Tag Archives: Palms Lifestyle and Decor Centre

Palms Market celebrates second anniversary with top chef Cook-Off!

Palms Market Bella Niehaus Whale Cottage PortfolioOne of my favourite Saturday markets in Cape Town is the Palms Market, which has a special collection of more than 40 stall holders offering quality products, under the guidance of Isabella Niehaus, who conceptualised the market to attract more feet into the decor outlets in the Palms Lifestyle and Decor Centre.  Yesterday the market celebrated its second anniversary with a ‘Reis met Rys‘ Cook-Off between five well-known chefs, creating dishes with Spekko rice.

In a two hour preparation period, Sarie food editor Herman Lensing, Kokkedoor finalist Marinda Engelbrecht, Slippery Spoon pop-up restaurateur Johnny Hamman, blogger and Radio Sonder Grense Kuberkok Nina Timm, Expresso Show cook and presenter Zola Nene, and My Basaar restaurant owner and Dagbreek TV show presenter Bernice van der Merwe created a diverse variety of rice dishes.   They had been given the rice and a bottle of Hermanuspietersfontein wine, and groceries to the value of R75 to prepare their dishes.  For us as judges there were few rules, other than to find the winner, which we did by scoring each dish out of ten.  My fellow judges were Pieter Arno du Toit from Cederberg Wines, Ingrid Jones from Mango’s Juice magazine, presenter Eloise Pretorius from Smile FM, and Landbouweekblad Food editor Arina du Plessis.

The live cooking attracted a lot of interest and attention from the Palms Market shoppers, peering Continue reading →

New Palms Market brings Platteland fresh food to Cape Town!

A wonderful trend is the growing number of food markets opening up in Cape Town. The newest market is the Platteland (countryside) fresh food market, held at the Palms Lifestyle and Decor Centre, which opened on Saturday and will be held fortnightly.

It was an e-mail that alerted me the the new market, followed up by an invitation to visit.  The market is the brainchild of food stylist Isabella Niehaus, who herself is one of the stall holders, and the stylist in her showed with the beautiful display on her table, with a large dish of cherry tomatoes.

Isabella has attracted food suppliers from the platteland, most of whom have never been seen in Cape Town before, making the Platteland Market fresh and unusual, unlike the other more ‘commercialised’ markets. Being new, the market was not crowded, and the prices charged were very reasonable.

The stallholders include Anna Rita with fabulous fresh figs from Porterville, juicy grapes from Wellington, and relishes.  Wines come from Lemberg Estate. Designer Rooibos teas come from Carmien from Citrusdal. Fresh flowers come from Henriette and Marica Louw in Philadelphia and Melkbos. Kotie is the mushroom lady from Darling, selling beautiful mushrooms (dried and fried). Vos Pienaar brought mussels and oysters from Saldanha. Karen Basson sells meats from Nicky Lategan’s butchery in Mooreesburg, and beautiful breads.  Fiamma Forsdick comes from Koringberg, and previously ran restaurants in Cape Town, and a cookery school called Yum. She is Cordon Bleu trained, in Switzerland.  Her table was laden with home-made chicken pies, patés, a game terrine, and beautiful cakes.  Sanet Eigelaar brought her special cupcakes from Saldanha.  Doreen makes vetkoek fresh at the market.  Elenor from Melkbos makes gourmet sandwiches. Christine Carpendale, who runs a cookery school in Langebaan, did a demonstration of how to use smoked snoek.

The Platteland stallholders were a bit overwhelmed by us city types, and seemed surprised about our requests not to be called ‘Tannie’, and for their business cards, which most did not have.  They were very friendly, and clearly passionate about their produce.  Isabella Niehaus and her team are to be congratulated in bringing such a different and unique market to Cape Town.

Disclosure: We received a gift bag with a De Kat magazine, a bottle of Lemberg wine, a pack of Carmien tea, and a container of Isabella’s tomato relish.

The Palms Market, Palms Decor and Lifestyle Centre, 145 Sir Lowry Road, Cape Town.  Tel (021) 462-0394.  www.palms.co.za Twitter:@PalmsMarket  Every second Saturday 10h00 – 15h00.  Parking is free on Market Saturdays.

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