Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

Yesterday was a day of reckoning for the bloggers of South Africa, who had been judged by a committee of three, and voted for by their fans, in making the short-list of ten finalists in 25 categories of the S A Blog Awards.  We are delighted to have been selected as a Finalist in the Most Controversial Blog category, and thank our loyal blog readers, friends, commenters, and Twitter followers for their votes in making the Finalist selection possible.

Now we are like Idols contestants, in that we please request your vote for our Blog, to win in the category (there is no prize, other than a badge that goes onto the blog). The Most Controversial Blog category is quite far down the list, and you need to please click on our blog name to vote, and then to scroll down to the bottom of the list, to enter your e-mail address.  You are allowed to vote for us every 24 hours, per e-mail address, until the competition closes on 17 September.

The Whale Cottage Blog had been nominated in a number of categories, including Best Food & Wine Blog, Best Blog Post, Most Controversial Blog and Best Travel Blog.  Being a unique blog that does not fit fully into any specific category (e.g. Food, Travel), we were delighted to have made the finals (somehow we never got to enter last year).  The Most Controversial Blog category is a new one introduced this year, and it seemed to suit us ideally!   If we have created a unique identity for our blog, it has been to be ”independent * incisive * informative”, and it is described as being controversial, due to our lack of fear to write the truth, no matter the consequences.

We are in excellent company in this category, with 2Oceansvibe being a fellow finalist - last year its editor ‘Seth Rotherham’ won almost every category in the Blog Awards, and his blog became the benchmark for many of us (this year a blog can only be nominated in two categories).   The rest of the Finalists’ list is a little more dubious, sex and swearing broadly summarising the content of the other blogs in the Most Controversial Blog category.

The WhaleTales newsletter has been distributed for the past nine years, and has been the foundation of our writing about controversial issues.   It has not always been easy to be outspoken, in that we have experienced the following:

*  being told to not come back to the Opal Lounge, due to an unfavourable review that we wrote (in fact the instruction to not return was issued telephonically by the co-owner before the review was written and published)

*  being escorted out of Beluga by the police during a invited lunch for members of an association of guest house owners in Camps Bay, of which I am the chairman, because sister restaurant Sevruga received a Sour Service Award on this blog for a Cape Times book launch lunch, which the restaurant handled poorly, both food and service-wise

*   being threatened with legal action when we tackled Carne about falsely claiming that all its beef, lamb and game served comes from its Karoo farm and is organic, our most controversial blog post in the two year history of blog-writing.  This blog post was nominated for Best Blog Post.  The Carne blog post, and its follow up, took investigative journalism of the bravest kind, in obtaining documentation from the suppliers of the meat, and in obtaining (by luck) a telephonic admission by a supplier of meat to Carne, resulting in Carne withdrawing its legal threat, declaring the matter closed, and taking the dishonest claim off their website.

*   being on the receiving end of FEDHASA Cape’s attempt to cancel our membership, which resulted in my resignation as a Director of the hotel old-boys’ club, when I wrote about the dangers of small accommodation establishments signing with FIFA’s MATCH for the World Cup, over the past five years.  My views about MATCH were not in line with the hotel interests which dominated the FEDHASA Cape Board, and Nils Heckscher, GM of the Winchester Mansions, tried his best to get me off the Board.  Ultimately, we were vindicated in our advice when MATCH cancelled the bulk of its booked small and hotel accommodation throughout South Africa, the Winchester Mansions being one of the hotels badly hit by the cancellation of booked rooms by MATCH.  

*   being threatened with legal action by the Cape Whale Coast DMO, after our blog post of 28 December 2009 raised questions about the conflict of interest created by Clinton Lerm being the Chairman of the Hermanus Tourism Bureau and of the DMO.   Nothing has come of this threat to date.  Yesterday we published a follow-up story on the DMO’s lack of transparency.

We would also like to recommend the following blogging friends and colleagues, for your vote:

*  Food & Wine Blog category: Cooksister (Jeanne Horak-Druiff), My-Easy-Cooking (Nina Timm), JamieWho? (Andy Fenner) and The Foodie (David Cope) (all of last year’s finalists have dropped out of this category, other than Cooksister and My-Easy-Cooking)

*   Best Travel Blog category:   SA Venues and Cape Town Travel (Cape Town Tourism)

*   Best Twitter Microblogger category: Relax-with-Dax, Gus Silber, and Spit or Swallow

We thank you for your support and your votes.

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

In my Hausfrau past, I was a mean Beef Wellington preparer for dinner parties.  When I saw this dish advertised as the new Winter Special (at R 99 with a glass of sparkling wine, until the end of the month) at 1800 Restaurant at the 5-star Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, I had to have it!  We had tried the Winter Special almost a year ago, and were disappointed then (read review).  Unfortunately our return visit was no different.

It started when we arrived - I was finishing a call in the car, and a staff member of the hotel interrupted my call and hassled us about parking, even though we were in a legitimate bay outside the hotel.  He was intimidating, and I asked him to step back.  Two security staff we walked past upon entering the hotel did not greet us.  The manager seated us at a table next to one of those odd “confession” screens, which allows one to be heard, and to hear every word of the table on the other side of the screen, near a drafty entrance to the restaurant.

We had barely settled in, when we received a complimentary glass of sparkling wine as a “token of our appreciation for dining with us tonight” - nice touch, but the rest of the introduction sounded straight off a script.  When I asked what we were drinking, I was told by the waiter Alex that it was “Kleine Zalze”.  From the little I know about wines, I could not recall a sparkling wine made by this wine estate, and asked him to bring the bottle to the table - it was a Kleine Parys Cuvee Brut in fact!

The bread was brought to the table immediately, really not exciting at all, and I left it to one side.  We received a sermon about the location of the cloakrooms, the meaning of the name of the restaurant (steak is prepared at 1800F), and the menu.  The waiter talked us through everything, including the eight special sauces of which one can order one for free, and did not mention the Beef Wellington special we had come for.  For the special, there is no choice of sauce - you must have it with the Red Wine jus, as prescribed.   The restaurant service is affected by this long introduction to the restaurant, as no other tables close by can be served.  I ordered a starter and the special, and the starter arrived within 5 minutes, commendably quick (compared to the slow service for the rest of the evening).  I had not even placed the order for the wine.  Three spiced salts were brought to the table as well, but the waiter only knew the origin of them (smoked paprika salt from Africa; Sumac salt from Arabia; Allepo salt from South America) but could not describe their taste to us.

The focus of 1800 is on steak, and the restaurant’s website states:  “Owner, Paschal Phelan, brings with him many years of experience in the meat industry in Ireland, and under his direction, his team ensures the best quality by inspecting suppliers’ farms to maintain the highest standard of their meat offering.  The restaurant’s succulent beef and other selected meats are grass reared and then grain fed for a short period to enhance the flavour and ensure tenderness.  It is then matured to perfection in the grill room’s temperature controlled storage”. I could not help thinking of Carne when I read this.

Prior to the starter being served, an amuse bouche served on a spoon was brought to the table - it was a smoked paprika cheese and mash ball with sweet chilli sauce, a non-event.  The starter Duck Rillettes were served on white toast.  I was attracted to the description of the dish on the menu: “Duck liver parfait, toasted pecan nut and honey broiche and brandied sultanas”.  The toast looked like ordinary white bread, and there was no sign nor taste of nuts nor honey in it, even when the manager brought us an untoasted slice of the “brioche” to taste.  The manager could not answer when I said that this was not as described in the menu.

The service problem came from there being no heavy-weight manager on duty.  Our waiter of last year, Emmanuel, whose service we were not happy with then, now is the manager, out of his depth we felt.  The owner of the hotel was also dining at the restaurant, and perhaps the staff had their attention focused on him and his party.  The music was far too loud, and not pleasant, but luckily was turned down as soon as the owner arrived.  Nothing has changed in terms of the decor in the year since our last visit.

The “Beef Wellington” at 1800 Restaurant is not made with pate de foie gras, nor are the duxelles mixed with leeks, nor do they cover the whole steak - a tiny teaspoonful of the mushroom mix was placed on the top of the fillet, underneath the puff pastry, like a crown!  The steak was prepared medium, as specified by the waiter.  I asked the manager why there was no foie gras, and the answer he brought back from the chef was that it would make the dish costing too high - a con!  We felt that the portion of steak also was not close to the advertised 200 gram.   When the plate of food was brought to us, the mash and the vegetables on the plate were cold, so we sent them back.  The second set of vegetables was extremely salty. The red wine jus had a very rich dominant taste, and I felt that it spoilt the taste of the steak.

We ordered the Allee Bleue Shiraz 2007, at R 50 a glass, and while the portion served was very generous, it was not a particularly pleasant wine.  The “Wine Portfolio” (nice name) is divided into wine type, and then by wine region within that, with listings of local and international wines.  The house wine is a Capaia Blue Grove Hill Sauvignon Blanc (R35/R140), and its Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend (R40/R160).   Graham Beck’s sparkling wines are listed under Stellenbosch and not Franschhoek!   Champagnes range from R680 for Lacombe and Leillier to R 2400 for Dom Perignon.   Some of the wines are expensive, but I counted eight white and seven red wines by the glass that cost less than R40, which is good value, especially as none of the red wine vintages were younger than 2007.  One can indulge in such international wines as Giovanni Corino Barolo Vigne Giachini, Domaine Ussegilo Chateauneuf-Du-Pape Imperial Cuvee, Chapoutier St Joseph Les Grantis Rouge, and Alain Chavy Puligny-Montrachet les Purcelles, all upwards of R 1000.

The manager could not answer our challenge that serving the “Beef Wellington” short of its identifying ingredient was dishonest.   The Executive Chef Jonathan Gargan, who took over the restaurant only about three months ago after service on cruise ships, was not on duty, and his deputy Chad Booysen (ex-Beluga) clearly was not coping with the room full of diners.

We knew it a year ago, and we should have known better in returning to 1800 Restaurant.   What they are offering as a Winter Special is dishonest, and does not do their reputation, nor that of the 5-star Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, by whom it is owned, any good.  The staff and manager need a serious training hand, and the Executive Chef should be on duty on busy weekend nights.  The name of the chef of a year ago (Lindsay Venn) is still on the Cape Royale Luxury Hotel website, while the restaurant website does not mention the chef’s name at all!

In re-reading my review of a year ago, it is clear that little has changed - the special is not mentioned when one arrives, the service slows down as the restaurant fills up, and the wait for the main course is long.  The prices have not moved much compared to a year ago, which is commendable - the price of the 200 gram fillet has come down to R120, that of the 400 gram has remained the same, while that of the 300 gram has increased.  The price band of the starters (Paternoster mussels, Franschhoek salmon trout, baby calamari, Kalahari springbok carpaccio, two salads and chicken livers), being R40 - R69, has not changed much.  The linefish price has however increased by 19 % to R115, while the cheapest dessert has come down to R28 now, to a maximum of R45.  Desserts include ice cream and sorbets, souffle cake, cheese cake and a plateful of miniature desserts.

1800 Restaurant, Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, Main Road, Green Point, Cape Town.  Tel (021) 430-0506.  www.18hundreddegrees.com. Monday - Saturday.

POSTSCRIPT 4/8: Read the reply to this review from Jonathan Gargan, Executive Chef of the Cape Royale Luxury Hotel, in the Comments section.

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

Rossouw’s Restaurants is South Africa’s only restaurant guide (Eat Out may have more glitz and glamour, but it does not come close to this ‘Platter’ equivalent to restaurants), and its owner JP Rossouw has established himself as a credible source of restaurant information, despite one not actually knowing what credentials Rossouw has to be a restaurant critic.  That credibility has now been questioned, with readers of his largely negative review of the new La Mouette restaurant in Sea Point grilling (pardon the pun!) Rossouw on his use of other reviewers, yet marking them with his initials, as if he had written the review himself.

Whilst knowledgeable about wines, and earning a living from them, in that he often wrote about wine in the Cape Times, is said to compile restaurant winelists, and consults to restaurants about wines, Rossouw commendably has been focused on only writing about restaurants in his blog (even though he does not know the difference between a blog, a blog post and a website) and in his annually updated Rossouws’ Restaurants hard copy guide.   Confusingly the book may contain some reviews that his blog does not, and vice versa.

On Friday, after publishing his very critical review of La Mouette, the first critical commenter “Eric” lashed out at Rossouw for his review: “Phew JP, you were mean! This review is so out of character for you – long, nitpicking, nasty, disparaging. You must have been having a bad day before you went for lunch to La Mouette. I hope you go back to get with the programme”.  This was followed by a further critical comment by “Cormac” (someone using the name of Portofino Cormac Keane, or the man himself?) “I am also quite surprised reading your review, it is unduly harsh for a restaurant that has been open for two weeks. I have eaten there twice and found the food to be very good, and I am not easily pleased”.

Rossouw’s loyal fans “Bazil” - could he be a Rossouw reviewer, the same Bazil that is a ‘Food Fanatic’ on Eat Out’s restaurant review panel, who lists La Mouette as one of the restaurants that he has reviewed, and who wrote in his 2 May Eat Out “review” that he had been to the “new and officially not open” La Mouette? - (and likens Rossouw to AA Gill, the ”revered and feared London food critic”!) and “Michael” quickly jumped to Rossouws’ defence, and a spat developed, which led to the closing of the Comments section of the restaurant review, an unprecedented move.  Rossouw later explained that he felt that comments had become personal between commenters, and removed the offensive comments. When this writer had exposed Carne in not being truthful about its “organic meat” and Karoo origin claims, Rossouw allowed commenters to attack the comment writer without censorship.  This was picked up by one of the commenters and questioned.

Impatiently wanting to get her point of view across, and reacting to Rossouw’s comment censorship, “Sisteranna” used another restaurant’s comment box to give Rossouw a most articulate piece of her mind, questioning:

1.   Rossouw’s censorship and deletion of comments

2.   The cowardice of commenters in using pseudonyms

3.   Writing restaurant reviews after one visit only

4.   The credibility of reviews published with Rossouw’s initials JPR but not written by himself :”I am afraid thie (sic) entire state of affairs has cast serious doubt in my mind as to the integrity and veracity of any reviews published here”.

Every time she wrote a comment, Rossouw wrote back, and he clearly started tripping over his words, in that he had to admit that he had sent another reviewer to review the restaurant.  Here things become a little hazy, especially as Rossouw had removed a response by him, in which he had admitted to “Cormac” that he himself had not been to the restaurant, but that his reviewer had written the review.  He added that what was posted was far less harsh than how the reviewer had written it, implying that he had edited it to tone it down (one questions why the ‘truth’ should not have prevailed, given that it was a pretty harsh review anyway).  

When he was challenged about not writing all reviews himself by the commenters and on Twitter, he changed his tune, and implied (in a fudgy sort of way), that he had first sent a reviewer, and then had gone to the restaurant himself to review it.   However, observing this as a regular Rossouw’s Restaurants blog reader, it is quite out of character for Rossouw to review a restaurant within 2 weeks of it opening.  In the past Rossouw has been surprisingly slow on restaurant opening and closure news, and reviews of new restaurants.  Many reviewers will give a new restaurant some time to settle in before they attempt a first review, and one saw Rossouw’s time delay in the past to be for this reason. 

Then he tripped himself up by stating that his reviewer had been to the restaurant for dinner, yet he quoted lunch prices (La Mouette has different prices for its dishes for lunch and dinner).  Had Rossouw been at the restaurant himself, he would have known about the price difference.   Rossouw claims his reviews are independent, paid for and unannounced, which is how it should be, but he his well known to established restaurateurs.  Restaurants would pull out all the stops were they to see him arrive.   One wonders how he deals with the “independence” issue if he is paid by restaurants to consult to them about their wines.

Rossouw further claimed that he had written the review himself.  However, it was unusually long, and very critical, especially about the wine prices, and this again is out of character with Rossouw’s “Mr Nice Guy” image, according to “Eric”.  Rossouw normally only writes three paragraphs or so, and often one has been frustrated that he has not been critical enough, but he clearly does not want to offend restaurants (generally).  Rossouw replied to “Sisteranna”: “Where I do use a team is for the reviews that appear in the printed guide.  …. the blog and the book are separate but are linked”.   Does this mean that Rossouw will publish the review in his 2011 printed guide?  He continued: “All blog reviews on this website are written by me and only after a meal which I pay for”, contradicting himself again.

One of the commenters has told me that his comment was edited by Rossouw before being posted, to make himself look good and the commenter look apologetic, which was not what he had intended.

Many of the 33 comments to date (as at 10h00 this morning) are the diatribe between Rossouw and the tenacious “Sisteranna”, who, when challenged, revealed her identity as Sonia Cabano.  A Google search identified her as a chef (who trained in London, at Kensington Place amongst others, where La Mouette chef Henry Vigar was the head chef until a few months ago), cookery book writer (KOMBUIS) and as having presented cooking programmes on kykNET and SABC3, a lady who clearly knows what she is talking about.  She is persistent in her questioning of Rossouw’s inconsistencies in his comments, and subsequent responses. 

In having created a stimulating debate and raised a few laughs, the La Mouette review and the comments received have raised important ethical and procedural issues about restaurant reviews.

Rossouw’s review and all the comments can be read here.   Read our review of La Mouette here.

POSTSCRIPT: JP Rossouw has written a very calm and reasoned response to this post on his website.

POSTSCRIPT 8 JUNE: In response to a request by JP Rossouw to “correct” my blog post, I replied to him on Friday 4 June, and asked him to meet with me, to tell me the whole story and to show me the two La Mouette invoices for the meal for himself and for his reviewer, to prove that both of them ate at the restaurant.   He has not replied to this invitation to date.   We also note that Rossouw has edited some of his comments on his website relating to this issue, to emphasise that he and another reviewer went to the restaurant on separate occasions, telling a different story to the way he originally told it via his responses to comments to his blog post.

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

The new Chefs’ Warehouse and Cookery School has opened in a renovated Victorian building in New Church Street, off Buitensingel Street in Cape Town.

Chef Liam Tomlim, previously operating in Sydney where he ran the highly rated Banc restaurant (see our previous story on Liam Tomlin here), has opened a Cookery School, where he and local chefs will present cooking courses in a small intimate studio not holding more than 20 persons.  It has a hi-tech look, with lots of stainless steel.   But the little touches make the venue special - against a wall different coloured glass tiles form an interesting pattern, with glass bottles of spices on a shelf in front of each tile.

In the Cookery School Tomlin is planning to host a 20-lecture “The Basic Techniques and Methods of Cookery” course, with the start date now 8 May.   The course, with four hour lectures every second Saturday, has not yet been fully subscribed, and it may be the R10 500 price tag, the start of the quieter and tighter winter season, or the World Cup that falls in the period, that may be causing the slow booking commitment.   Tomlin is passionate about food, being the author of two cookery books, and he is likely to make an interesting cookery lecturer, with his Irish sense of humour.

Guest Chef classes can also be booked, with Neil Jewell of Bread and Wine in Franschhoek talking about “The Pig” on 5 May; Peter Tempelhoff, Executive Chef of the McGrath Hotels, will do a course on 11 May (title not yet confirmed); Alexander Mueller of Pure at Hout Bay Manor will talk about “Pure Food” on 24 May; and Carl Penn of Carne will talk about “Basic Lamb Butchery” on 27 May.  Classes cost R 575 each, and are held from 6.30 - 9.30 pm in the evenings.

A 12-part winetasting course will be presented by Caroline Rillema of Caroline’s wine shops in the city center and in the V&A Waterfront.   Sommelier Mia Mortensson, now with the Winery of Good Hope in Stellenbosch, and Paul Cluver Jnr will also be presenters.  The course starts on 8 June, and costs R 7000 for all 12 lectures, but can be booked in sections as well.

A 6-part Artisan Baking course “Knead to know” will be presented by Tim Faull of the Professional Vision Group consultancy, from 2 June - 14 July, and costs R 3 000.  

Tomlin’s wife Jan rules the roost in the front section, which is the Chef’s Warehouse, which contains a treasure trove of beautiful kitchen and dining items such as glassware, crockery, cutlery, serving dishes, aprons, carving knives, utensils, massive wooden stirring spoons (must get one!), Le Creuset pots, copper pots, cookery books, coffee machines, wine racks and many more products.  The Chef’s Warehouse will give Core Catering and Banks a good challenge, stocking far more beautiful and many imported products, offering better service, and being located in a far more desirable area.   It would be the perfect place to buy a gift for a food or a wine lover.

While the name of the shop implies that it is a massive shop, it is not at all, but the available space has been cleverly used.    Two smaller rooms lead off the Warehouse, the one being a cold room with interesting products which need to remain chilled, and the other being a food shop, which sells Willow Creek and Hamilton Russell olive oil, 100% pure cocoa powder, Spanish and Iranian saffron threads, Calleebaut & Valrhona chocolate, flavoured oils (white and black truffle, pistachio, hazelnut, porcini, walnut), vinegars (12 year Italian balsamic, Willow Creek Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar, Neil Jewell’s smoked red wine vinegar), Nfuse spices, Lavazza coffee, Von Gesau chocolates, Tea Emporium teas (organic Rooibos, Moroccan mint, Kyoto cherry rose, lemon caipirinha, even a chocolate flavoured one!), Khoisan salts (fleur de sel, salt caviar, sea pearls, smoked salt, truffle salt), and products of the Verjuice company (verjuice, vino cotto, preserved ginger in verjuice).  Vanilla syrup, sugar, husks, pods, paste and seeds are also sold, as are vanilla, coffee, rose water, peppermint, almond and orange blossom pure essences.

A beautifully made unit displays 50 fresh spices and dried herbs (including Iranian dried limes, Brazilian pink peppercorns, Indian and Romanian coriander) in small quantities, which will be restocked as they run out, to keep them fresh.   Another display unit contains a wide range of dried fruits, nuts and seeds.  An eye-catching design element is a photograph of Tomlin’s recipe book collection, which he photographed in his home, and had made as a poster for the shop.

What I missed was a brochure of the Cookery courses to be offered, to take home, and the smell of food.  A coffee machine, and the smell of freshly brewed coffee, would signify what the Chef’s Warehouse and Cookery School is all about.  Its little veranda would make an ideal spot for some tables for customers to sit at, as The Warehouse does not allow much space for customers to move around in.

The Chef’s Warehouse and Cookery School is an exciting new addition to Cape Town, and enhances the city’s reputation as the food capital of South Africa. 

Chef’s Warehouse and Cookery School, 50 New Church Street, Cape Town. Tel 021 422 0128. www.chefswarehouse.co.za

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

After more than a year of claiming that all its of its beef, lamb and game is organic, and that it comes from owner Giorgio Nava’s Karoo farm, and persisting to do so for more than two months after this blog challenged this claim, Carne has finally changed the introduction to its website www.carne-sa.com, removing references to “Giorgio’s own Karoo farms” and “organically grown”, thereby doing the honourable thing!   We are surprised that it has taken him so long to make the corrections.

Originally the Carne website’s Homepage made the following claim:   “Dedicated entirely to meat as is evident from its Italian name, Carne SA is a carnivore’s paradise serving a unique offering of the finest cuts of Romagnola beef, Dorper lamb and game, all organically grown on Giorgio’s own Karoo farms.”

Now it reads as follows:  Dedicated entirely to meat as is evident from its Italian name, Carne SA is a carnivore’s paradise serving a unique offering of the finest cuts of Romagnola beef, Dorper lamb,game and more.  

When one clicks onto the word “more”, a full page explaining how Nava obtains his meat can be read.  This is what is written - difficult to follow at times, due to Nava’s ‘Italglish’: “Giorgio Nava’s flair for quality is undisputed. Patrons of the award winning 95 on Keerom have been enjoying the benefits of his culinary stance since their opening in 2003.   In alignment of Giorgios’ unwavering inclination towards supreme quality and use of only the finest ingredients has led him and his partners of Carne SA-(his latest instalment of Milanese appeal)-open since November 2008 to a intersection pertaining to the ultimate quality of meat offered at Carne.  Months of extensive research has seen Carne, a carnivores’ paradise which has to date boasted a unique offering of the finest cuts of Romagnola beef, Dorper lamb and game, all historically grown on Giorgio’s own Karoo farm- progress to a crossroad where a savoir-faire business approach and an adherence to the requests of the local market shift to now officially incorporating into-an already impressive free range selection- the finest in grass and grain fed beef. Patrons of Carne can look forward to an exclusive menu featuring the very best meat Southern Africa has to offer, aspiring to indulge the meat lover with an extensive choice of beef of which its calibre can be traced back to its farm, aging time and whether it was grain or grass fed. These all-inclusive details will be readily available to the customer-making dining at Carne an elite experience.  Absolute strict characteristics are considered before a product is included on the menu like age of animal, diet, terroir, slaughter process, fat content, and meat flavour.  Paying reverence to the meaning of its simple Italian name - meat, Carne surpasses the highest standards of all meat produce obtainable in Southern Africa guaranteeing the ultimate in carnivorous culinary.  Giorgio, his partners and all involved in Carne SA, are excited at its capacity to offer its followers both local and abroad the ultimate variety in supreme South African beef, delivering Carne SA to the status of international meat emporium“.

Initially Nava refuted the WhaleTales challenge about Carne’s organic and his Karoo farm origin claims, but did admit that he bought in meat from other suppliers for quality comparison purposes.  His supplier Gastro Foods also admitted that they supply non-organic and non-Karoo game to Carne.   The fact that Nava did not institute legal proceedings against this blog was further proof of the false claims made.

From guest feedback it was understood that Nava took great care to explain personally to all his Carne customers how he obtains his meat for the restaurant.

The Carne con correction leaves “steak” on Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly’s face, in that she refused to allow a comment about the misleading Carne claims on the magazine’s website.  She is one of the three judges for the Eat Out Top 10 restaurant list, for which Carne was nominated last year.  

The original story about the Carne con can be read here.

POSTSCRIPT: Giogio Nava, the owner of Carne, has written a Comment to this post, denying making changes to his website due to the exposure of his restaurant’s misleading claims.   Read his comment (click on ‘Comments’ at the top). 

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

A recent blog post by chef, Eat Out Top 10 restaurant judge and owner of Wild Woods restaurant, Pete Goffe-Wood, is the inspiration for evaluating how ready Cape Town’s restaurants are for the World Cup, a mere three months away today, and for becoming world class.

Goffe-Wood wrote that the local restaurant industry is “teetering on the brink of greatness”, and encouraged his colleagues to “make the leap” to offer the “foreign market waiting to be fed, educated and entertained and we must make sure that we give them what they came for”.    Goffe-Wood identified complaints about high food and wine prices, poor service, and inconsistent food quality as being reflective of problems facing the restaurant industry.

He explained how wine-markups of 200 %, whilst creating outrage, are the norm, and that restaurants have to follow wine producers when they increase their prices every year.   Goffe-Wood is critical about the lack of restaurant reviews in “print media”.  He believes that the industry needs “positive input from informed and educated sources”.   Service , he says “is not to be subservient”, and he seeks a “more professional attitude towards the service we provide”.

So what do we as customers say to restaurants in response to Goffe-Wood’s self-analysis, and to guide them to greatness:

1.  First, well done Pete, for acknowledging that not all is perfect, and for wanting to lift the standard for the restaurant industry in Cape Town.

2.  We expect consistency in a restaurant’s food quality, service, and value-for-money, plus an attractive and interesting decor, and an undefined feel-good factor of “I like it here - this is a restaurant for a person like me - I will be back”.

3.  Please answer your phones when we call to make a booking, rather than letting us speak to an answering machine, which may or may not return our call.  Have friendly staff that understand the language we speak, and that can spell a basic name like “Chris”!   Even better, recognise and acknowledge our voice as regulars when we call

4.   Trust us as customers when we have made bookings at your restaurants - confirmation calls are soooo irritating.  Allow a 15 - 30 minute cut-off time, for late arrivers, and then offer the table to the next walk-in.  By all means ban customers if they are habitual late-arrivers, or even worse, non-arrivers!

5.  Retain your staff - we see staff turnover even in the best of establishments, and it is often the staff relationships that maintain the relationship consistency and that influence the service perception we have of your restaurants.  Please do not let your new waiter train on me!   Start an industry initiative, to not appoint the waiter/kitchen person running off (often without notice) from one restaurant to another.

6.  Train your staff - start with the wines.  When the waiter does not understand the word “vintage”, I shudder, and wonder why you did not start at the beginning with your training, or why your winelist cannot list this important detail.

7.  Why do we as patrons have to pay the salaries of your staff via tips?  It is the only industry where the onus lies on the client to make such a payment.  Almost two years ago the Department of Labour promulgated the Sectoral Determination for the Hospitality Industry, and it demands that staff be appointed on a full-time basis, with a monthly salary.  I know of few restaurants where this legal requirement is being applied. 

8.  Charge fair prices.  It’s tough for everyone at the moment.  Price increases of up to 50% (Reubens) and exorbitant World Cup prices (Beluga and Sevruga) alienate customers and make you look greedy.  The days of hoping that tourists alone will fill your coffers because of their foreign currency are over. 

9.   The marketing of restaurants is very poor.  Blond sexy “poppies” in ads does not crack it for most of us!  Few restaurants have websites, and the fewest restaurants seem to understand search engine optimisation, in making sure that patrons can find more information about their restaurants on the internet.   If one does a Google search, restaurant websites often are ranked lower than reviews written about them by industry websites such as Eat Out, or by bloggers.   This means that prospective clients are not hearing the restaurant marketing message directly.   The fewest restaurants in Cape Town understand the power of Social Media (Pizza Club, Cafe Max, Nook Eatery, Arnold on Kloof and Jardine are the few on Twitter) and Goffe-Wood Twitters and blogs very occasionally only.  I am not aware of any restaurant which has an integrated social media marketing strategy! 

10.   Your customers have become your reviewers, horror of horrors, and they say it as it is.  No more white-washing, no more ‘incestuous’ relationships between reviewers wishing to remain best mates with the chefs.  Bloggers are evaluating restaurants as the man/woman in the street would experience them, and the more honest they are in writing about what they experience, the more their evaluations are valued.   Banning them from your restaurants, as Le Quartier Francais, Carne and Beluga have done, if they have given you a critical review or feedback, is not productive, and it means that the restaurants will not improve if they cannot accept feedback.

11.  Treat us with honesty - do not con us with a marketing claim on your website, that is not true - as does Carne, which claims that all its meat is organic and comes from the Karoo, which has proven to be not true.  The dishonest claim remains on the website!

Restaurant patrons will forgive a restaurant many sins if they feel comfortable and “at home”; if they feel respected, even if the feedback provided is not always positive, provided in the interest of making it better;  if they are kept up to date with information from the restaurant; and if restaurants learn to say thank you for regular patronage, for a review, or for business sent to them by a regular client.  Not too much to ask, is it?!

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

The Whale Cottage Portfolio has increased the traffic to its website six-fold in one year, since embodying social media marketing, and has exceeded the 30 000 visitorship for the first time this month.  In 2009 a total of just fewer than 200000 unique visitors was recorded.

In January 2009 4850 unique visitors (i.e. unduplicated visitorship) had accessed the website, four months after Whale Cottage had started this blog www.whalecottage.com/blog.   At the end of December this had grown to 27 928 unique visitors.

The major impact on the growth in web traffic has been persistent blogging, with the target of one blog post published per day having been met with one or two exceptions.   Performance improved once the blog posts were posted during mid-morning, instead of just after midnight, when they had just been written.   This post is the 500th written on this WhaleTales blog.

Twitter has made a significant contribution too, with it serving as an “announcement” of what one has blogged about, providing a link to the website which can be accessed for more information, given its 140 character space restriction.   Whale Cottage has close to 700 followers, and has written more than 2 000 tweets to date.   Facebook has played only a small role in contributing to web traffic.

Cross-referencing has also assisted in the growth in Whale Cottage’s visibility, in that the social media links are part of the Whale Cottage e-mail signature; in that the WhaleTales newsletter invites its readers to follow Whale Cottage on Twitter and Facebook; and the blog has an RSS feed link, to enable regular readers to receive the latest WhaleTales blog post, and it has links to the Whale Cottage Twitter and Facebook pages.

New traffic to the website has come from restaurant reviews in particular, especially for new restaurants.  Few restaurants have websites, and do not understand about search engine optimisation.  Some Whale Cottage restaurant reviews have outperformed the restaurant websites in terms of the Google ranking on page one of a search on a specific restaurant.   Where other websites provided a link to the Whale Cottage blog in cases of restaurant controversy (e.g. Portofino, Carne), traffic to the website has been enhanced.

In 2009 the top 10 blog posts that were read most often were the following:

1.   Spar Sweet and Limelight Sour Service Awards (8 838)

2.   Petrol price drop best Christmas present for tourists (5119)

3.   Franschhoek goes Italian (Allora review) (4394)

4.   Rebel restaurateur a hit at Portofino (3 360)

5.   SA presence on top 50 restaurant list grows (2 468)

6.   Prince Albert celebrates in Fresnaye (2 276)

7.   Whales beach on Kommetjie beach (1 984)

8.   Minstrels do it for Cape Town (1 698)

9.   Table Mountain only SA New7wonders nominee (1 570)

10.  Sun Princess to visit Cape Town (1 510)

The most popular restaurants in Cape Town at the moment, based on restaurant reviews accessed on the Whale Cottage Portfolio website via Google this month, are Duchess of Wisbeach, Vaudeville and Kuzina.   

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

While we all love to eat out, it is disappointing when one gets taken for a ride by restaurants making false claims, or if they are dishonest in the presentation of their product and service.

My favourite hobby horse is wines-by-the-glass.  I have discovered regularly that the chosen vintage for such wines is seldom that which is advertised on the winelist.   Few winelists have a disclaimer, covering them for a vintage running out.   I always ask for the wine to be poured at the table - I also want to taste it before a glassful is poured.  Few restaurants do this.  Last week, at Wijnhuis in Newlands, a restaurant that places wines prominently in the foreground, I ordered a glass of Delheim Shiraz 2004, as per the winelist.   The waiter brought the poured glass to the table.  When I asked him to pour it at the table he came with a 2006 bottle.  When questioned about the vintage difference, he shrugged his shoulders.  The vintages had run out, he said, as if to say – so what?!    The older the wine, the more expensive it is.  So therefore, by deduction, a restaurant should charge less if the vintage is younger than advertised. 

At Vaudeville earlier this month four glasses of wine were poured out of a bottle, and the bottle was not left on the table.  When we asked for the rest of the wine, we were told that it was finished.  Any restaurateur will tell you that you can pour up to 6 glasses of wine out of a 750 ml bottle.   The GM begrudgingly brought 2 further glasses of wine to the table.   Surprisingly they do not tell you that the bottle is finished, nor sell you another!  

Newport Deli in Mouille Point wipes the mayonnaise off the tuna and chicken from the previous day’s sandwiches, puts them onto fresh bread, adds new mayonnaise, and calls the sandwiches “fresh”!

According to an ex-waiter of Bayside Cafe in Camps Bay, the left-over vegetables (usually butternut and spinach) returned from the table are put back into containers, and re-used for the next patrons!

A more devious dishonesty is when a restaurant makes a claim on its menu and website that it serves only organic beef, lamb and game from the owner’s farm in the Karoo, and an insider whistleblower tells friends that the restaurant in fact uses meat delivered from the same meat suppliers used by other restaurants in Cape Town.   The restaurant in question is Carne, well-known as a specialist meat/steak restaurant, which states on its website:  “Dedicated entirely to meat as is evident from its Italian name, Carne SA is a carnivore’s paradise serving a unique offering of the finest cuts of Romagnola beef, Dorper lamb and game, all organically grown on Giorgio’s own Karoo farms.   To test this allegation before confronting Carne, the December statement and an invoice from one of Carne’s largest meat suppliers – Gastro Foods – which supplied about R60 000 worth of meat, including Romagnola “beef T-bone”, “beef prime rib Carne” and “Beef Rump Swiss”, to Carne in December, were checked.  Botes Meat Centre also supplied Carne with meat to the value of about R15 000 in the same month.   We then wrote to Carne owner Giorgio Nava, asking him to comment on the allegation that not all his meat, as claimed on his website and his menu, comes from his farm and that not all of it is organic.   This was his reply:   “The traditional meat suppliers in cape town supply us from time to time with offal ( because we need fresh daily, impossible from the Karoo ) and two traditional suppliers store my carcase when ,my two cold rooms are full. One traditional supplier cuts my meat from time to time when I cannot handle the amount of work. We buy samples of meat from many suppliers to compare regularly with our grass fed meat. Hope my answer satisfies you.  Regards,  Giorgio Nava”!   With a purchase of R 30 000 – R 60 000 per month of beef from Gastro Foods, and about R 15 000 - R 20 000 from Botes Meat Centre, it appears likely that most of the beef served at Carne is NOT from the Karoo, NOR is all of it organic!!!   This is outright dishonesty, unacceptable for any restaurant, and especially for one on the Eat Out Top 20 list.

POSTSCRIPT (30 January)

Since this post was published, Giorgio Nava has called, and explained that he rears beef on his farm in the Karoo, and sells the carcasses to meat suppliers such as Gastro Foods at market-related prices.  They cut these up, and he buys the beef cuts that he serves at Carne back from them, at market-related prices.   This was his written reply:  “Chris I think you’ve got the wrong information. The two butchers you mentioned in your article buy my whole carcases they mature for me they cut for me as I stated before and they sell back to me the cut I need for my menu  as I cannot utilise the whole carcase in my restaurant.”  

This was confirmed by Andreas Reichmuth, the GM of Gastro Foods, who called proactively to support Carne.   HOWEVER, Mr Reichmuth spontaneously volunteered, without being asked, that he delivers ostrich and game to Carne too, which does not come from Mr Nava’s Karoo farm.   Gastro Foods does not supply lamb.

Despite legal pressure from Mr Nava and his lawyer, we stand by our story that not all meat prepared at Carne is from Mr Nava’s Karoo farm, and may not all be organic,on the following grounds:

1.  Mr Nava has confirmed that he does buy in “meat from many suppliers to compare regularly with our grass fed meat”.

2.  Gastro Foods’ GM confirmed on 29 January that his company supplies to Carne game that is not from Mr Nava’s farm

3.  Rossouw’s Restaurants wrote on 10 January 2009 that “….plus some of the meat comes from Nava’s own farm”, implying that not all of it does come from the Karoo farm.

We have requested Mr Nava to provide us with details of the lamb that he uses, and whether it is supplied by a meat supplier, and whether this is done on the same basis as the arrangement he has with Gastro Foods for the beef supply.   We have also asked for organic certification of his meats.  Both requests were denied, and the writer has been referred to Mr Nava’s lawyer.

We are surprised that Mr Nava did not explain the sale of his beef carcasses and buy-back relationship when he was approached for comment prior to the publishing of the post.  He offered no information about his lamb and game supply.   We asked Mr Nava: “I have been told that your website may be misleading in claiming that all the meats that you use are organically produced on your Karoo farms, and that they might in fact be delivered by traditional meat suppliers in Cape Town”.

POSTCRIPT (2 February) 

Mr Nava’s lawyer has written to confirm that Carne has a similar sell/buy-back relationship with Botes Meat Centre as far as his lamb and game is concerned.  He did not address the request for the organic certification.   He also wrote that “Mr Nava considers this matter to be at an end”. 

The controversial claim on the Carne website has not yet been amended.

POSTSCRIPT 3 (24 April)

Carne has finally “admitted” that its marketing has been misleading - read our follow-up story here.

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

The Prudential Eat Out Top 10 restaurant list can make, or break, restaurants, and so the tension in the ballroom of the Westin Grand Hotel in Cape Town was high when the top restaurant awards were announced last night.

Eat Out editor Abigail Donnelly indicated that the choice for this year’s Top 10 was very tough, and clarified that a chef owning more than one restaurant (e.g. Reuben Riffel) could be eligible for an award, as could a chef who will spend more time away from his namesake restaurant (George Jardine), at his new Country Restaurant at Jordan winery in Stellenbosch.   In recent years a Top 20 list is announced a few months prior to the November highlight, and this year the new players on this list were The Round House in Camps Bay (who bravely stated at their inception that they want to be the best restaurant in Africa, and who are very Big Brother as far as observing their patrons is concerned), the Green House in the Cellars Hohenhort hotel, and Carne.

The scoring for the restaurants was 70 % for the food, 20 % for the service and 10 % for the ambiance.   Restaurants had to have operated for a minimum of a year to be considered, the owner and the chef had to show a passion for their business, they had to show a dedication to uplift the industry, they had to show that quality sourcing of their supplies is important, and consistency and excellence had to be their foundation.

The winners of the 2010 Prudential Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards are as follows, in order of rank:

1.   La Colombe in Constantia
2.   Restaurant Mosaic in Pretoria
3.   Rust en Vrede Restaurant in Stellenbosch
4.   Terroir in Stellenbosch
5.   The Roundhouse in Camps Bay
6.   The Restaurant at Grande Provence in Franschhoek
7.   The Green House at the Cellars in Constantia
8.   Roots in Johannesburg
9.   9th Avenue Bistro in Durban
10. Overture in Stellenbosch and the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français in Franschhoek.

The tension, excitement and shock was felt by all when the winners were announced. The first surprise of the evening was that Abigail Donnelly, the editor of Eat Out magazine, had created two new Award categories, in which only she had a say in the winners. The Best Country Kitchen Award went to a perennial favourite - Marianna’s in Stanford - while, very surprisingly, the other new category was Best Bistro, which was won by Bizerca Bistro in Cape Town, a top 20 Award finalist. This made it clear that Bizerca would not make the Top 10 Eat Out Awards list for 2010. Many heads were shaking, and it sounded as if Bizerca had won a consolation prize.

The next shock was that the 10th place winner was a jointly placed Overture and the Tasting Room at Le Quartier Francais, once again sounding as if the judges could not decide which of the two restaurants to drop into 11th position, making both these restaurants joint 10th winners, and thus creating an Eat Out Top 11 Restaurants Awards this year! The list also created a stir in that Jardine fell out of the top list completely (from number 2 last year), as did Hartford House.  La Colombe, 9th Avenue Bistro, Mosaic, Terroir, The Tasting Room, Roots and Overture were all on the Top 10 restaurant list last year.   Restaurants that were on the Top 20 list, but which did not make the Top 10 list, are Reubens, Carne, Aubergine, Bread and Wine, The Food Barn, Hartford House, Zachary’s, Bizerca Bistro and Jardine.

Chantel Dartnall of Mosaic won the Chef of the Year award.   Rust en Vrede won the Service Excellence award.

Cape Town and the Winelands retain their reputation as the gourmet centre of South Africa, three awards going to Cape Town and Stellenbosch restaurants each, and two to Franschhoek restaurants.  

The 5-star Westin Grand Hotel disappointed hugely as the venue hosting an awards evening recognising the best of gourmet cooking and service in South Africa.   Its standards have dropped significantly compared to the slick function a year ago.   Luke warm waters and white wines were served, the service staff were initially unable to cope, and the airconditioning did not operate at an acceptable level.

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

The Cape Town restaurant scene has been buzzing this month, with a number of new restaurants opening, and an e-mail exchange creating the biggest restaurant stir ever experienced in the city.

The opening of the Cape Quarter extension on Somerset Road in De Waterkant has seen two restaurants open in the centre to date: Cru Cafe, a restaurant which has created “its own terroir” in the centre, says director Elsie Pells, in serving a selection of 150 wines hand-picked by Pells, a Cape Wine Master.   Voila, an all day breakfast and light meal restaurant, owned by the owners of Wakame, is a friendly addition, with cakes, muffins, croissants, fudge, toffee apples and many more treats prepared on site.   A clever touch is that glass domes presenting the treats are placed upon stacks of cookery books!  Downstairs, at the entrance, is an Andiamo Espresso, which is a sister coffee shop to the one in the original Cape Quarter, but on a very much reduced scale, only selling coffee, ice creams, juices, sandwiches and muffins.  It belongs to the same owners as the amazing Spar Gourmet Food Store at the entrance to the center.   Vanilla will open at the end of the month, and is owned by father and son duo Nigel and Simon Newhouse from Tuscany Beach in Camps Bay.   It will be the lead restaurant in this centre, with 180 diners catered for on two levels.   The chef  Evan Coosner worked at Reuben’s  and Ginja previously.   Kuzina - Greekooking, LAZARI, and BICCCS (Bread, Ice Cream, Cakes, Coffee, Croissants, Sandwiches) are restaurants still set to open in the centre.    To celebrate its opening, the Cape Quarter has organised a Food & Brandy Festival on 13 and 14 November, with Giggling Gourmet Jenny Morris, in conjunction with the Alchemy of Gold (Klipdrift, Flight of the Fish Eagle, Oude Meester, Nederburg, Uitkyk and Van Ryn’s brandies), talking and preparing food all day long.

The talk and tweet of the town has been an e-mail exchange between Cormac Keane, owner of new restaurant Portofino, and a client, who cancelled a 5 pm dinner reservation one hour before time of arrival.  Keane expressed his frustration to the client in no uncertain terms and with true Irish directness.  The client was not happy with the replies he received from Portofino, and made contact with some websites that had written favourable reviews of the restaurant, including WhaleTales.    He also sent it to a hip website called 2oceansvibe, which decided to post the e-mail exchange on its blog, leading to an outburst of mainly critical and at times extremely crass and defamatory attacks against Keane.  On the other hand, many readers of the exchange admired Keane for standing up to an inconsiderate customer, and lauded him for his bold and direct stand. The end result:  the customer has gone into hiding, and has requested that his name be deleted from the exchange on the 2oceansvibe website.  For Portofino, it has meant a fully booked restaurant ever since the e-mail exchange was circulated around the city, reinforcing that there is no such thing as bad publicity!   The WhaleTales’ review of Portofino, which was written shortly after Portofino opened, was offered as a link in some of the website comments, and the review attracted more than 2000 readers in the past week, a record readership.   A vindictive customer tried to show up what he felt was a rude restaurateur, and got more than he bargained for.  Instead of spreading the word to prevent others from going to Portofino, he has done the restaurant the best possible favour by creating wide-spread exposure for it, a bonus for a restaurant which only opened 6 weeks ago, and now has become the best known restaurant in town!   Portofino is not the first restaurant to have told a customer to not return: Le Quartier Francais, Carne, Beluga and Sevruga are known to have done so too!    Carne and Le Quartier Francais are finalists for the Prudential Eat Out Top 10 restaurant awards, and it begs the question whether such poor restaurant customer care should make them eligible for such a sought-after award.  

Another restaurant that is on the Eat Out Top 10 restaurant shortlist is The Roundhouse in Camps Bay, which has demonstrated its arrogance almost since its inception, stating at the outset that its goal is to become the best restaurant in Africa.  A response of the owner Fasie Malherbe to a customer comment on the Eat Out website is a scary reflection of what one might encounter at this ‘Big Brother’ restaurant: “every guest that has ever walked through our door and dined with us is on record to the extent that I will outline your exact time of arrival, what you ate, what you drank as aperitif’s, digestif’s wine that was served to you, the guests comments made on each dish, positive or negative feedback, special dietry (sic) requirements, the guest interaction between staff is noted, what car you drove, whether you smoked or not, how many times you went to the restroom and any other details that we could use to ensure that when you return that we may ensure consistency in offering or if you have complaints as we have here that we have all our ducks in a row and can learn from the ordeal”!

Bruce Robertson, the previous owner of The Showroom, which is where Portofino is now located, has confirmed that the Franschhoek restaurant that he is consulting on is that of La Motte, which is due to open in May.   The wine estate has just opened its new tasting room.   Robertson is also working with Warwick wine estate outside Stellenbosch on their gourmet picnic offering, which will be available from 1 December.  Robertson is also a gourmet food tour guide now, and he led the editor and 8 readers of USA foodie magazine Bon Appetit around the culinary delights of the Cape, including Reuben preparing a meal at Boekenhoutskloof in Franschhoek; a winepairing dinner at Grand Roche with Cederberg Wines; a malas tasting at Paul Cluver matched to organic farm foods; a seafood braai paired with Hamilton-Russell wines at Birkenhead in Hermanus, with the Southern Right whales frolicking in the ocean as a backdrop; and an interactive Cape Malay cooking demonstration with Cass Abrahams and paired with L’Omarins wines. 

OYO, the restaurant in the V&A Hotel in the Waterfront, is offering a crayfish special at R 185 for 500 grams.  A choice of hot or cold crayfish is offered.  Sister restaurant SALT at the Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay is also offering this special.

Alle’e Bleue wine estate has opened its beautiful top class winetasting room, and has a new outside courtyard restaurant seating about 80 linked to it, serving only five options:   Flammkuchen, Bobotie, a cheese platter, a chicken/spinach salad and a mixed grill.

Delaire Graff has made three changes after only being open for four months:  its prices have increased, its staff have changed, losing their exceptional Maitre’d, and their menu has changed.   Read a report on the latest visit here.

New Italian restaurant Alla Posta is to open at 51 Kloof Street shortly.  It will not only offer Italian delicacies, but also Italian furniture, decor and books, and show Italian movies.

Two new restaurants are set to open in Franschhoek soon, both owned by one of Franschhoek’s largest retail and hospitality landowners Robert Maingard.   In the old station building once hosting the Tourism Bureau, a sports bar is set to open, while a creperie should have opened a few months ago already close to the Huguenot Fine Chocolate shop.   A Franschhoek branch of Gelato Mania, which already exists on Somerset Road, in Green Point, opened recently and is tucked away alongside Col’Cacchio.

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