Tag Archives: The Grand Cafe

The Grand Sweet and Fresh Sour Service Awards

The Sweet Service Award goes to Justin at The Grand Cafe in Camps Bay, for greeting his regular customers by name, always making a plan to make a table available, even if a booking has not been made, and for even remembering the customers’ favourite dishes on the menu.   He creates a most welcoming atmosphere, a rare attribute, not experienced at other local restaurants.

 

The Sour Service Award goes to Fresh laundry in Sea Point, for being unable to get stains out of laundry, yet charging a fortune for it, and rude service when the customer’s unhappiness was expressed.   On the day that the laundry was dropped off, the franchisee, Mrs Mitchell, was at the Main Road outlet.  The staff member writing out the slip on that day was ill, and was not able to give good service.  Mrs Mitchell did not send the staff member home nor did she take over from her.  She did not say that she thought that they would not get the stains out, which is what the customer was told when she arrived, yet had to pay R 200 for 4 items of bed linen.   Esther was on duty on the day of collection, and refused to take the customer’s laundry out of the cupboard until the payment had been done.  She screamed at the customer, took her time in taking the payment, made calls to Mrs Mitchell to hold up the process even further, the customer had to take the linen out of the cupboard herself,  and the customer was called a “bitch” when she left the laundry!

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.

Camps Bay is cooking!

Three new restaurants have opened in Camps Bay on trendy Victoria Road, opposite the beachfront, thereby bringing the number of restaurants in Camps Bay to close to 30.

The three new restaurants have just opened in the space of the erstwhile Caltex petrol station: The Kove, Bungalow and Gateway to India.

The Kove and Bungalow are owned by the same owner (Paul Kovensky) as Paranga in Camps Bay, just a hop away, and Pepenero in Mouille Point.  

The rather oddly-named The Kove is “a traditional grill house”, according to its advertorial in the Cape Times.   “Combining old-school classics with new-age cuisine, this beach grill offers upmarket dining for discerning patrons”, its PR blurb continues.   Its interior has a red and white rose and ivy design on the ceiling, intended to create an “Alice in Wonderland” effect.   It sports a sommelier and an “award-winning wine list”, the latter being a claim it cannot make as the restaurant only opened this month.

Bungalow is described as a “cutting-edge, contemporary cafe”, with “cutting-edge molecular gastronomy”, its advertorial claims.    Chef Gabriel le Roux has international experience, including at Michelin-star restaurants, and he creates unusual dishes with unique flavour combinations.  “LIme airs, citric atoms, foams and liquid nitrogen are all an integral part of his culinary creations.”

Christian Barnard, a partner with Kovensky in Paranga, does not seem to be involved in the new ventures at all.  

Gateway to India has opened its doors in the past two days, and is a sister restaurant to a same-name Indian restaurant in Umhlanga Rocks.    Its luxury chandeliers attract attention from the beachfront, but may be over the top for an Indian restaurant, and for a restaurant in general in the time of the global credit crunch.

The Grand Cafe in Camps Bay, a little further down on Victoria Road, is fully booked every night, even though it has only been open for two months.  On Monday night John Cleese was dining there, as well as a very very important VIP, who had 5 bodyguards protecting him and his fellow diners sitting outside on the terrace.    Staff were not allowed to reveal more than his first name “Paul”.

New restaurant openings on the menu

Despite the depressed economy, the restaurant industry appears to be confident about the future, with a number of new restaurant openings.  

The first restaurant to open is the re-awakened Roundhouse in Camps Bay, once the site of one of Cape Town’s finest restaurants.   Owner Fasie Malherbe proudly brags that his restaurant will become the best in Africa!   He is unashamedly Proudly Capetonian, and states that he only wants locals to support his restaurant – he is not interested in tourists.   Also owner of the training company Let’s Sell Lobster, which has just been contracted by Wines of South Africa to train 2010 winestewards to deliver excellent service, Malherbe recently supported his GM’s rudeness, on the basis that his shareholder interests were being protected!

Franschhoek already is the Gourmet Capital of South Africa, with three of the country’s Top Ten restaurants located in this beautiful village.   Competition is set to increase, with three new restaurant openings.  Richard Carstens is said to be opening on Huguenot Road, not far from the Monument, in a newly renovated Victorian Cottage.    Carstens was a Top Ten chef when he headed up Bijoux in Franschhoek about 5 years ago, and continued wearing the Top Ten chef crown when he left Franschhoek for Lynton Hall near Pietermaritzburg.   A stint at Manolo in Cape Town followed, but ended before it had really got going. Carstens may not be opening in Franschhoek after all, given an alleged fall-out with landlord Trevor Kirsten. 

Bertus Basson is cooking up a storm at his restaurant Overture on the Hidden Valley Estate in Stellenbosch, and will turn up the heat in Franschhoek when he opens his restaurant Genot on Kleingenot in December.  Ever evolving Solms Delta is opening its new restaurant Fyndraai in the season. Reubens has undergone a make-over and expansion, and newly married Maryke Riffel is back on the floor, welcoming patrons.

Camps Bay too will see a further four new restaurants opening this season, with the Grill House, an Indian restaurant and a Paranga Bar opening below Blues.   The Grand Cafe will open in the Opium location, as a restaurant well-known to the Plettenberg Bay jetset for its simple yet yummy menu and exceptional music.  The Grand in Plettenberg Bay was the brainchild of Gail Behr, who has since sold her Grand Cafe and Rooms.  The Grand in Camps Bay will also offer accommodation.