A lunch at Coco Safar, followed by a dinner three days later, were two chalk and cheese experiences, the former excellent and the latter hugely disappointing, especially as it was a birthday dinner treat for a special friend! I had last been to Coco Safar for breakfast early this year, after it opened in Sea Point, having moved from Cavendish Square. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Winery of Good Hope
‘Restaurant’ Review: Eat Out Top 10 Chef Bertus Basson’s De Vrije Burger below his stature, poor swop for The Ritz Revolving restaurant!
Ever since I reviewed Chef Bertus Basson’s Spek & Bone dive of a restaurant in Stellenbosch in July last year, Basson has been on a mission to discredit me as a reviewer, not being man-enough to accept my honest feedback. Last week I popped in at his latest eatery, De Vrije Burger, a hamburger and ice cream joint, on Plein Street in Stellenbosch, the take-away outlet being far below the standard of his Eat Out Top 10 award stature! One wonders why he is scraping the barrel with cheap and nasty restaurants, when he started off with the top level Top 10 Overture restaurant, his first! Each new restaurant, of his five restaurants, is one level below the previously opened one in terms of quality! Continue reading →
Honest Chocolate at next stage of its ethical and artisanal evolution!
Last night I attended an interesting group discussion about chocolate, and Honest Chocolate in particular, at their Honest Chocolate Café on Wale Street. It demonstrated that the brand of artisanal chocolate has evolved in the four years since its launch, and that it cares enough to conduct market research to establish what chocolate lovers like and dislike about the brand.
Having received the invitation to attend whilst on holiday, I had not picked up that the event would be more than a chocolate and wine pairing. We had to document our demographic details, our chocolate purchasing habits, and source of information about the brand. Our Continue reading →
Chenin Blanc ‘Summer Showcase’ with a view at Meloncino!
The Chenin Blanc Association hosts a tasting of its top members’ wines twice a year, to match the summer or winter season. Last week a tasting of 25 top Chenin Blancs was followed by a summery Italian-inspired lunch with a view onto Table Mountain at Meloncino in the V & A Waterfront.
The tasting of the 25 Chenin Blancs was divided into five groups of five wines, and was led by Jeff Grier of Villiera, a gentle good off-the-cuff speaker, being so good with his notes that he often knew more about the wines 
than was shared by the winemakers. Jeff stood in for Ken Forrester, Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association, who spends a lot of his time marketing his wines in the USA. What makes these events great is that writers can meet a number of the winemakers at the table, getting to know them a little better, the Simonsig (Hannes Meyer), Ayama (Liezel Delport), and Rijk’s (Pieter Waal) representatives sitting Continue reading →