Tag Archives: The Quarter

Topsi is tops!

At the ‘Tribute to Topsi’ held on 18 May at the Barnyard Theatre in the Willowbridge Centre 500 foodie and Topsi lovers gathered together to “honour a doyenne and living legend of South African food and a wonderful human being”, and to collect funds for a knee replacement operation for her.  

 

A jointly organised event by John Jackson of African Banquet Collections and the Chaine des Rotisseurs, in conjunction with the Franschhoek Lion’s Club, the evening had a strong Franschhoek presence, with many local residents attending the fabulous evening.  The food was prepared and donated by leading restaurants including Le Quartier Francais, Bruce Robertson’s new The Quarter, Cellars Hohenhort, La Colombe and many more. Delectable wines were donated.  Neil Els of Boschendal was the master of ceremonies and auctioneer.

 

A line-up of excellent performers, including Rocco de Villiers, Coenie de Villiers, Daniele Pascale, Elzabe Zietsman, boy group BRAVO and Nataniel entertained the appreciative crowd utilizing a very “gay-pink Liberace piano”, and dedicated their talent to Topsi.  Nataniel brought the house down with his stories about his 30-year friendship with Topsi, and when he presented her with a rosary (“instead of rosemary”)!

 

Topsi was praised by speakers for her generosity, having given her dog away to an American tourist who asked her for the dog, and she gave away a diamond brooch because a friend complimented her on it. Topsi answered that she was as close to heaven on earth as she could be, with all the tributes spoken and sung to her whiles she is still alive, and wished her Franschhoek friend Di Gage, who died recently, could have enjoyed such a feast of appreciation too.   Topsi was described as the “Madiba of cooking in South Africa”.

 

The who’s who of chefs attended the wonderful evening, and included Bruce Robertson, Pete Goffe-Wood, Bertus Basson, Camil Haas, Peter Veldsman, Marlene van der Westhuizen, Jenny Morris, Reuben Riffel, and Garth Stroebel.

 

This article was written by Chris von Ulmenstein, and was first published in the June 2009 issue of  The Franschhoek Month.

Hospitality industry should be grateful

The Cape Times article “Restaurants, hotels ‘need innovation to survive slump'” (28 May) appears to exaggerate the effect of the credit crunch on the hospitality industry.
 
The hospitality players interviewed are not reflecting the seasonality problem, which affects the hospitality business badly in winter in Cape Town, compared to many other cities in South Africa.
 
Misleading reports heralding closures of restaurants in Cape Town, neglect to correct these when a restaurant like Summerville in Camps Bay never stopped trading – the liquidators handed over the running of the restaurant to new owners on 1 May, just a week after the news that the restaurant had “closed down”.    Bruce Robertson, of The Showroom, which closed down at the same time, has already opened a new but smaller “gourmet bunny-chow restaurant” called The Quarter.   Ian Halfon has also denied that his coffee shop Donatella’s in the V & A Waterfront closed due to the credit crunch.  He says that his lease expired. 
 
The hospitality industry has a lot to be grateful for, and does not need to ride on World Cup 2010 to say that all will be well.   The British and Irish Lions rugby matches in Cape Town on 13 and 23 June will lead to many hotels and guest houses being fully booked around those dates, and these rugby fans are staying for four days or more, which is unusual for winter bookings.  Sadly, the IPL did not benefit the mainstream guesthouse and hotel industry in our city at all.
 
The five successive interest rate cuts are fantastic news for all with bonds on their guest houses and B & B’s  –  the Whale Cottage bond costs for four guest houses are now down by R 50 000 per month compared to December 2008, when the first rate cut was announced.   This means that Whale Cottage can afford to drop its winter rates by 50 % relative to the summer rate, and it helps to cushion the reduced occupancy. 

More restaurant ups and downs

Another fatality of the credit crunch is the closure of coffee shop Donatella’s in the V & A Waterfront, which belonged to Ian Halfon, owner of the St. Elmo’s pizza chain, and of the Balthazar and Balducci restaurants in the Waterfront.   It closed overnight last week.

Recently Madame Zingara, The Showroom, Summerville, Cafe Delmar and Wangthai in Camps Bay, 48 on Hout, and Riboville closed down.

Selected outlets of Melissa, The Dros, Cattle Baron, Cape Town Fish Market,  Wangthai, Sundance Cafe’s, and St. Elmo’s have closed down recently, reports the Weekend Argus.                                                                  

Good news is that ex-Showroom owner Bruce Robertson has opened The Quarter in Long Street, in the same building as the New Space Theatre, and two doors away from The Showroom Cafe, which also belongs to Robertson.

The three Vida e Caffe coffee shops that recently closed on Greenmarket Square, in St George’s Mall and in the Bayside Mall, have re-opened, now belonging directly to the franchisor, and no longer to the franchisee.

Auctioneer Rael Levitt of the Alliance Group and City Partnership CEO Andrew Borraine warn of further tough times ahead, and say that this will affect the restaurant trade, in that there are too many new restaurants combined with a cut back by patrons eating out at restaurants.