on Friday evening, after which they had dinner at Duchess of Wisbeach in Sea Point. Filming of their ‘The Last Face‘ movie is reported by the Weekend Argus to commence next month. Wedding bells are said to be ringing for a South African wedding of the couple later this year.

* The Sunday Times reported today that a number of other top actors are in Cape Town to film movies, including Sacha Baron Continue reading →

Review: High Tea at 5Rooms at The Alphen bling-bling, not a high!

July 12, 2014

It was an e-mail from the Kove Collection I received about two weeks ago which attracted attention to the new High Tea at 5Rooms Restaurant at The Alphen Hotel in Constantia. On Thursday my friend Whitney and I went to try out the afternoon tea offering at the Stefan Antoni interior design hotel

Our interaction started off badly, when I first sought information about the High Tea, the Events Manager Nicola Howard not yet having details about what would be served, nor a photograph. With the intervention of Hotel GM Hannelie Wiese, I received a menu of items to be served, and a photograph, which we blogged about.

I made the booking a day ahead of our planned visit, and this was efficiently taken by the switchboard hostess. Irritating therefore was the call from Lydia McGrail, the 5Rooms Restaurant Manager, who called on the morning of our booking, to check our booking, less than 24 hours after it was made! She is clearly from the UK, and I struggled to understand her, due to her broad British dialect, and a bad line, which meant that she called twice. Then she made Hannelie call me, to sort out any problems ahead of our arrival, which was an irritation, as such confirmation calls are intended as ‘a courtesy‘, Hannelie explained, but I said that it makes one feel distrusted and that one does not have manners. I promised her that I would never not arrive for a booking! Hannelie ended off her call by saying that I would really be impressed with the service from Lydia, as all their guests feed back. When I heard this ‘hotelspeak’, I wanted to laugh, being sceptical already. Continue reading →

Restaurant Revisit: Shimmy Beach Club has the Breakfast blues!

May 25, 2014

I received a media release from Communication Services Africa on Friday, to publicise the new weekend Breakfast offering of their client Shimmy Beach Club, the highlight being their Breakfast Pizza, of which they had sent along a photograph (left). Sadly the photograph sent did not match the Breakfast Pizza I was served yesterday.

The publicity photograph looked so good that I made sure to get to Shimmy on a grey Saturday before their Breakfast service finished at 11h00, making it just in time. I need not have rushed, as I was the only patron in the vast restaurant, which I wrote about a year ago. One of the hostesses took me through to my table, and excitedly I told her that I had come to try the Breakfast Pizza (R89), and described my dry cappuccino request to her. She promptly handed me over to Russian waitress Olga, repeating to her what I had just ordered. The LavAzza coffee did not come dry, being a full cup of coffee with a thin layer of foam. Kindly Olga got them to try it again, and the second attempt was much better. A plate with three containers of garlic, chili, and tomato sauce was brought to the table. Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 14 May

May 14, 2014

Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

* The South African wine industry should be more assertive, and not try to please everybody, says Johann Krige, owner of Kanonkop and outgoing Chairman of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), who has handed over the reins to Dr Michael Jordaan. Transformation in the industry of 680 members of WOSA and exporting collectively 550000 litres of wine is vital, Krige said. He said that the two windfalls of the ‘Mandela factor’ and a weak rand may have been bad for the industry, despite benefiting it financially, allowing inferior wines to be produced too. The Board of WOSA has the five largest ‘black exporters‘ on its Board of 15, a positive development, Krige added. He praised his Board members for working together for the ‘good of the whole industry‘. Bulk wine exports are environmentally-friendly, it being more ‘green’ to bottle at the destination. He urged the industry to be ‘terroirists‘, planting cultivars suitable to the soils on its farms. He added that the government sees the wine industry as ‘too white, too male and too Afrikaans‘, and has not acknowledged the transformation that has already taken place.

* Cape Town is praised in the British InStyle, writing with the headline ‘Why Cape Town should be your next holiday destination’ and stating that ‘Cape Town is the place to be’. Focusing largely on the Mount Nelson Hotel, almost sounding like an advertorial, it does encourage visitors to go up Table Mountain and to experience Robben Island; go on a walking tour of the city centre; visit the ‘Boulders Penguin Colony‘; see whales, dolphins, and seals, and even Great White sharks; experience the Neighbourgoods Market on Saturday mornings; and go to Greenmarket Square.

* An Africa tourism tax on flights and accommodation, currently being considered by the African Union, would have a Continue reading →