{"id":9589,"date":"2010-06-24T11:00:43","date_gmt":"2010-06-24T09:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=9589"},"modified":"2010-06-25T00:25:31","modified_gmt":"2010-06-24T22:25:31","slug":"pub-review-watching-the-world-cup-at-salt-vodka-and-champagne-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/pub-review-watching-the-world-cup-at-salt-vodka-and-champagne-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Pub Review: Watching the World Cup at Salt Vodka and Champagne Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An important match like England versus Algeria deserved a better pub visit than the one to Caprice earlier in the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Salt Vodka and Champagne Bar, which\u00a0opened about\u00a03 weeks ago, and has taken four months longer than planned to open, met the brief.<\/p>\n

If I had not known about it having opened, having been told about it by\u00a0Newmark Hotels’ PR\u00a0consultant Ian Manley, I would not have gone, as there is no signage outside.\u00a0\u00a0 I first tried to enter via Salt Deli, but the entrance is separate, so I\u00a0entered via an outside\u00a0side passage.\u00a0 It is not clear that one must go up the steps, as there is no further signage down the passage, and the initial steps are dangerous, first down a tile step, and then up wooden steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u00a0was a surprise to enter a large bar area, sparsely furnished.\u00a0\u00a0 The amazing and charming Manager Aleks Kopertowska\u00a0came to me and greeted me by name and with a handshake, having taken my reservation earlier in the day.\u00a0 She did tell me later on that she remembered me\u00a0from the time that she worked in Franschhoek four years ago.<\/p>\n

She seated me with an American brother and sister, who are travelling in South Africa, and Botswana and Kenya thereafter, and were staying at the Ambassador Hotel across the road.\u00a0\u00a0 They bravely watched the soccer with me.\u00a0\u00a0 Aleks explained that there had been a problem with the ordered furniture, and the lovely white leather chairs appear to be temporary.\u00a0 We had a very artistic,\u00a0but very low, table made from white-painted wooden logs bound together, so Aleks organised that a table from the Deli be brought to us, which made eating and writing far more comfortable.\u00a0\u00a0 The decor has grey tones in the ceiling, a rich wooden floor, a long bar counter with modern black leather and chrome bar stools, and a large flatscreen TV which is visible to all in the Bar.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was only one soccer touch in the Bar, but impressed with its stylishness – two beaded soccer ball-shaped holders for the orchids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aleks’ service did not stop.\u00a0 She offered to show me the special Champagne Room, a beautiful display of chilled bubbly brands, especially the creative Veuve Cliquot display container in orange, which can serve as a ice-bucket at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0 She showed me the terrace, which has attractive grey\u00a0outdoor furniture, modern but classic in design, and in summer one can predict that it will be one of the coolest places on the Atlantic Seaboard.\u00a0 One can see the sea from it.<\/p>\n

Aleks was honest in admitting that the food served at the Salt Vodka Bar currently is from Salt Deli downstairs, as Chef Jacques de Jager\u00a0is still working on the menu.\u00a0 Also, the full complement of\u00a015\u00a0champagnes and 15\u00a0local sparkling wines to be offered by the glass are not yet\u00a0all on the menu,\u00a0that I had read about. The Salt Vodka Bar\u00a0beverage list\u00a0is beautifully bound in a\u00a0black leather\u00a0cover, and reflects the look of the Salt restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel.\u00a0\u00a0The Salt Deli menu is a poor quality photocopy with the Breakfast options (clearly not applicable), and the Light Meals listed.\u00a0\u00a0 There are 13 options for the latter, ranging from the soup of the day (a delicious thick butternut soup, with a swirl of cream and sprinkled with bacon and decorated with fresh basil, served with toasted rye bread and butter, excellent value at R35), some salads (R30 for the garden salad), sandwiches, lasagne (R50) and Chicken Supreme (R85).\u00a0 The butternut soup was so delicious that I asked for a take-away portion for my son working at the Stadium that evening.\u00a0\u00a0 Aleks came back to report that I had been served the last portion, but given that I would be at the Salt Vodka Bar until the match finished, she had asked Salt restaurant across the road to make another portion – a continuation of her excellent and attentive service (if only there was more like this in Cape Town!)<\/p>\n

The Beverage List\u00a0offers fifteen vodkas, many costing R 19, and the most expensive is Wyborowa Exquisite, at R38.\u00a0\u00a0 The heading “Champagnes” is used for both “South African” and “French” bubbly sub-headings, with five locals (Moreson R50, and Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc and its Brut Rose both costing R95 a glassful, prices on the high side) and eight imported ones (Guy Charbaut Millesime costs R160 per glass, and Veuve Cliquot costs R360 per glass).\u00a0 The list of wines-by-the-glass is very limited, with just one per variety in general, and not all varieties represented – Bosman’s Rose costs R31, Sauvignon Blanc Waterford Pecan Stream and Springfield Life from Stone cost R33 and R50, respectively, and Waterford Chardonnay costs R63.\u00a0\u00a0The Springfield “whole berry” Cabernet Sauvignon costs R63, a Vriesenhof Enthopio at R55, and Diemersfontein Carpe Diem pinotage (R65)\u00a0disappointingly are the only\u00a0three red wines by the glass.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Windhoek Lager and Castle cost R 17;\u00a0 Millers, Peroni, and Amstel cost R 19; Heineken and Pilsner Urquell cost R22; Savanna costs R21; and Hunter’s Dry R19.\u00a0 The Americans and I were offered a complimentary glass of chocolate martini, another Aleks touch.<\/p>\n

Would I go back to watch another match?\u00a0 Probably not, as there was little World Cup atmosphere and support.\u00a0 The Danish team girlfriends, who were staying at the Ambassador Hotel, took over most of the Bar initially, and were not interested in watching at all, talking and blocking the screen.\u00a0Then some dubious looking ladies (of the night?) came in, and had a loud chat with the two barmen, who talked back at the top of their voices, not caring about us watching the match – I was surprised that Aleks did not address this with her staff.\u00a0 The barman was\u00a0more considerate when using the cappuccino machine, compared to\u00a0his Harvey’s Bar colleague two days earlier, in making less noise on it.\u00a0\u00a0 Salt Vodka Bar seems unfinished in terms of its temporary furniture, lack of signage,\u00a0and lack of menu, probably hastily opened due to the World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0 The service is outstanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Salt Vodka and Champagne Bar<\/strong>, above Salt Deli, 34 Victoria Road, Bantry Bay.\u00a0 Tel 076 728 7487 (Aleks’ cell, no dedicated line upstairs yet). www.saltrestaurant.co.za<\/a>\u00a0(website is for the main restaurant in the Ambassador Hotel only – no information about Salt Deli and Salt Vodka Bar on the website).\u00a0 Closes at midnight on all nights, except Thursday and Friday evenings, when it closes at 2h00.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An important match like England versus Algeria deserved a better pub visit than the one to Caprice earlier in the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Salt Vodka and Champagne Bar, which\u00a0opened about\u00a03 weeks ago, and has taken four months longer than planned to open, met the brief. If I had not known about it having opened, having been told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,20,21,11],"tags":[5287,3513,115,5284,338,1239,143,5304,2199,5298,5288,4915,5302,32378,5303,3804,5296,3518,32369,226,5292,5254,3989,5301,5286,3066,5289,5299,5291,3626,3866,5300,5247,3062,4444,3665,255,4041,5294,3211,5290,5295,5293,32373,5297],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t