Tag Archives: music

Restaurant food and beverage trends for 2014!

Food Trends

American restaurant consultants Baum + Whiteman have predicted twelve food and beverage trends for this year, reports Fine Dining Lovers:

1: Restaurants in Retail Stores:  restaurants will be used as a means of attracting more shoppers into malls, department stores, hotels, airports, and museums.

2: Tasting-Only Menus:  Tasting menus are increasingly replacing à la carte menus in fine dining restaurants, the diners having a more exact idea of what they are in for in terms of cost.

3: The Rise of Fine Dining Chicken (Posh Chicken):  Chicken is predicted to become as desired as a good steak when eating out, ‘cooked Sous Vide and served alongside foie gras, black mission figs or quail eggs’.

4: Out with Food Courts, In with Food Halls: Food Halls serving fine fresh foods in malls, even if more expensive, will replace the fare of fast food chains dominating shopping malls currently.

5: The Rise of Fish:  Oily fishes such as anchovies, sardines, and mackerel are increasing Continue reading →

Solms-Delta launches Gemeenskap wine club for its gemeenskap!

Solms Delta Gemeenskap Mark Solms Whale Cottage PortfolioI have not previously experienced Solms-Delta owner Professor Mark Solms as such a ‘grapjas’ (could this be a new name for a future wine?), bringing the house down with his honesty and ‘loskop professor’ talk about his wines and its Gemeenskap, losing the thread of what he wanted to say on a few occasions.

Mark is a passionate wine estate owner, whose mind races ahead faster than he can say the words, and is internationally renowned as a neuropsychologist, lecturing in London and at the University of Cape Town. His students must have a ball in his lectures. On Sunday he hosted members of the wine estate’s gemeenskap, to introduce to them the latest vintages of his wines, to introduce the new winemaker Solms Delta Gemeenskap Hagen Viljoen Whale Cottage PortfolioHagen Viljoen, and to introduce the Gemeenskap community club.  He came to the farm in 2001, and explained that the building in which we were tasting the wine was already called Fyndraai, and therefore they kept the name.  They now have consolidated three neighbouring farms, ‘because we are so good at what he do’, he said.  Music is an important passion on the farm, and Mark said that they ‘farm with music’ as much as they ‘farm with wine’!  Next year a Music Centre will be established on the wine estate. Continue reading →

Cape Town tourism industry puts diverse Cape Town on show at Indaba 2013!

After huge protests about the poorly run Indaba 2012, Africa’s top tourism and travel exhibition appears to have improved its organisation, and has promised a larger number of international trade visitors for Indaba 2013, taking place in Durban this weekend. SA Tourism has stated that 3000 international ‘buyers’ are attending, as are more than 13000 delegates, according to the Daily News. The majority of the delegates are involved with tourism product stands.  The country’s world heritage sites, culture, arts, design and music are on display, in addition to tourism products and services.  Cape Town’s tourism product appears unfocused and fragmented at Indaba!

Cape Town is being represented by the Western Cape government (its party headed by Alan Winde, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism); the ineffective Western Cape tourism and trade development agency Wesgro, which has not delivered at all in the first year of taking over the role of marketing tourism in the province; Cape Town Tourism, SA National Parks; the city’s Big Six attractions; the Cape Higher Education Consortium (what on earth are they doing at a tourism exhibition?); Cape Town World Design Capital 2014; and The City of Cape Town’s Arts and Culture department. Odd is that the City of Cape Town’s Tourism, Events and Marketing department is not represented in Durban.

Minister Winde said in a media statement that this year’s Indaba theme is ‘heritage and culture’, and that he ‘hoped’ that Robben Island and the San cultural landmarks of our province will be featured on the ‘South African Heritage Cultural Pavilion’, an odd comment as one would think that the Minister’s tourism department or his marketing arm Wesgro would have ensured their inclusion on the national stand! ‘Foreign visitors want to see more of what do (sic) and how we live, they want authentic local experiences. The Western Cape has a rich and diverse history and is home to iconic heritage sites such as Robben Island. The Western Cape Government is currently devising a cultural and heritage tourism strategy, which will be aligned with that of the national government. We are pleased the Tourism Indaba profiles this offering so prominently this year’, the Minister is quoted as saying!  Disappointing is that the Minister believes the misleading tourism information put out by Cape Town Tourism, in claiming that ‘the sector experienced its best ever summer season‘! The Minister clearly does not know that the last good summer season was in 2007!

The Western Cape has developed a new slogan which has not been seen before, but will be on show at Indaba, in an interactive stand showcasing the province’s top sights and activities, such as shark diving, the top restaurants, the Winelands, paragliding, and river rafting. ‘Adventurously yours…naturally ours’ appears contrived as a slogan, and there is no Western Cape branding in it!  The Western Cape World Heritage sites Robben Island, the Cape Floral Region, and the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape will be on show on the Heritage Cultural Pavilion.

On the same Cape Town stand the City of Cape Town (according to the Cape Town Tourism media release but quoting Councillor Grant Pascoe, Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing, extensively) ‘will reflect Cape Town’s position (sic) as a value-for-money destination famed for sporting, entertainment and arts events but will also examine (sic) its focus on golf and adventure tourism, as well as Responsible Tourism‘, states yet another poorly written media release by Cape Town Tourism PR and Communications Manager Skye Grove (our underlining)!  The Councillor added that Cape Town will also focus on ‘the fastest growing markets’ (one wonders where he obtained this information, as Cape Town Tourism and Wesgro have not ever referred to them in the past) of Arts and Culture tourism, Muslim travel, youth travel, and sports tourism!

Cape Town Tourism has compiled a ‘Love Cape Town City Breaks‘ winter packages broadsheet in conjunction with Thompson Holidays, which will be handed out at the stand, on Mango flights, at Cape Town Tourism information centres, and at Cape Town events (not that there are any upcoming ones other than some soccer matches to keep the Cape Town Stadium alive, and to make Cape Town soccer lovers happy, the Liverpool friendly match against Ajax Cape Town just having been cancelled)!   Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, Cape Town Tourism CEO, said that her organisation’s role at Indaba is to represent ‘a place that is a hot bed (sic) of experiences, hidden gems and adventures‘, not even mentioning Brand Cape Town (our underlining)!

As tourism players we know that the presence of Cape Town and Wesgro at Indaba will do little to improve what is already a very bleak winter season, which cannot even be blamed on the rain, as there has been barely any to date!

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

The Grand Café in Plett is no longer grand!

I have loved the Grand Café and Rooms from the time it opened in Plettenberg Bay four years ago, and I stayed in it whilst I was having the building renovated that has become my Whale Cottage Plettenberg Bay.  It has had its ups and downs over this period, but seems to have lost its edge since it was taken over by new owner Sue Main, and who subsequently added the Camps Bay and Granger Bay branches in Cape Town.   We were most disappointed with our last visit a week ago.

But to start at the beginning of The Grand Café and Rooms.   Enterprising entrepreneur (Homework clothing) Gail Behr opened this unusual pink-painted 8-bedroom boutique hotel and restaurant in Plett.  It was at the time that I travelled to Plett once a month to oversee the renovations to what was to become our newest guest house.   The Grand became my home from home for a year of travelling, and I was well looked after by the friendly staff, including Steven, Sydney, Robert and Eric.   The room decor is unusual, extravagant in its use of red velvet, extra-ordinarily high beds with bedside stools, and generous baths.   But it was the Café part of The Grand that we loved especially, and the music collection played boldly throughout the day via an iPod compiled by Behr’s son Steven Whiteman was amazing – Mozart for breakfast, opera for late morning, light jazz during the day, Sinatra for the early evening, more jazz at night.  It gave the restaurant the most wonderful atmosphere at any time of the day, and a character which I have never experienced before.   To add to the charm created by the music is the Café deck, with a wonderful view over the Plett lagoon, from which one can see amazing moon rises.  In early days The Grand was a meeting point of all Behr’s friends from Cape Town, Johannesburg and other corners of the world.  It took a long time to meet Gail, and I was quite intimated by her initially, given quite a stern sounding set of house rules.  But she was much nicer than the rules made her sound when we did finally meet. 

All good things come to an end, and Behr decided to move into the hotel, and only use the top four rooms for guests, and she lived downstairs.  The Café was no longer open to the public, falling into Behr’s private space, and guests were served a very restricted breakfast relative to what we were used to, in a non-view courtyard.  The building was painted white, and it lost its charm.   Then The Grand Café and Rooms was sold to Main, who built on the success of this brand to open first in Camps Bay (buying the building for about R40 million), and then The Grand on the Beach a year ago.   It was odd to see The Grand crockery in other restaurants, such as Nguni, before it was sold to Main.   One welcome change Main made was to have the building repainted its landmark pinky colour.  Admirably she changed little about the decor, which also reflects Behr’s initial lush red velvet look.  Main even used Adam Whiteman, another Behr son, who is an interior decorator, to decorate the Camps Bay restaurant.

One comfortable thing about The Grand Café is that its menu has not changed much over the four years, and that the prices seem to have largely remained the same too.   The first problem we encountered with the nice branded maroon menu folder is that the starter and main course/dessert  pages were swopped around in it.  The menu does not resemble the A3 “newspaper” feel of those in the Cape Town restaurants.  Our order was taken, before we were asked if we had been told about the specials by Sybil, who seemed to be in charge and who has been at The Grand from the time it opened. She sent another waiter, but he too struggled to tell us the specials, which will be on the new menu introduced this week, but that had been available to order for the past week already.  Before we could not even reconsider our order, given the specials, our food was served!

The tempura prawn starter (R70) is absolutely mouthwatering, and is a signature dish.  None of the other The Grand branches can prepare it like the Plett branch can, Camps Bay using shrimps which just do not match the wonderful Plett prawns.  The slice of Caesar has also been a standard, costing R60 for the iceberg served with bacon, croutons and parmesan, and R80 with chicken added.  The Waldorf salad costs R 55; tuna (R45) and vegetable (R35) spring rolls; salmon naan (R 75); and calamari rings cost R40 as a starter and R65 as a main.   One of the problems with a menu is that restaurants take them away when one has placed the order.   Only when leaving did I recheck the menu, and realise that our served calamari (crumbed calamari tubes) were not as described on the menu at all – they were not “tender” nor “rings”!   Mussels and chips cost R 75, a prego roll R60/R65 for beef chicken/beef fillet.   There are only five main courses, including fish and chips (R70); line fish (R95); fillet “Bernaise” (R115); and Durban lamb curry (R115), which my colleagues ordered, with super poppadoms, basmati rice and sambals of yoghurt, bananas, tomato and cucumber, and chutney.   Desserts have not changed in five years, being Afagato (R35), Phina Afagato (R45), and Cake of the day (R34).

The new menu was e-mailed to me, and a new addition is pizzas, ranging in price from R70 for the Grand “Margerita” to the blockbuster Grand Seafood Pizza at R220!   Sugared Salmon (R100), an old standard, is back.   Oysters and cold crayfish (both SQ) have been added as starters.

The winelist has a small selection of wines per variety, but vintages are not specified.  The (unspecified) house wines are offered in white, Rosé, red, sparkling, and sparkling Rosé, ranging from R35 per glass/R195 per bottle.  Suzette Champagne costs R150 for 375 ml.  Sparkling wines cost R 220 for Steenberg 1682, “Pierre Jordaan (sic) Belle Rose NV” R275, and Bramon Brut R265, a local Plettenberg Bay bubbly.  Billecart-Salmon Rose costs R900, Moet & Chandon R800 and Dom Perignon R 2800.   Sauvignon Blancs range from R95 for Glenwood, to R180 for Springfield Life from Stone.   Kevin Arnold Shiraz costs R340.

The Grand Café bubble has burst in Plettenberg Bay.  While it is commendable to see it still operating, given how depressed Plettenberg Bay is, the service was shocking, a regular complaint about The Grand on the Beach, but for all the wrong reasons – there were only three of four tables eating in total, and both waiters were very new and poorly trained, and one of them came with attitude too.  Our calamari served was completely different to what the menu described. The trademark magical music is gone.  Sadly, The Grand Café in Plettenberg Bay is no longer grand!  

The Grand Café and Rooms,  27 Main Road, Plettenberg Bay.  Tel (044) 533-3301.  www.thegrand.co.za   (the website is minimalist, quite contrary to the lush interiors, and is shared across the three Grand restaurants.  Surprisingly, no menu, winelist, nor any food photographs are in the Gallery of any of the three website sections).   Open for lunch and dinner Monday – Sunday for the season.

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