The Sweet Service Award goes to Babylonstoren, for its very efficient delivery service. Driving all the way from Franschhoek, the delivery is free, an estimated delivery time is communicated on the morning of the delivery date, the driver usually arrives ahead of this time (under promise, over deliver), and the drivers are friendly and professional.
The Sour Service Award goes to SANTACO Taxi Association, for its calling of a six day strike of its Taxi members in Cape Town and the rest of the Western Cape province. The Association is using the strike as a means of protesting against what it refers to the unfair impoundment of its members’ taxis by the City of Cape Town. The City and its Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is taking a hard line against the taxis breaking road and driving City by-laws. Not only is every taxi driver not earning an income in the week ahead, but so too is every employed member of staff who cannot get to their jobs via taxi in this period.
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 chrisvonulmenstein [at] gmail.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323
Twitter:@Ulmenstein
Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, WhaleTales Blog, Camps Bay Clean
On Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Sunday Buffet Lunch of What I Ate at Ate, created and curated by my friend and chef, cook and connoisseur Tania Olivier. A new business for Tania,she passionately presents quintessential South African dishes locals remember with nostalgia, and visitors to our city can experience in the cosyness of her home on Kloof Street.
Tania Olivier
Tania grew up in Paarl, in an Afrikaans home, and was inspired to cook by her mother Helene, who used the South African Bible of cooking: Kook en Geniet. Many of the recipes of Tania’s dishes come from the cook book. She has also researched South African cuisine extensively, including C Louis Leipoldt, one of the first persons to document South African cuisine, dating as far back as the early 20th century. He was a poet, a doctor, reporter, and food expert. During the meal Tania shares stories about our local cuisine and her specific dishes.
The invitation is for 12h00, and one is offered potato and beef or chicken samoosas with a glass of wine on arrival. Seated at a long table of ten on Sunday, yet able to seat up to 16 guests in her open-plan lounge, office and kitchen, one randomly chooses a seat, and enjoys getting to know the persons on one’s right and left. An unexpected guest arrived last minute, and he shared his fascinating food business story with me. A lovely couple from Stellenbosch sat opposite me, and we had lively discussions about beach cleaning, the Barbie movie as well as Oppenheimer, the short term accommodation business, and developments at La Motte in Franschhoek.
Tania welcomed her guests, and explained the starters to us. Her Pickled fish made with yellowtail was sweeter and less curry-tasting she said. The dish was flavoured with Indian curry and to it was added roasted nuts, thinly sliced red pepper, and it was plated on a bed of rocket. It was finished off with a sauce and yoghurt, and topped with a black sesame seed dressing. It was a beautifully presented dish, on a large platter, almost looking like a salad. Being such a cold day, her mushroom soup made with mushrooms and cream and a hint of truffle oil, served in Le Creuset mugs, was a perfect start to the meal.
Pickled fish
Tania and her assistant chef Trust quietly work in the background, finalising the main courses, and the conversation at our end of the table got going very quickly. Tania wants to tell the South African food story, and Chef Trust will add a Xhosa dimension to it, he having prepared an oxtail dish for the main course.
The main course was an indulgent feast, its star attraction being the roast leg of lamb, accompanied by some vegetables, cooked as is and unseasoned, she said. She added thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper later, and had cooked carrot and onions in the lamb sauce. The lamb was sourced from the Karoo, a winner lamb region in a chefs cook-off, comparing lamb from various parts of our province.
Roast Leg of Lamb
Bobotie is the most typical South African dish, and served in numerous South African households, with its origin being the slaves brought to Cape Town from Malaysia and Indonesia in the late 17th Century. Tania had generously made two versions of the dish, one more fruity with lamb and apricots, and another with beef, wanting us to detect the difference. They were served with white rice. In addition, she offered the most beautiful looking beetroot popsicle dish, looking like small toffee apples, with baby beets dipped in saffron and cinnamon-infused beetroot candy on a skewer. It’s simplicity of presentation in a white bowl with a few red splashes looked like a modern art work. If that wasn’t enough food, she offered a huge lettuce, avocado and parmigiana salad, as well as a roast cherry tomato and feta salad. Roast potatoes as well as mash, and the oxtail cooked in an African style in a tomato sauce finished off this amazing feast.
Beetroot popsicles
As if we had not eaten enough already, we were served three desserts:
*. One of the best known traditional desserts is Malva pudding, a South African speciality with Dutch roots. It contains apricot jam or preserves. It is drenched with a sauce or syrup. Its name comes from the original use of Malvasia wine in its preparation. ‘Malva’ is the Afrikaans word for marshmallow, and the textures are similar. It was served warm, with custard.
*. Another beloved South African dessert and cake is melktert, made with a homemade shortcrust pastry, its filling being a creamy, cardamom and cinnamon custard, topped with a hint of cumin and lots of cinnamon.
Melktert
*. A dessert I had not heard of before but was made in Tania’s parents’ home was Japie se Gunsteling (Japie’s favorite) , a baked orange pudding, containing lemon and orange juice, and served with freshly whipped cream.
Japie de Gunsteling
A choice of tea or coffee was offered with the desserts, and brought a wonderful Sunday Lunch to a close.
Dining for ten
Footnote: On Tuesday I guided Swiss tourist Melvin and he asked me about a restaurant at which he could eat traditional South African dishes. I thought of Biesmiellah in Bo-Kaap, but have not been impressed with its service nor pricing. Another restaurant servicing Bobotie is closed for a winter break. I thought of Tania, and called her, asking if she had any Bobotie left over from the Sunday Lunch. She said that she had, and 45 minutes later we arrived to a table laid for two, and spoilt with Bobotie and rice, left-over lamb roast, oxtail in a tomato sauce, and a dessert of Japie se Gunsteling, with espresso for me and Stokkies Rooibos for Melvin. Melvin was impressed with the dishes he tried and the amount of South African cuisine information which Tania shared with him.
What I Ate at Ate, Tania Olivier, Cell 060 529 9891. R700 per head
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323
Twitter:@Ulmenstein
Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide, WhaleTales Blog
Camps Bay Community Litter Clean on Sunday 30 July🌴🐠🐳🐬🦤🐡🐟🌴
Please join our Community Beach Clean, on Sunday 30 July, from 11h00 – 12h00. We meet opposite The 41 Restaurant.
Please bring members of your family and friends and colleagues, wearing gloves. We will provide bags.
The 41 Restaurant offers complimentary Fitch & Leedes beverages for each participant. It also offers a prize of two Burgers for the person collecting the most litter.
We welcome learners in joining us for their Community projects.
Please assist us with donations so that we can appoint Joy full-time on weekdays from August.
LETS KEEP CAPE TOWN CLEAN, TOGETHER 🌴💚
Chris von Ulmenstein 🌴Camps Bay Clean💚 Camps Bay Ratepayers Association 0825511323
I wrote the last post on my Blog almost a year ago.
A number of factors led to my writing silence. The dominant one was the time and energy it took to buy a house and sell my apartment in EbbTide, both in Camps Bay, the market conditions being difficult in 2022 going into this year. I had almost daily viewers in my apartment, requiring cleaning, and standing outside during the viewing, all in all an overall disruption to my writing flow.
I had lived in EbbTide for almost five years, a Hell Hotel in which the other three apartments were permanently let on an AirBnB basis by its owners Rhode Snyman, Sacha Jack, and Magali Seguilon. Owners of and clients renting the apartments had no respect for my need to sleep during reasonable evening hours, partying in the early hours of the morning, driving in and out of the garage with squealing tyres, and using the noisy lift at all hours of the day, the lift shaft being next to the bedrooms in the building. Every noise disturbance in the building was communicated to the other Trustees, but fell on deaf ears, often received with abusive replies from them.
An incident in the building led me to finally seeing the light, coupled with new neighbouring apartment owner Tristan du Plessis moving in with two labradors barking continuously, especially when he went out at night and left them at home alone. I realised that nothing would ever improve in the building, something I was hopeful I could achieve but the continuous barking of the dogs was the final straw. The final conclusion was that I could not endure living in a Sectional Title apartment, being a minority Trustee outvoted on a three to one basis continuously, and that I needed to buy a freehold house in which I have full control. The reduction in rates and taxes as well as no longer having to pay an exorbitant levy meaning a saving of R14000 per month was a no brainer.
Through luck and perseverance I found my dream house one street parallel to that of the apartment, with two bedrooms, a sizeable garden with 15 olive trees, an abundant lemon tree, a passion fruit creeper, gooseberries, many lavender bushes, and flourishing origanum and thyme. My two cats and dog were in lockdown until a fence and electric fence could be completed, so that the cats could be kept safely inside the property and anybody else outside!
It has taken almost three months to unpack, to find my bearings in the house, to repair many maintenance deficiencies in the house, and to tackle the garden, one or two minor maintenance issues still needing to be completed.
I am planning to broaden my Blog scope in including writing about my work in keeping Camps Bay litter free, and including more tourist related content, having been a very busy Tourist Guide during summer.
Thank you for your patience and support over the 13 years of my Blog.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog, Cell +27 0825511323. www.chrisvonulmenstein.com Facebook, Twitter, @chrissy_ulmenstein
My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide (Facebook, Instagram)