Tag Archives: The Ledbury

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 7 April

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The Elite 100 fine-dining restaurants in the world have been announced for 2014, with three Cape restaurants on the list: The Test Kitchen at 45th place, The Tasting Room at 82nd, and Rust en Vrede (which the Cape Argus placed in Durbanville rather than in Stellenbosch!) at 85th place.  The world’s top 10 restaurants, according to Elite, are Alinea in Chicago, Daniel Restaurant in New York, The Fat Duck in Bray in the UK, Eleven Madison Park in New York, Le Bernardin in New York, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona in Spain, Azurmendi in Vizcaya, La Pergola in Rome, The Ledbury in London, and Osteria Francescana in Modena in Italy.  The Cape Argus incorrectly created one restaurant name out of  the 7th and 8th ranked restaurants!  A surprise is the omission of five hundred at The Saxon, which kitchen is headed by South Africa’s Top Chef David Higgs.

*   After 45 years in the local and international hospitality industry, which includes the One&Only hotel group, Sol Kerzner is retiring, after selling a substantial stake of his Kerzner International Holdings to a Dubai-based company.

*   New York Travel focuses on Spring Travel in South Africa, specifically in Cape Town and surrounding areas.  In Cape Town the article mentions I Love my Laundry, the The Crypt Jazz Restaurant and The Marly in Camps Bay. It also refers to Cape Town’s role as host of World Design Capital 2014.   Continue reading →

WOSA Sommelier World Cup clever way to market South African wines!

WOSA Sommelier Cup Will Predhomme Whale Cottage PortfolioYesterday I spent a most entertaining afternoon at the Grande Roche hotel in Paarl, to observe the last phase of the Wines of South Africa (WOSA) Sommelier World Cup competition, the announcement and evaluation of the Top 3, and the awarding of the prize to the winning sommelier Will Predhomme.

The invited guests were the twelve finalists for the Sommelier World Cup, media representatives from the USA (I sat next to Rebecca Canan from the Terroirist Blog), Sweden, and Belgium, local writers, the local and international sommelier judges, and WOSA staff from its international offices as well as from its head office in Stellenbosch.   After a welcome glass of wine, we sat down for lunch at Bosman’s, and it was clear to see why this Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 7/8 September

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The first ever Canadian Braai Day will be held in Toronto on 21 September, to celebrate our South African heritage and wine culture, sponsored by Two Oceans and Nederburg wines.

*   The 2013 Champagne vintage could become as good as the legendary 1996, early analyses indicate.

*   The Northern Cape is the province with the second highest revenue derived from Hunting Tourism, earning it R 398 million per year, with a strong interest from Spanish, Danish, and American hunters.

*   ‘Sell stories, don’t sell wine‘ said 1WineDude American blogger Joe Roberts in his keynote address at the Nederburg Wine Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 10 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   The weak Rand could be a boost to tourism to our country, but the cost of flights is still high and a deterrent. Cost increases can be faced by tourism players too, reports Southern African Travel News Update.

*   China, Germany and the USA are the largest tourism spending countries, partly related to their population size, a study has shown.  China’s tourism market value is just over $100 billion.

*   Lack of co-operation between the air traffic regulatory bodies in Africa is dampening the avitaion industry within the African continent, report’s Uganda’s New Vision.

*   Hanneli Slabber must be one of the most dynamic country managers of SA Tourism.  She is flying  South African chefs to India, to teach them Gujarati cuisine, whilst they in turn are teaching Indian chefs South African style Indian cuisine. Continue reading →