Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

The Sweet Service Award goes to Road Mac Surfacing, the road construction company, and is nominated by Stellenbosch wine-maker Sue McNaughton.  Driving on the N1 to Paarl, where the company was doing road works, a stone hit Sue’s car windscreen, and caused a bad crack, which ran in no time.   She stopped and obtained contact details from the supervisor at the side of the road.  Within three days they had organised the replacement of the windscreen.  The glass supplier was paid directly by Road Mac.  The Manager Michael Corbin called Sue every day until the windscreen replacement was completed.

The Sour Service Award goes to the Slow Food Market at the Willowbridge centre in Cape Town, which operates on Saturdays.  The Market is a “poor cousin” to the Stellenbosch Slow Food Market at Oude Libertas, which has energy and a very large selection of fresh produce for sale, even though it is not as great as the Bosman’s Crossing market, from which it originated.   Even though the owner of the Slow Food Markets has registered them with Slow Food in Italy, the relationship of the markets to the principles of Slow Food seems tenuous, especially at Willowbridge.  The ultimate dichotomy is seeing a stand selling Tupperware at the Market.   Its launch poster advertised “Slow Wine”, but none was visible, nor was any “Slow Design”!  Whilst Slow Food does not necessarily mean organic foods, it does stand for the following, according to the international Slow Food website: “Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.“  The Slow Food Market does not reflect this. 

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 info@whalecottage.com.   Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

Renowned Irish-born and previously Australian-based chef Liam Tomlin has moved to Cape Town, and is to open a Chefs’ Warehouse and Cookery School in April on New Church Street, Gardens.

Tomlin has been in the country for a few months now, busy overseeing the renovation of the building that will become both a chefs’ school, as well as a warehouse, which will sell every ingredient and the equipment used in the preparation of the dishes when one attends a course or an event at the chefs’ school.   He is a consultant to British Airways, and also to local restaurants, La Motte’s new restaurant being one of his projects.  He is also opening a guest house in Tamboerskloof, so that he can accommodate Chefs’ School students.   I met Tomlin at Portofino at the end of January, when he first started revealing details of his new project.

Tomlin grew up in Dublin, and worked at the London Hilton, The Hotel Central in Zurich, the Regent Hotel in Melbourne, and in Sydney at the Park Lane hotel, Level 41 and Brasserie Cassis before starting Banc, named as Sydney’s top restaurant.   His staff and colleagues describe him as a tough and exacting chef, who demands perfection from all, yet lends a hand in peeling potatoes, to assist his staff.

When meeting Tomlin, he expressed his fear of writing - even though he has published two cookery books already.  I challenged him to blog about his craft, but he says he will leave this to his efficient wife Jan, who is very much his right hand in the new venture.

Tomlin’s “Basic Techniques and Methods of Cookery” courses will commence on Saturday 24 April, and will be held every second Saturday morning, from 9h30 - 13h30.  Twenty courses run through until 5 February 2011, and cover such topics such as sauces, plated desserts, eggs, shellfish, salads, stocks, potatoes and more.  The course costs R 10 500.

Local celebrity chefs will be invited as guest speakers, and the list includes Laurent Deslandes from Bizerca, Neil Jewell from Bread & Wine, Chef Bruce Robertson, Reuben Riffel of Reubens, Margot Janse of Le Quartier Francais, Topsi Venter, Pete Goffe-Wood of Wild Woods, and Malika van Reenen of Signal at the Cape Grace Hotel.  Richard Corrigan of Corrigan’s in London, and also the owner of Bentley’s in London and Dublin, will be invited to run classes, as will Brett Graham of London-based Ledbury, and The Harwood Arms, the first Michelin-starred pub.

The pay-off line for the new Chefs’ Warehouse is: “where retail and culinary education blend in perfect harmony…”.  The building will be used not only as a Cookery School and Warehouse, but also as a venue for shoots, product launches, book signings, food and wine events, and media events. 

Chefs’ Warehouse and Cookery School: 50 New Church Street, Gardens, tel 021 422 0128, www.chefswarehouse.co.za, info@chefswarehouse.co.za

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The authoritative Bon Appetit magazine, which is an important source of food information for its American readers, recently brought a delegation of readers to the Cape in conjunction with the USA offices of S A Tourism and AuthentEscapes, and was hosted by Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

Heading the Bon Appetit group was Victoria von Biel, the publication’s executive editor.  A welcoming reception was hosted for her party at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl.

In March the publication featured Cape Town, with a pic of Camps Bay beach and the Twelve Apostles as its main photograph.   It recommended the restaurants Biesmiellah, Bizerca Bistro, The Foodbarn, Bukhara, Anatoli, Caveau, and the Olympia Cafe and Deli as its “picks”.  One hopes that the magazine’s restaurant recommendations will improve after the latest visit. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage.com

South Africa’s olive oil is top quality, and the Cape winelands are proving to not only be good for red and white wine production, but they deliver the finest olive oils as well. 

In the annual competition organised by S A Olive, Annalene du Toit of Kloovenburg  estate in the Riebeeck Valley won the 2009 ABSA Olive Achiever of the Year Award, for her “passion and contribution to the growth of the industry”, says a report in Bolander.   She also recently won the Sanlam/Landbouweekblad Woman Entrepreneur in Agriculture for 2008/9.   She offers 40 different olive-based products, including a cosmetics range which is exported.

In the commercial olive oil class, the top achievers winning gold medals were Kloovenburg, Olyfberg, Morgenster and Rio Largo.  In the boutique class, Diepsak Farm, The Greenleaf Olive Co., The Olive Lady, Muiskraal, Olyven Houdt, and Waterfall River won gold awards.  All entries for the annual awards were tasted blind.

For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in the Commercial and Boutique classes click here

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

The highly popular Bosman’s Crossing Market is moving to the Oude Libertas theatre complex as of Saturday 5 September, reports www.mothercityliving.co.za

The Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market, which opened 18 months ago, became known as the ‘Bosman’s Crossing Market’.    Bosman’s Crossing is a trendy new area of Stellenbosch, but a little hidden from the main roads, and is the home to Dalla Cia, Stellekaya, Pane e Vino, apartment blocks, and some shops.

Distell, the owners of Oude Libertas, is moving its Distell Arts and Culture department to Oude Libertas, and will be offering musical entertainment during the market trading days.

The restaurant at Oude Libertas will be revived, and the market owner is taking over the restaurant with her “Slow Food Market” hat, serving fresh local food and picnics, seven days a week.

On every first Saturday of the month the Hearth Fair will also be at the Oude LIbertas, with ‘hot of the press’ designer goods and fashion. 

Attempts to start a new Bosman’s Crossing market in the existing location, driven by some of the permanent tenants in the area, appear to have failed.   A previous market at Oude Libertas will no longer be operating from there.   No doubt the new market location will cause some confusion.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Caviar is the third outlet to be opened by the industrious team owning Beluga and Sevruga restaurants, in De Waterkant and the V & A Waterfront respectively.

Having just opened as a retail outlet in the V & A Waterfront, next to Vida e’ Caffe and in the place of a chocolate shop, Caviar does not live up to its name in terms of the image its brand name represents, nor in terms of its stock sold.   The unimaginatively designed mini-deli has a number of fridges with a higgeldy-piggeldy selection of vacuum-packed steak and other meat cuts; of delicious pates; cheeses; flavoured butters, a selection of desserts; a selection of salads, all with the base ingredient of pasta and a few bits of duck or chicken; colddrinks; oh, and of course, a few containers of caviar! The prices appear reasonable, at around R 20 a dessert portion, and R 30 for the salads.

It is hard to see a focus in the outlet.  Two staff members seem uncertain about how to deal with customers.   There is so little space, that two staff seem one too many.  As a customer one is not sure if one may look at and open the fridges oneself.   No pricelist is available - the staff say it may be finalised in mid-August.

It will be interesting to see how Caviar and Melissa’s, diagonally opposite each other, compete against each other, in that some products they sell are similar.

The packaging for Caviar has its website printed as www.caviar.co.za, but the website is still under construction.   It would appear that the ‘Caviar Group of restaurants’ will be the company’s collective name, a branding problem when one of the outlets carries the same name, and is not a restaurant at all, even though a few tables and chairs allow one to eat the products there and then, probably out of the plastic containers.   Nothing encourages one to sit down.

Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage.com

The unthinkable combination of Nando’s peri-peri chicken and Dom Perignon was served at President Zuma’s inauguration last month, to criticism from the wine industry for the use of an imported French champagne instead of a local Cap Classique.

Despite flighting a controversial Nando’s ad campaign mocking Julius Malema, head of the ANC Youth League, just prior to the election, Nando’s was awarded the catering contract to serve 32 000 persons at the President’s inaugural lunch on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Even Barack Obama celebrated his win as presidential-elect with South Africa’s Graham Beck sparkling wine, it also having been served when Nelson Mandela was elected president.

The criticism by Franschhoek wine-maker Achim von Arnim, a well-known Pierre Jourdan sparkling wine producer at Cabriere in Franschhoek, about the celebratory drink served, is featured on the Wine magazine website in a You Tube video (http://www.winemag.co.za/article/achim-von-arnim-vs-jz-2009-05-15)

The annual South African Cheese Festival will be held at Bien Donne on the outskirts of Franschhoek from 24 - 27 April from 10h00 - 18h00 every day.   About 20 000 visitors can be expected at the Festival.

Not only will well-known cheesemakers such as Miki Ciman from La Masseria display their award-winning cheeses, but there will also be demonstrations on butter and cottage cheese making, and well-known chefs will prepare their favourite dishes.  Nataniel will also do cooking demo’s.

Tickets for the Cheese Festival must be bought at Computicket and at Checkers stores, and are not available at the gate.

The second Taste of Cape Town food show will be hosted from 2 - 5 April at the Jan van Riebeeck Sportsfield off Kloofnek Road in Tamboerskloof.   Chef and writer Justine Drake is co-ordinating the event again.

Eighteen top restaurants, including Reubens, Aubergine, Bouillabaisse, Crepe Suzette, Jardine, La Colombe, Nova, Overture, and Terroir, many of these on the EatOut top ten restaurant list, will display their fine food fare, alongside  premium drinks’ brands and live entertainment.

The ‘Taste of Cape Town’ event will include a Pick ‘n Pay Fresh Living Chef’s Theatre, a Beer Academy at which food and beer pairing will be done, and the Checkers Wine Route Taste Experience

The ‘Taste of Cape Town’ opens on 2 April from 18h30 - 22h30, from 13h00 - 22h30 on 3 and 4 April, and from 12h00 - 17h00 on 5 April.

More details can be obtained from www.tasteofcapetown.com.  Entrance costs R 170, inclusive of tasting vouchers to the value of R 100, or R 80 without the tasting vouchers.   Tickets can be bought at Computicket.