Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

Eighteen leading restaurants from Cape Town, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch will be on show at the “Taste of Cape Town” next week, which takes place from Wednesday 24 - Sunday 28 March at the Rhodes High School in Mowbray.

Leading restaurants which will be offering up to 3 interesting mini-dishes will be Bistro 1682, Cape Colony at the Mount Nelson Hotel, Ginja, Myoga, Grande Provence, Jardine, Le Quartier Francais, Bread & Wine, Overture, The Greenhouse and Reubens.   Interestingly the One&Only Cape Town restaurants Nobu and Maze will also be presenting a taste of their dishes.   Odd is that restaurants that cannot be compared to the gourmet level of those mentioned already are also part of the ‘Taste of Cape Town’: Wang Thai, Societi Bistro, Gold, Signal at Cape Grace, and Il Leone Mastrantonio.

“Taste of Cape Town” is a franchised event, that will also be held in Johannesburg, London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Auckland, Sydney, Milan, Amsterdam, Melbourne, Dublin, and Dubai in 2010.

Dishes to be tasted are paid for in crowns, and each restaurant can name its price ranging between 4 - 8 crowns (or R 20 - R 40).   Tickets can be bought at Computicket, either for R 80 for just the entrance, or at R 170 for entrance and crowns to the value of R 100.

Taste of Cape Town, 24 - 27 March from 18h30 - 22h30, as well as 13h00 - 17h00 on 27 March, and 12h00 - 17h00 on 28 March. www.tasteofcapetown.com

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

A new Lonely Planet travel guide  “1000 Ultimate Experiences” has named Cape Town as one of the world’s Top 10 party cities, reports Reuters.

Cape Town’s fellow Top 10 party cities are Belgrade in Serbia, Montreal in Canada, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Thessalonika in Greece, La Paz in Bolivia, Baku in Azerbaijan, Auckland in New Zealand and Tel Aviv in Israel.

One wonders if the editor came to the South Africa, in its overstated evaluation of Mossel Bay, and its incorrectly stated distance between Mossel Bay and Cape Town!   The Lonely Planet accolade for Cape Town is as follows: “With the 2010 World Cup bringing a global audience to South Africa, the partying will only get harder as travelers converge on a city already well known for nightlife. Luxuriate on some of the world’s best beaches by day and kick back under the moonlight at suave cocktail bars by night. Two hours east, in the Indian Ocean, lies the elegant beach village of Mossel Bay, with more great beaches and chic flair. Visitors must try some of the wines crafted by South Africa’s world-renowned vintners, either at a Cape Town bar or at one of several wineries nearby”

For the full Reuters article, click here.

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

The owners of the QE2 have applied to the Cape Town port authorities for permission to berth in the harbour, reports MailOnline.

The owners of the luxury liner,  Dubai World, also own the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.   Given the poor economic conditions in Dubai currently, and the need for accommodation in South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the owners have planned to bring the ship to Cape Town.   The ship would also serve as a tourist attraction, with tours on-board for tourists planned.

The liner was set to have become a floating hotel on Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah island.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

A new Cape Town hotel, which is being built in the historic Bo-Kaap area in central Cape Town, is to cater for Muslim visitors to Cape Town specifically, who wish to stay in a hotel in which alcoholic beverages are not served, reports Travel News Weekly.

Due to open later this year, the 140-room The Coral International Cape Town will cost more than R 200 million to build.   The management company is from Dubai, and it is opening its first South African hotel, with further developments planned in Durban and Johannesburg.

The hotel will offer its clients Muslim prayer facilities, halaal cuisine, wireless broadband connectivity, and plasma screen TV’s.   It is also planning to sell its rooms on a sectional title basis.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Sol Kerzner’s One&Only Cape Town is scheduled to open in the V & A Waterfront in May next year, reports Luxury Travel.  

The hotel will have 131 rooms, of which 40 will be located on a specially created island in the Waterfront.   The other special island will host the eleven-room Spa and pool, and will be linked to the hotel by means of bridges.    Other facilities will include the One&Only Fitness Centre; Nobu, Island Terrace and Plate restaurants; the Wine Loft with more than a hundred wines by the glass; and a KidsOnly Club.

Sol Kerzner, who became a renowned hotelier and casino operator when he established Sun City and The Palace of the Lost City outside Johannesburg more than 25 years ago, says of his newest project: “One&Only Cape Town will become a significant landmark in Africa with its bold, contemporary design promising to make it one of the world’s leading luxury resort destinations.  I am looking forward to once again contributing to South Africa’s tourism industry, which has seen an incredible growth in recent years.   I am very pleased to open a spectacular resort with a fresh and exciting new concept in my home country in what I’ve always believed to be one of the greatest sites in Cape Town.   Opening in plenty of time for the 2010 World Cup, the resort will appeal to the international traveller and play a key role in the local community”.

Kerzner’s One&Only hotels are located in Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Bahamas and Dubai.    He opened his latest Atlantis Palm Jumeirah One&Only in Dubai two days ago, with a $20 million opening extravaganza, including the world’s largest fireworks display and a performance by Kylie Minogue.   VIP guests at the opening included Robert de Niro, Charlize Theron, Wesley Snipes, Janet Jackson, Mischa Barton, Yasmin le Bon, Denzil Washington and Shirley Bassey, signalling the scale at which the One&Only Cape Town could be opening next year.