Tag Archives: The Oyster Box

Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa High Tea goes pink for Women’s Month!

12 Apostles Pink High Tea No bubbly Whale Cottage (2)I am a fan of High Teas, and was delighted to receive an invitation from the Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa communications agency FIVESTAR PR to try out their new Pink High Tea, which celebrates Women’s Month in August, and Breast Cancer Awareness month in September.

I invited my friend Whitney to join me, having recently joined me for the Alphen Hotel’s 5Rooms’ new Afternoon Tea, which we experienced as being very disappointing.  The first thing that impresses at the Twelve Apostles is the friendliness of the staff, from the time one enters the front door.  The High Tea was served in the Leopard Bar, and we were lucky that the sun had come out at the time we were there, giving us a lovely view of Lion’s Head. Phumlela looked after us perfectly, bringing more tea and cappuccino, and topping up our water.  The second impressive aspect is the time which management and the staff12 Apostles Pink High Tea Lions Head Whale Cottage make to chat and to obtain feedback.  First to greet us was Assistant Food & Beverage Manager Dominic Berenato, who has moved across from The Westin, and who was very friendly and helpful in finding us the perfect table.  Next to pop by was Jill Wagner, who is in charge of Sales & Marketing for the Red Carnation hotels in our country, including The Oyster Box and Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve.  Then GM Michael Nel came to greet us, clearly enjoying his new role at the hotel.

Phumlela talked us through the Pink High Tea.  She told us that it costs R160 per person, and it includes Continue reading →

‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ – who is he, are SA viewers being misled, Woolworths pushing its Australian investments ?

Hayden Quinn Title page sunflowersThe question on the lips of many South African viewers of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’ is: why Hayden Quinn?  Why choose a MasterChef Australia top 3 finalist (no, not winner) of 2011 (no, not even 2013) to promote the beauty of South Africa and its abundance of sustainable foods amongst South Africans? We did some research, and found that South African viewers are being misled about the TV show host, and that Woolworths appears to have a hidden agenda in pushing its Australian investments!

I started with the Cardova Group, the production company of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa‘, and of the ‘Expresso Morning Show’ and ‘Top Travel‘ too, all flighted on SABC3.  A random e-mail landed in my Inbox from LinkedIn, asking me to congratulate Mark Bland as newly appointed Producer of ‘Hayden Quinn: South Africa’, just as the series kicked off and my interest in it was piqued.   I got Mark’s cellphone number via LinkedIn, and asked him for more information about the food series.  He was extremely hesitant in talking to me, even though we have known each other for  a good two to three years.  He is a regular reader of my blog, and has commented on it on occasion.  I was taken aback about his hesitancy to meet, to talk about the new show, stating that he had just been promoted, and did not want to jeopardise his new appointment in case I wrote something that could land him in trouble. As a regular reader he would have known that I can only write what I have been told.  As the producer of the show, one would have thought that he would have wanted information about the series to be shared, or expected that he would have referred me to a PR person within his company, or at Woolworths, SABC3, and/or Nedbank, the major sponsors of the series.  The best he could send me was this bland (pardon the pun) media release: Continue reading →

Brent Perremore of Orphanage Cocktail Emporium SA’s top 2014 World Class mixologist!

World Class Brent Perremore Whale CottageIn a tough three day challenge, with seven top bar tenders from around the country vying for the title of Diageo Reserve WORLD CLASS National Final, held at The Marly and its Umi restaurant in Camps Bay earlier this week, Brent Perremore of Orphanage Cocktail Emporium was named South Africa’s best Mixologist.  He will represent our country against 49 other mixologists in the Diageo Reserve World Class Global Final in Scotland and in London later this month, with literary-themed cocktail challenges.

Brett said about winning the South African title: ‘Winning the opportunity to compete in the Global Final is a great honour. WORLD CLASS is about elevating the standard of mixology across the world, and I am very excited to represent South Africa in London and Scotland’.   The two runners-up were Haroon Haffajee from Harry’s Cocktail Bar in Durban, and Marson Strydom from Buena Vista Social Café in Somerset West.  Other finalists were Jeff Lopes of The Michelangelo Hotel, Johannesburg’s best barman; Simphiwe Ngcobo, also of The Michelangelo Hotel; Assaf Yechiel, also from World Class 7 finalists Whale CottageOrphanage Cocktail Emporium; and Steven Saunders from The Oyster Box. The finalists were judged on the flavour balance and taste of their cocktails, aromatics, expression of the base spirit, overall presentation, brand and category knowledge, entertainment value, originality, and interaction with the judges. 

The judges that evaluated the performance of the finalist bar tenders were Chef and MasterChef SA World Class Pete Goffe-Wood Whale Cottagejudge Pete Goffe-Wood, 2012 Global World Class Champion Tim Philip, 2013 South African World Class National winner Nick Koumbarakis (also from Orphanage Cocktail Emporium), Travis Kuhn from Pure Bar Studios, and Tim Etherington-Judge, Diageo Reserve Brand Ambassador for Africa and Global Ambassador for Bulleit Bourbon.   Continue reading →

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 30 April/1 May

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Table Mountain National Park is offering South African residents free entry to its Silvermine, Oudekraal, Perdekloof, and Newlands Forest picnic spots today, in celebration of its 16th anniversary.

*   SAA has announced that its three weekly flights to Beijing are departing at a more passenger-friendly time of 20h35 from today, four hours earlier than in the past, for the 15 hour flight from Johannesburg to China.

*   Only 40% of British men would order a bottle of wine in a pub, compared to 90% of them enjoying wine in their homes, for fear of being ridiculed by their mates.   Half of male drinkers would order wine in a restaurant. Male hosts to dinner parties at home would be more likely to choose a wine that could be a talking point to serve their guests, while women hosts are very unlikely to choose such a wine.

*   Chef Chantel Dartnall of Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient up north is a magnificent plater and creative Continue reading →