The Sweet Service Award goes to Pierneef à La Motte and its Manager Pierre Theron, who is an angel in always making a plan to find a table for our Whale Cottage Franschhoek guests, who often request us to book restaurants for the weekend in the last minute. Usually the reservations staff at the restaurant tell me that they are fully booked, but when I ask for Pierre he always makes a plan to organise a table, making our guests delighted with the excellent service. Continue reading →
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MasterChef SA Season 3 episode 13: Sweet Treat; Penny Fitchet spiced out of Elimination Test!
Episode 13 of the third Season of MasterChef SA continued its location in Mauritius, and the creators of the two weakest dishes in episode 12, being Penny Fitchet and Roxi Wardman, were to be pitted against each other in an Elimination Test.
The five successful Finalists from episode 12 received a sweet reward, being a MasterClass in Mauritian sugar by the Long Beach Executive Pastry Chef Sandra Scioli. She showed them the different types of sugars produced in Mauritius, and which sugars are better to use for different types of baking. It also demonstrated
to the Finalists that the outcome of a dessert can be influenced by the type of sugar one uses. Ian Young was impressed by the plating, ‘because it was very precise and very organised. And you can see that a pastry chef has got a calmness about them that is very systematic. What she put on the plate was beautiful‘.
The Elimination Test was described as a ‘Fusion’ Pressure Test held at the Hasu Japanese restaurant at the Continue reading →
MasterChef SA Season 3 episode 11: Ian Young wins Immunity Pin at Pot Luck Club, Francois Zietsman puréed out in Elimination Test!
The eleventh episode of MasterChef SA Season 3 was a close contest between Ian Young and Sipho Mdlankomo for the Immunity Pin, and between Penny Fitchet and Francois Zietsman in the Elimination Test. The episode ended off on a high for the seven remaining contestants.
Having won the paired Team Challenge last week, Ian and Sipho had been promised a surprise, and we recognised the Old Biscuit Mill, and the building in which The Pot Luck Club is housed. Chef Luke Dale-Roberts was introduced, and a video link showed him speaking to the camera, being at least a year old in that it was incorrect about when The Test Kitchen and The Pot Luck Club had opened. Chef Luke’s The Test Kitchen is in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, but this was misrepresented by M-Net, as the contestants were at The Pot Luck Club, which is not on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list, 
but was made to appear as if it is! Instead of being served a lunch by Chef Luke, the two contestants were presented with a cloche by Reuben Robertsons Riffel, which when opened, contained an Immunity Pin. Sipho and Ian had to cook a dish created by Chef Luke, and the one replicating it most closely would win the Pin. The two contestants were given a recipe for Chef Luke’s braised pork belly served with apple, a miso and soy glaze, julienne vegetables, and a steamed Chinese bun, and they tasted a sample dish. They were given 90 minutes to complete the dish, cooking in the kitchen of The Pot Luck Club. It was a delight to see Chef Luke smile, Continue reading →
Cape Town Tourism celebrates 10th anniversary with colourful, fun, and festive AGM!
Last night Cape Town Tourism held what many say is the best AGM ever, with a dynamic and funny keynote speaker Vusi Thembekwayo, and a very entertaining Anton Groenewald from the City of Cape Town Tourism, Events, and Marketing Directorate, being the highlight of the event held at the Tsogo Sun Cape Sun, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of Cape Town Tourism since its re-invention in 2004.
I arrived late, returning from Franschhoek, as Groenewald was speaking. He kindly gave me his notes, for use for writing this blogpost. His Mayoral Committee member for Tourism, Events, and Marketing, Councillor Garreth Bloor, was present, and many a joke was at his expense. Groenewald started his talk by reflecting on the past three years in which he has headed up the
Tourism Directorate of the City, and has spent R1,5 billion. He confirmed the three-year agreement signed with Cape Town Tourism, which came with a promise of R120 million over the next three years. Reflecting on the successes of the past year, Groenewald presented its highlights as being World Travel Market Africa, a collaboration with Thebe Reed, which attracted 4500 trade visitors and 220 media, and for which the city has signed for another two Continue reading →