Vicky Cristina’s is the name of a movie made by Woody Allen. Now a Spanish style restaurant with the name of the movie has opened in Camps Bay. Vicky Cristina’s tapas bar y restaurante españo is inexpensive, has an upmarket interior, and good service.
Vicky Cristina’s took over the space from Sofia’s on the upper level of the Camps Bay Promenade, above Pick ‘n Pay, a few months ago. It has sister restaurants in Johannesburg and Durban. The owner of the Continue reading →
Word has spread about newly opened Chardonnay Deli in Constantia, and my expectations were high when Manley Communications sent the media release about it in December. The expectations created via the media release were not met unfortunately, and we found a Farm Stall with below-average and poorly presented food in its Eatery!
I had arranged to meet my lunch host Tony Ward at the Farm Stall, not knowing exactly where it was, and hard to see in a bend, and to turn right into to park, given the traffic load on Constantia Main Road. The branding on the roof of the building is smallish, not helping one to find it. There was barely any parking in front of or near the Farm Stall, it Continue reading →
What a fun birthday party Jenny Morris laid on at the new location of the V & A Waterfront branch of Cape Town Fish Market, on the business side of the Waterfront, where Paulaner and Moyo used to be. The restaurant has created The West Coast Village, complete with sea sand, replicating a Strandloper-type restaurant, but just done better!
The Cape Town Fish Market space is massive, and can seat up to 600 patrons in
total, on a green artificial lawn outside, and inside too, a retractable roof allowing the restaurant patrons to sit under the stars if the weather allows it. A minimum of 20 guests must book the West Coast Village, so that the food for this special menu can be prepped in advance. We were seated at long tables, with Jenny’s friends, most sitting at tables set on the beach sand. It is difficult to walk on it, and Jenny’s instruction to bring flat shoes was understandable in retrospect. At the side of The West Coast Village area is a dedicated fireplace, at Continue reading →
It was a blogpost by Tony Ward that attracted my attention to the High Tea at MannaBay, a little-known boutique hotel high up in Oranjezicht. The High Tea we were served yesterday in no way compared to what is reflected on the MannaBay website, nor is the effort it took to make the booking for the High Tea reflective of its claimed five star rating.
I have a date with my longest-standing school friend Jenny, spoiling her on her birthday, and she does the same for me. From what I saw on Tony’s blog and on their website, MannaBay seemed a nice spoiling surprise for Jenny’s birthday treat. I called late afternoon about ten days ago, wanting to book the High Tea, and the phone was answered by a waiter. The communication with him was poor, and his answers vague, so he passed me on to the Assistant Manager Nolu Dube. She told me that one would have to pay for the High Tea in full in advance, which I queried. The telephonic interaction was very poor, and seemed out of sync with the five star rating claim, and I couldn’t understand that she could not just accept my telephonic booking! She told me her GM was out, but soon thereafter Justine Ryan called, rather aggressively, saying that a non-refundable deposit of 50 % of the total has to be paid upfront. I asked her to send the invoice, but received nothing. I followed up, and discovered that she had written down the e-mail address incorrectly, despite it being spelt for her a number of times. I did receive the e-mail eventually, and wanted the invoice faxed, so that it could be paid. The invoice did not arrive, despite an over-assertive confirmation that it had been sent! Jenny had to change our date, so I wrote to Justine, informing her of our new date. There was no further communication about payment, so I stopped begging for the invoice. Continue reading →