Tag Archives: Palms Market

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 →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 4 February

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Chef Heston Blumenthal has temporarily closed his Michelin 2 star Dinner restaurant in London due to an outbreak of the norovirus, which affected 24 patrons and 21 staff.  It follows the closure of his The Fat Duck restaurant five years ago for the same reason!

*   Despite making a close to R1 billion loss in the latest financial year, SAA has bid to take a share in Senegal Airlines, which is facing bankruptcy!

*   Facebook is celebrating its 10th anniversary today, and is a lucrative communication platform for tourism.  The official Australia page has attracted 5,5 million ‘Likers’, while Love Great Britain has 2 million ‘Likers’.

*   Wines of South Africa (WOSA) is celebrating the 2oth anniversary of our country’s democracy by means of a series of videos showcasing how the political transformation has touched people in the wine industry. A new video will be released on the WOSA website weekly, for a six week period.  ‘From fifth-generation labourer to co-owner of a major farming venture, from refugee to nurseryman, from scholarship student to renowned winemaker and role model, from drug-addled  gangster to farrier, each of the intimate stories in WOSA’s The Democracy Series movingly charts a journey of progress‘, states the media release.  Each video ends with a quotation by the late Nelson Mandela. (received via media release from De Kock Communications)

*   Bubbly Isabella Niehaus is celebrating the two year anniversary of the Palms Market at the PalmsDecor & Lifestyle Centre with a ‘Spectacular Cook-Out with Spekko Rice‘ on Saturday 15 February.   Six top foodies will have their cooking challenge (the dishes have to include Hermanuspietersfontein wine and 1 Continue reading →

Fun foodie day in Cape Town with MasterChef Finalist Seline van der Wat!

Seline van der Wat 4 and 20 Cafe Whale Cottage PortfolioIt was on Twitter that I saw Seline van der Wat, MasterChef SA Season 2 Finalist, request suggestions for food destinations in Cape Town.  I had so enjoyed her spunk on MasterChef SA that I invited her to join me in sharing my Foodie Cape Town yesterday.

We met at Melissa’s on Kloof Street, where I had my favourite iced coffee for the day, and Seline gave me some feedback about where she had been in Cape Town relative to my list of favourite food destinations.   The Neighbourgoods Market at the Biscuit Mill and Frankie Fenner Meat Merchants were the only two food stops she had been to already.

We talked about MasterChef SA Season 2, and she wore the wooden rabbit brooch which she had worn throughout the show.  She wears it every day, and her sister and fellow MasterChef SA Finalist Leandri was given an identical one as a gift.  One senses that they are very close, Seline being slightly older, and having an older sister who recently made them aunts, as well as a younger sister who is still at school.  She lives in Pretoria, and has resigned her job as an engineer working on renewable energy via Hydropower.  From a rigid day job she would escape to the kitchen to express her creativity via cooking, she and Leandri sharing an apartment. Seline could not stop raving about Chef Chris Erasmus at Pierneef à La Motte, loving his passion for food, and his sense of community.  She plays the piano, guitar, and cello.  They grew up in Mafikeng, and lost their mother about ten years ago, necessitating them to cook for the family of four daughters and their dad.  Having such famous daughters has made their dad a celebrity in their home town, and he has met many more of the locals since his daughters were on TV.  He himself now hosts Moroccan dinner parties, while the youngest sister is starting to learn to cook and bake as well.  Seline said that she and Leandri did not watch soaps on TV Continue reading →

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

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   La Motte is hosting a talk on ‘Shiraz and all its facets‘ with a tasting on Thursday at 18h30 – 20h45. (received via newsletter from La Motte)

*Justin Bonello is launching his new book ‘Roads Less Travelled‘ in conjunction with his The Ultimate Braai Master judges Bertus Basson and Marthinus Ferreira in November. Justin Bonello Roads Less Travelled !cid_591EB639AA894029BB6C086921E283E5@ChrisPCUnsurprisingly the book sizzles with the stories and experiences of the TV reality show, and the journey on the backroads of our country in testing the best of our country’s braaiers.

*   New York restaurant Eat has prohibited talking by its diners during their 4-course meals!

*   A new tourism region has been created, called the Vanilla Islands, consisting of Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, and Maldives.

*   La Motte is participating in the Franschhoek Art in Clay Festival, and Continue reading →