Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

A spontaneous invitation to join Cormac Keane, previous owner of Portofino, for dinner at one of his new favourite restaurants, led to the introduction to Sloppy Sam on Somerset Road in Green Point, Cape Town.   While its name may put one off from trying the restaurant, it is anything but sloppy.  Sloppy Sam is a most warm and welcoming restaurant.   Its business card promises “Simple Food Cooked Well”.

The charming Persian owner and hands-on chef Hooman Saffarian spent time at our table, always a plus when the owner takes the time and trouble to meet his customers.   Equally impressive was waiter Bradley, who had the right balance of attentiveness, service, and friendliness, and clearly loves his job.  He proudly said that he has worked at the restaurant for a year, and would not easily move, even if he were to be paid more somewhere else.

Sloppy Sam is a Cape Town institution, having been established on Glengariff Road in Sea Point as a milk bar in 1935.   In 1984 Saffarian bought the restaurant, only the fourth owner in the 75 year history of the restaurant.   He sold the restaurant in 1993, but he and his family missed the restaurant so much that he bought it back.  Four years ago the restaurant moved to its current location, previously the home of “The Restaurant”, whose owner Graeme Shapiro emigrated to Australia.   Sloppy Sam has a namesake in Rome, we are told.

The first impression of Sloppy Sam on entering is that it is a Greek restaurant, as the music sounds Greek.   It has Greek style chairs, in a Greek-blue, and has a homely feel from its cluttered yet neat look - crates of bottled water, wine, and Persian delicacies stand on the floor, and add to the decor.   Shelves are filled with imported jams, pomegranate juice, and pickled garlic.   A bowl has an attractive collection of red onions, lemons and aubergines.  Persian rugs hang over the balcony and on the wall, and they, together with the works of art, are for sale out of the restaurant.   Saffarian sells antiques as well, Bradley tells us.

The menu and winelist are in one document, a no-nonsense plastic folder with information.   The menu has mediterranean Mazzehs, which include tarama, tzatziki, dolmek, kuftek (meatballs) and bademjan, all at R 35, served with pita bread, a little over-toasted for my liking, making it tough.  Feta, olives and humus cost R 38. Spanakopita, sardines and tuna carpaccio cost around R 39, and two salads cost R 47.   All main courses have been kept under R 100, at R 99 for the lamb shank, roasted lamb neck and pepper steak, and the lamb ribs,lamb chops, moussaka, beef and chicken kebabs, calamari and tuna are cheaper.   The pan-fried calf’s liver is R 75.   I love liver, and while it was not as thick-cut as I like it prepared, it was certainly tasty.  The potato mash could have been creamier, and not feel as if it was just compressed potato.  The tzatziki and humus were excellent.   Keane enjoyed his chicken kebabs with a spicy tikka.  Desserts cost between R 25 - R 33, for baklava, halva and malva pudding.

Bradley offered me a choice of two wines in dinky bottles - I have not seen these in a restaurant for years!   I choose the 2006 Blaauwklippen Cabernet Sauvignon, and was allowed to taste it without asking!   The wine list has a small selection of inexpensive wines: Chardonnays range from R 120 for Hartenberg to R 165 for Springfield Wild Yeast; white blends from R 95 for the Buitenverwachting Buiten Blanc to R 120 for a Haute Cabriere Chardonnay/Pinot Noir; Rose’s cost R 69 for the Nederburg and R 85 for the Boschendal Blanc de Noir; Fleur du Cap Cabernet Sauvignon costs R 120, while the Springfield Whaleberg costs R 229; Beyerskloof Pinotage is R 99, while the Hartenberg costs R 130; the Villiera Merlot costs R 115, the Bilton costs R 140; the Bellingham Shiraz costs R 120 and the Diemersdal R 135.

The restaurant has the cutest website ever seen (restaurants generally are not well-known for their marketing), which looks like a picture book, and makes a sound when you turn the pages.  It opens on the Homepage with a proud shot of Saffarian, with loud middle-Eastern music.  It warns one not to expect “blitz cooking” at the restaurant.   We will definitely return to Sloppy Sam.

Sloppy Sam, 51a Somerset Road, Green Point, tel 021 419-2921, www.sloppysam.co.za.  Open Mondays - Saturdays, evenings only.

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

The highly regarded South African wine guide Platter’s has announced its two winning white and red wines for 2010, being Palladius 2008 from Sadie Family Wines, and Le Riche Wines’ Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2005.

Platter’s Wine Guide has given an early taste of its winning wines, and has also revealed that 41 wines have made the highly-sought after 5-star category, the highest number of 5-star wines since Platter’s was introduced.  As the Platter’s Wine Guide will only reach the shops in November, few clues as to the Winery of the Year, Superquaffer of the Year, and the five-star wines have been revealed.

However, the Platter’s media release states that 6 000 wines were evaluated this year, and 105 of these made the five-star shortlist, for the final selection of 41.  By wine variety, five-star winners include 5 sauvignon blancs, 5 Bordeaux-style red blends, 4 Bordeaux-style white blends, 4 shiraz wines, 4 unfortified dessert wines, 3 ports, 3 chardonnays, 2 cabernet sauvignons, 2 Pinot Noirs, 2 red blends, 1 grenache, 1 chenin blanc and 1 pinotage.

Platter’s has also revealed that multi 5-star winners are Woolworths, with four 5-star wines, which include a sauvignon blanc and a bordeaux-style red blend.  The other two 5-star Woolworths wines have not been revealed.   Boplaas Family Vineyards, traditionally a port winner, Cape Point Vineyards, Distell (5-stars for its Nederburg and Fleur du Cap wines) and Sadie Family Wines are also multi 5-star winners.

The Platter’s South African Wine Guide will be launched in November, with a detailed evaluation of all the South African wines tasted.

Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com

Nederburg will become the official wine supplier to FIFA for the 2010 World Cup, being one of the largest selling South African wines in “many international markets”, reports Just-Drinks.

The limited edition range World Cup 2010 Nederburg Sauvignon Blanc, Rose and Cabernet Sauvignon will be sold for about R 100 a bottle in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Germany, South Africa and selected other countries.

Franschhoek’s Rupert & Rothschild Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon has been selected as the third most successful wine in Germany, reports The Big Pond blog.

Weinwirtschaft published a list of “the 100 Most Successful Wines of 2008”, and three South African wines made the list – the Rupert & Rothschild, Nederburg Merlot Foundation at number 23, and KWV’s Roodeberg at number 58. 

The criteria for being judged was wine sales in Germany of 10 000 bottles or more.   Seven hundred wines were submitted for judging on sales success, value for money, and marketing image.

The 2009 Platter Wine Guide has been released, and its record 33 five-star wines were announced earlier this week.    Kanonkop scooped the prestigious honour of being recognised as the best wine as well as best winery.    Only Boekenhoutskloof and De Trafford had two five-star wines in the top wine list.

Wine of the Year

Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon 2004

Winery of the Year

Kanonkop

Chenin Blanc

Ken Forrester The FMC 2006

Chardonnay

Ataraxia 2007
Jordan CWG Auction Reserve 2006
Uva Mira Single Vineyard 2007

Sauvignon Blanc

Quoin Rock The Nicobar 2007

Semillon

Constantia Uitsig 2007

White Blends

Cape Point Vineyards Isliedh 2007
Nederburg Ingenuity White 2007
Sterhuis Astra White 2006
Tokara White 2007

Pinot Noir

Meerlust 2004

Cabernet Franc

Buitenverwachting 2005

Cabernet Sauvignon

Boekenhoutskloof Winery 2006
Kanonkop 2004
Thelema The Mint 2006

Pinotage

Simonsig Redhill 2006

Red Blends

De Toren Fusion V 2006
De Trafford CWG Perspective 2005
Kaapzicht Steytler Vision 2005
Morgenster 2005
Vilafonté Series C 2006
Waterford Estate – CWG Auction Reserve 2004

Shiraz

Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2006
De Trafford 2006
Eagle’s Nest 2006
Hartenberg The Stork 2005
Signal Hill Clos d’Oranje 2006

Dessert Wine Unfortified

Fleur du Cap – Noble Late Harvest 2007
Klein Constantia Estate – Rhine Riesling Natural Sweet 2006
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards Vin Pi Two (NV)

Dessert Wine Fortified

Mons Ruber Estate Muscat d’Alexandrie Jerepigo 1997

Port

Boplaas Vintage Reserve 2006
De Krans Vintage Reserve 2006

Franschhoek La Vigne winemaker Ossie Sauermann has been announced as 2008 Diner’s Club Young Winemaker of the Year.   Last year Marc Kent of Boekenhoutskloof was selected as the Winemaker of the Year.