Whale Cottage Portfolio Blog

The City of Cape Town has spelt out its public transport plans for the soccer fans attending the World Cup in Cape Town from 11 June to 11 July.

A combination of transport methods, including trains, buses, minibus taxis, and metered taxis will transport guests between the airport, the station, the public viewing areas, and the Cape Town Stadium, reports the Cape Times.

Soccer fans with World Cup tickets will travel for free between the stadium and any one of 25 park-and-ride centres in the city, even stretching out as far as Strand, and also including UCT, Camps Bay High School, and Kronendal Primary in Hout Bay, offering 7000 parking bays in total.   Park-and-ride centers include Century City, GrandWest Casino, Kuilsriver, Oostersee, Fish Hoek, Retreat, Brackenfell and Claremont.

A shuttle bus will run from Hertzog Boulevard at the Civic Centre to the Cape Town Stadium, starting 6 hours before the match starts until 4 hours after each match on match days.  

On match days too, an Atlantic seaboard bus service will run from Hout Bay through Camps Bay and Sea Point, to the Stadium, starting 4 hours before kick-off, until 2h00 the next morning.

Throughout the 31 days of the FIFA World Cup, a shuttle bus will transport soccer fans from Cape Town International airport to Hertzog Boulevard 24 hours of the day, in intervals of 6 - 30 minutes, depending on usage.   The cost is a reasonable R 50 per one-way trip.

A further bus service will operate in the city itself, running 24 hours per day, and leaving every 10 - 30 minutes, connecting Hertzog Boulevard, Table Bay Boulevard, Heerengracht, Coen Steytler Avenue, Long and Loop Streets, Buitensingel Street, Orange Street, Buitenkant Street, Darling Street, Oswald Pirow Avenue and back to Hertzog Boulevard.   This will allow soccer fans, with tickets for the stadia, or just coming to enjoy the fan park outside the City Hall, to obtain easy access to their hotels and to restaurants.  Another shuttle bus route will be to Queens Beach in Sea Point, via the Waterfront, until 2h00 every morning.

Trains will transport the soccer fans to public viewing areas at the Bellville Velodrome, Athlone Civic Centre, OR Tambo Sports Hall in Khayelitscha, and the Swartklip Sport Hall in Mitchell’s Plain.

The city has warned that one will not be able to park close to the stadium, and that disabled soccer fans will have to also make use of public transport, its shuttle stations being wheelchair-friendly.

Further information about the transport connections during the World Cup can be obtained on www.capetown.gov.za, or at tel 0800 656 463.

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

The Sweet Service Award goes to Lourens and his Workshop team at Paarl Motors, for managing to get the replacement of a gearbox covered by a Mercedes Benz Maintenance Plan, which the car manufacturer had said had expired, despite the gearbox having been ordered 3 months ago.  Instead of having to pay R 20 000 for the replacement, or 50 % of this under the maintenance plan, Lourens managed to persuade Mercedes Benz to not charge at all.   This is the second Sweet Service Award which has been awarded to Paarl Motors.

The Sour Service Award goes to Cinema Nouveau in the V&A Waterfront.   The cinema appears to have no manager on the floor, the manager’s office being upstairs and hidden from the ticket sales area, where most of the problems occur.  The staff have attitude, are rude to their customers, constantly change, book one against the wall when one asks for a ticket on the aisle, and often do not even man the ticket booth and expect one to buy the ticket at the refreshment counter.  The staff do not match the quality of the movies shown at the movie house, and have no interest in assisting clients when there is a problem.  There is no way one can complain about the service, as there is no telephone number for the Waterfront branch - all calls go to a central call centre, and calls are not returned.

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.

The Sweet Service Award goes to Ian Halfon and his team at Balducci restaurant in the V&A Waterfront for so generously hosting the members of the Camps Bay Accommodation Association to a dinner on 14 December.   Not only did they pull out all the stops to introduce the guest house owners to a wide variety of dishes on the extensive Balducci Italian-style menu, but they also presented each guest house with a most beautiful gift box, consisting of a bottle of the Balducci house wine, a packet of biscotti, and a menu for the guest house.

The Sour Service Award goes to Telkom, for not arriving for an appointment, made two months ago, to install a telephone line in an apartment in Stellenbosch on Monday a week ago, as the technician had gone to the wrong block of flats.  Even though he had the contact details of the estate agent waiting to open for him, he did not bother to call when he arrived at the incorrect address.  It has taken another 10 days for him to come to the correct address, and he has now discovered a broken cable between the block and the distribution board, which has to be repaired before the line installation can be completed.

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.

The Sweet Service Award goes to the contractors and staff responsible for the magnificent Cape Town Stadium, which was completed on schedule. It has become a modern landmark for the Mother City, and will give soccer fans a view onto Table Mountain or on to the Atlantic Ocean.   It is proudly supported by Capetonians, many of whom were resistant to it initially.   The area around the stadium is almost complete and the 9-hole Metropolitan Golf Club is likely to have a better course and clubhouse than ever before.  The road system near the Stadium is outstanding, and it is quick and easy to connect to the V&A Waterfront from Sea Point, Green Point and Fresnaye.  Some of the many contractors include consulting engineers Arcus GIBB, Henry Fagan & Partners GOBA, BKS, ILISO Consulting, Martin & East; quantity surveyors MLC, HP and Abakali;Architects gmp Architects, Munnik Visser, jakupa, Paragon Architects, Louis Karol; OvP Landscape Architects; and many more.  Mr Bev Mitchell was the Chairman of the management committee and Andre Lambrechts the chief project manager.  None of this would have been possible without monies from the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape government, and the national treasury.

The Sour Service Award goes to Vodacom once again, for receiving payment for the cellphone subscription via Pick ‘n Pay’s EasyPay.  Such payment is meant to register on the system the following day, but does not appear to, as the customer was once again cut-off, without warning, despite payment having been made on due date.  It appeared that Vodacom was cash-flow short, as it sent an SMS on 1 December to chase payment, when it usually did so around the 4th or 5th of the month!  The customer was cut off on 3 December.  Once one registers the cut-off at Vodacom, one is promised a one-hour reconnection time, but this is never accurate, the reconnection taking 6 hours, even though proof of payment was sent to Vodacom’s Johannesburg offices, and all ID and address verification procedures had been followed and checked.

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.

Balducci’s new summer 2009/2010 menu, which was launched over the festive season, looks good enough to eat, with the most beautiful photography of some of the dishes.

An unusual menu size of A5, the menu looks like a magazine when one pages through it, with pages of menu items, categorised into antipasta/starters, insalata/salds, sushi, pizzas, gnocchi/pasta, pesce/seafood,  carne/meat, secondi piatti/second course, dolce/desserts and fromaggi/cheese. 

In relaunching the restaurant and its menu, owner Ian Halfon of the Slick Restaurant Group has focussed more strongly on the Italian origin of the Balducci name.   The front cover has a bold “Italian Chic” statement on it.  Underneath the restaurant name, it says “Ristorante Pizza  Seafood  Bar”, to define what Balducci’s stands for.

Unusual for a menu, it has ads Interspersed throughout, for Giani Jewellers, La Vie waters, Lindt chocolates, Amarula, Finders Keepers, Illy coffee and Evian water.  The menu also contains the wine list, and wines advertised are Noble Hill, Morgenster,  Pongracz, Veuve Clicquot, Dornier, Ataraxia, De Wetshof, Mooiplaas, Hartenberg,  Fleur du Cap, Wedderwill, Doolhoof, Nederberg, Waterkloof, and Steenberg.

To continue the magazine feel, the menu is priced at R 100, and has a bar code.   It even has a tag, in case one would think of leaving the restaurant with it.

Balducci’s seems to have lost the socialite following it had in its earlier days, but the owners may see this as a good thing, as this is a fickle customer group, moving from trendy to next trendy location.

What is impressive is its dedication to the environment, in that the menu is printed on recyclable (!) paper,   and “Balducci supports alien clearing by using alien wood types in our pizza ovens”.  The menu also states that the restaurant serves seasonal vegetables and fruit, as well as “superb quality procured meat …and fish.”   No frozen chicken is used, only Karan beef is used, as is award-winning Morgenster olive oil (which the menu claims is “imported”).

Interesting little notes are spread throughout the menu, for example gluten free pizza bases are offered, at an additional R 25.

The winelist section is introduced by a detailed description of the South African wine regions, districts and wards.   Each wine stocked has a vintage stated, even though a disclaimer states that vintages may run out.   Good tasting notes are provided per wine, and some wines are available by the glass.

Somewhat of a contradiction relative to its strong Italian positioning is the separate Balducci Burger Menu, an affordable selection of burgers made from ostrich, beef, chicken and lamb.  Very affordable wines, at R 22 per glass of Balducci House white and R 25 for the House red are served, while the bottle price of the house wines is under R 100.  

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

The ZDF movie “Das Geheimnis der Wale” (The Secret of the Whales) was flighted on the largest German TV station over the last two evenings, and a large part of the filming was done in Hermanus and Cape Town a year ago.   The movie is set in New Zealand.

The movie tells the story of humpback whales beaching.  Johannes Waldmann is a highly regarded whale researcher who is studying whale communication, and suspects that whales beaching is due to underwater sonar activity.   A thriller movie, it tells the story of a group of oil exploration businessmen who want to rid an area of whales, so that they can explore for gas.  They use sonic booms to move the whales out of the sea in the area, but the whales beach, attracting attention and demonstrations against the gas exploration company’s plans. 

While the focus of the movie was humpback whales, Southern Right whales were also shown, and often mentioned.  This whale species is most often seen in Walker Bay from Hermanus.

German colleagues Veronica Ferres and Mario Adorff, with international actor Christopher Lambert, were the top names of the cast.  Whilst the cast and crew were predominantly German, South African actress Lee-Anne Summers (daughter of Sean Summers, ex-Pick ‘n Pay boss and Tannenbaum Ponzi scheme “investor”) had a small part, as did ex-Miss South Africa Jo-Ann Strauss.   Cape Town locations for the movie were the Cape Town International Convention Centre (making a believable airport exterior in New Zealand), Hout Bay (with its distinctive Sentinel mountain forming a frequent backdrop), the V&A Waterfront quays, the Whale Well in Queen Victoria Street, and the Royal Cape Yacht Club.   An unidentifiable pristine beach was used to film the whales beaching (Since publishing this post, Paul - see comments - has identified the beach to be Kogel Bay, between Gordon’s Bay and Rooi Els).   Local crew were used in part, and Hermanus residents were used as “demonstrating” extras.

After the first half of the movie was flighted on Sunday evening, a ZDF documentary speculated on the reasons for whales beaching.  A number of theories were presented:   whales can dive down too deep, and suffer from decompression like humans do when they come up for air too quickly, disorientating them, and making them beach;   due to climate change the oceans are cooling, releasing more oxygen into the oceans, and thus attracting more sealife, and also whales, to shallower waters;  sunspots can also affect the whales, and occur every 11 years - they affect the earth’s magnetism, and therefore the whales’ inner compass, disorientating them.

What is a shame is that the lovely scenery shots will not be recognised by the average German TV viewer as having been done in Cape Town and Hermanus, but will be identified as being new Zealand, due to the story-line.  Even the documentary quoted Australian researchers, pertaining to the frequent beachings off Tasmania, and those from the Canary Islands, with no mention of whale beaching in South Africa.

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

Being a great fan of the Grand Cafe and Rooms in Plettenberg Bay, and The Grand in Camps Bay, we felt lucky to be able to book a table for lunch at the new The Grand on the Beach, literally on its own private beach between the Water Club in Granger Bay and the V&A Waterfront, during the busy festive season.   The restaurant has a waiting list of up to 2 weeks for bookings for dinner, but it is a little easier to make a lunch booking.

The first impression is not very grand, when one drives down a dirt track, with huge mounds of soil just left there from some earthworks.  Being close to the Oceana Club launch area, the smell of fish greets you, adding to the unsavoury first impression.  If you are lucky enough to park inside the gates, everything changes, with multi-million Rand cars parked inside, and the familiar Grand branding being visible.  One can see the beach, with tables and chairs, and even couches, on it.

The restaurant is set inside a massive old warehouse, with no attempt made to touch it up outside.  Inside it has had a coat of paint, and has shelves near the bar area.   A long steel table, maybe seating 30 persons, dominates the main restaurant area, over which hangs a huge chandelier, shabby chic with its new-like-old dust.   Pinkish cane-style chairs dominate inside, and the interior comes together with little effort.   A side section of the building houses a shop selling towels, hats, dresses, bathroom products, etc.

First prize in eating at the Grand on the Beach is to book a table outside, either on the terrace, or even better, on the beach itself.   Justin, the Manager, organised us such a table with umbrella - he was previously at the Camps Bay branch, and is a lovely helpful Manager who makes magic happen.   The owner Suzie Main was also there, and attracted a lot of attention from Justin.   He did make time to check on our table regularly.

Dax Villanueva (RelaxWithDax) was our guest and told us more about himself.   He grew up in Port Elizabeth, where his mother runs a guest house.   He studied in Durban and a lucky job offer brought him to Cape Town 10 years ago.   Dax started a newsletter nine years ago, about restaurants to eat at and things to do in Cape Town.   He is also a Blogger and a Twitterer (www.relax-with-dax.co.za). He does not like the question about his favourite restaurants, and sidesteps it neatly, saying that he has different favourites for different occasions.

The private beach of The Grand is about 200 meters wide, and has some tables and chairs, a collection of white couches (for the owner and her friends), a pink “kiss” couch, 2 porta pools, and some showers.  While it looks inviting to swim, one cannot get into the water, as ‘dolosse’ and barbed wire cover the length of the beach, without one seeing it from the tables. 

It took an unreasonably long time to get the table set up outside and to serve the drinks, with a waiter change taking place too.   One of the problems is that the waiters did not seem to know which brands of beer they stock - we got the full list of Castle, Amstel, Black Lable, Jack Black, and Corona, but every beer we chose was out of stock.  In the end, it appeared that they only stock Corona and Jack Black, but that they were fresh out of Jack Black, so that we could have any beer we liked, as long as it was a Corona!   Once our waitress took over, things moved a little faster, and given the beach setting, the slow service seemed less of an irritation than at a restaurant where one expected to leave more quickly.   In fact we lost track of time, sittting on the beach for 3,5 hours.     

The menu of the restaurant is the same as at The Grand in Camps Bay. The first choice starter of Avocado Ritz (R 75) could not be ordered, as the restaurant had run out of avocado.   The Caprese Buffalo salad was lovely, exactly how it should be served, slices of mozarella on slices of tomato, and some basil, drizzled with olive oil.   Dax’s Waldorf salad with bacon was served in a slice of lettuce, an attractive presentation.  Both salads cost R65.   Alex loved his grilled chicken breast with yoghurt dressing (R 85), Dax his Steak Bearnaise (R 130), and I the grilled calamari (R 80).    Other mains are entrecote (R 140), mussels and chips (R 80), line fish (R 120), sugar salmon (R145), grilled crayfish (R240), LM prawns (R 200), “Grand crayfish pasta” (R 200) and a seafood platter for 2 at R 695.    Shrimp tempura (R 75), prego roll (R 75) and caviar (SQ) can also be ordered.   Unlike its other Grand sisters, The Grand on the Beach has a pizza oven, and serves a large margarita at R 90 and a margarita + anchovies and artichokes at R 120.  We were not offered the pizza options.    The Affogato (R28), an espresso poured over ice cream, went down well. 

We are charged for a green salad that was meant to come with the calamari, but which we did not receive.  We missed the trademark excellent music compilation which is played at strong volume at The Grand in Plettenberg Bay.

Despite all the hiccups, the service was attentive, and the food good, so it was an overall enjoyable experience.   The beer stocking and supply needs to be addressed however.

The cost of 3 Coronas, a glass of house wine, two salads, the steak, the chicken and calamari, as well as one dessert was R 602.

The Grand on the Beach, off Beach Road between Water Club and V&A Waterfront,  tel 021 425 0551. www.thegrand.co.za

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

When leaving the cinema after seeing ‘Invictus’, I could not come to a conclusion about my feelings about the movie.   While it has a star cast of international actors (Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon) and a star director in Clint Eastwood, and is set in Cape Town and Johannesburg, which bodes well for the country’s awareness and visibility, there was a nagging question as to which movie-goers around the world would be interested in a movie about South Africa’s transformation into a democracy almost 20 years ago, and more particularly, the country winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995 against all odds.   

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and one of their adopted sons were at the premiere of the movie in Los Angeles a week ago, and one wonders what would have made them see the movie, other than respect for their fellow-actors and the producer.

The filming is mainly concentrated on the rugby field and in Madiba’s official residences and offices.  Cape Town features in the scenic shots, one being a magnificent shot of a SAA aeroplane flying in front of Table Mountain; various shots of the V&A Waterfront, including a trip to Robben Island on the ferry, and a number of rugby match celebrations at Ferrymans; and a run on Beach Road in Mouille Point, the lighthouse forming a dominant backdrop.

While most would say that Morgan Freeman was the star of the movie, playing the role of the magnificent Nelson Mandela, who sees the Rugby World Cup as a way in which to unite 42 million South Africans, it is Matt Damon who is the real star.   Matt Damon IS Francois Pienaar, and speaks with a most believable South African accent; Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman in voice, and is Nelson Mandela in looks only.

Nostalgically, the movie was interesting to see, in observing how much and yet how little has changed in South Africa in 20 years.    Long-forgotten brand names, such as Volkskas, Xerox and Iscor, and old logos such as those of SAA and Coca Cola, were visible around the rugby fields.

One error was that Madiba was seen to be reading the Cape Argus for breakfast!   Some characters had too pronounced an (unrealistic) South African accent, including Pienaar’s mother, and the white security men.   Pienaar’s wife Nerine, played by local actress Marguerite Wheatley, was very real in acting and speaking.  Both Freeman and Damon have been nominated for the Screen Actors’ Guild awards, as best actor and best supporting actor, respectively.

The name of the movie comes from the Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley, which Mandela had in his prison cell on Robben Island, and was the mantra by which he survived:

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Given the 2010 World Cup, and a similar scenario of only a particular section of the South African population enjoying soccer,  ’Invictus’ may hold clues as to how President Zuma and FIFA will get all South Africans behind the spirit of the world’s biggest soccer event.

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

The Sweet Service Award  goes to 221 Waterfront restaurant, in the Victoria Wharf in the V&A, and its Public Relations consultant Annette Ashley, for a wonderful dinner of a prawn and avocado handroll, a main course of duck, and a lovely bottle of Hartenberg 2005 Shiraz, with efficient service, and an evening of chatting.   Ms Ashley’s hard work has put the restaurant on the map, with an Australian soccer group signing up the restaurant for 3 weeks for its catering and meeting needs during the 2010 World Cup.  

The Sour Service Award  goes to Cape Town Tourism and MediaNova, the publishing company, which was appointed by Cape Town Tourism to produce its Visitors’ Guide for 2010.   Cape Town Tourism regularly changes its Visitors’ Guide publisher, and this means a new learning curve for each publisher, and an irritation for the members of Cape Town Tourism who advertise in the Guide.  The current issue’s accommodation ad design is completely ineffectual, in that the tiny type size of the copy in the 1/16th ads is barely legible, especially the name of each establishment.   The company also forgot to allow a line for the street address in the contact details!  The Guide still has not been published, being more than a month behind schedule.   The lack of management by Cape Town Tourism over the production of this Guide is most irresponsible!

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.

Capetonians are in for a summertime treat with a variety of AquaFestival shows presented almost daily, until 6 January, in the V&A Waterfront.

Based on past Aqua Opera performances, the new AquaFestival show has been expanded to change its focus every 3 days or so.   It started off with H2Opera earlier this week, features the popular Parlotones on 18 December, Freshly Ground on 19 December, a Jazz tribute to Miriam Makeba from 20 - 22 December, AquaCarols directed by Richard Cock from 22 - 24 December, Johnny Clegg from 26 - 28 December, AquAbba from 29 - 31 December, AquaJazz on 1 January, AquaBallet on 2 and 3 January, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo from 4 - 6 January.   The Zip Zap circus performs daily until 31 December.

Performed on a stage built on a floating barge moored close to the Aquarium, with Table Mountain as a magnificent backdrop, the setting in good weather is exceptional.  Even the singing seals trying to out-do the opera singers added an interesting touch to the concert.   The H2Opera was performed by local singers Pretty Yende and Otto Maidi, while Oleysa Petrova and Brad Cooper are two visiting singers, from Russia and Australia, respectively.

Further details can be obtained from www.aquafestival.com.  Tickets can be bought at Computicket.

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