The Royal Hotel turns 150 this year, making it the oldest hotel in the Western Cape (it has more than three decades on the Mount Nelson) in one of the oldest towns in South Africa. To celebrate, owners Robert and Carminda are hosting a Gourmet Food & Wine Evening on 25 May, with a special package that includes the dinner, accommodation and breakfast for visitors who would like to stay over.
While a lot has been happening at Keenwä recently - breakfasts, food & wine pairings and more - the P.I.S.C.O bar was closed for two months due to renovations. After a long wait, it all changes this Friday night. P.I.S.C.O., well known for the famous Pisco Sour, Pisco cocktails, exotic drinks and Peruvian tapas, has its soft opening this Friday evening from 7:30pm and everyone’s invited.
Hartenberg Wine Estate is the place to be on June 2. A Feast of Shiraz & Charcuterie is a food and wine pairing event that sees some standout Shiraz from a number of estates, including La Motte, Raka, Kleinood and Hartenberg, paired with a wide variety of charcuterie from some great restaurants, bistros and cafés, as well as a selection of bread and olives from Café des Arts, La Motte & others.
Sixteen wine estates over five different routes and a day of entertainment, fine wine and food on 12 May. The Elgin Wine Weekend allows you to choose the route you’d prefer and R50 gets you access to wineries such as Paul Cluver, Spionkop, South Hill, Lothian Vineyards, Elgin Ridge, Hannay Wines and Catherine Marshall Wines. Included in the ticket price is an Elegantly Elgin Tasting Glass and free pour voucher.
Wine Style is a stunning, glossy, quarterly magazine that explores and celebrates the very best in wine, food, travel and lifestyle. This same quality is carried through to a website packed with interesting news and views, an online wine shop and a newsletter. They also offer a monthly big deal, where they’ve sourced something really special from a top wine maker. This month’s big deal is a case of Ernie Els 2010 Merlot.
Self described as “a specialist emporium of artisan cocktails, elixirs and intoxications and delicious morsels of sustenance”, newly opened Orphanage Cocktail Emporium on the corner of Bree and Orphan Streets is named after the real orphanage across the road (which does not have the words “cocktail emporium” in their name). This quirky new bar serves up cocktails with a difference and a small but interesting menu.
I’ve only recently discovered what a vertical wine tasting is. And if there’s a vertical wine tasting there has to a horizontal one, right? There is. Neither of them have anything to do sobriety, though. Beaumont Wines in Bot River is hosting Journey of Hope on 21 April. Journey of Hope is a vertical wine tasting of their Hope Marguerite. The tasting will be followed by a delicious lunch. Booking is essential, as these events are very popular.
Savour the true spirit of the Botriver Wine Route on Saturday 21st April 2012. Harvest is over and local winemakers celebrate by showing off the latest gems from their cellars and their post-harvest looks. This fun-filled event attests that ‘beauty comes from within the bottle’ as friends, family and wine lovers gather to enjoy delectable new wines and the raging beards, moustaches and facial fluff grown during the harvest.
Bar Bar Black Sheep in Riebeek Kastel is celebrating Spain in this year’s Medfest. Performances by The Solo Flamenco Dance Co., with five dancers, a guitarist and vocalist will be the perfect accompaniment to a menu of tapas and mains that include highlights such as rabbit stew with chestnuts, smoked paprika chicken with hot smoked sausages, spicy, Moorish pork kebabs and traditional Andalucian gazpacho.
One of the highlights of the Riebeek Valley’s Medfest takes place at Bazaar (Church Museum) on Friday, 30 March. To get you into the perfect Mediterranean mood, enjoy tapas and wine accompanied by singer / songwriter Danelle de Vries. Danelle sings of all the meddlesome yet magical aspects of the human condition, with humour and love. Drink & tapas served at 7-30pm and the show starts at 8pm.
Next Friday is your chance to don your most casual clothes and head out to Beaumont Wines for a unique evening of dancing in the grapes in a candlelit cellar and enjoying delicious food and wine. Besides the deluxe grape seed exfoliation, you’ll also get to bottle your own port to take home. The Beaumont Wines Annual Port Stomp takes place on Friday 16 March from 6-30pm.
Brewers and Union, PUMA and Rolling Stone magazine have teamed up to create a fantastic 40-week series that serves to foster South African music and give artists the opportunity to play for audiences in a relaxed, social space. One live act will perform every Wednesday and the line-up in the next few weeks includes Crossfire Collision, Stoker, Wolftown, The Rescu, and Shotgun Tori. Entrance is free.
Young and old can delight in a fun-filled family day blended with the finest wines from the Simonsberg area, country food, craft stalls with proudly local produce, harvest activities and horse rides when more than twenty top Stellenbosch wine cellars descend on Delvera agri-village to share their finest gems on Market Day on Sunday, 11 March, 2012. Entry is free and a shuttle service is available to and from Stellenbosch.
Don a festive attitude and head out to the Stellenbosch Winelands on Sunday, 4 March when Eikendal Estate pays homage to 31 years of quality winemaking with its popular Weintaufe Harvest Celebration. Delicious food and wine will be on sale so swap the Sunday roast for a sublime afternoon on the lawns and loads of entertainment including live music, stalls, tractor rides, fly fishing, barrel stomping and pony rides.
This month sees two delicious, not to be missed events hosted by Dear Me and Tjing Tjing in collaboration with Frankie Fenner. Together at Tjing Tjing celebrates creativity and originality along with leading designers, while the Meat-A-Palooza showcase ethically-sourced meat in all its glory. Sandwiched between these two, chef Vanessa Marx participates at the Constantia Fresh Festival.
Hermanuspietersfontein Wines and Celllar is so named to pay homage to and re-live the origin of Hermanus. They’ve also revived the traditional Saturday morning community market. The Food & Wine Market is a great way to escape the city. Sample and stock up on a bread, cheese, wines, olive oils, traditional & international foods, home bakes, organic coffee, and many other delicious hand crafted products.
Take a trip out to the magnificent Hemel en Aarde Valley on Saturday, 11 February and enjoy a fun, interactive tutored tasting at Bouchard Finlayson. This, the first tutored tasting of 2012 focuses on the older Chardonnays. Eight wines are included: some from Bouchard Finlayson, as well as one or two international examples. What’s more, the interactive tasting is free of charge!
Here’s a New Year challenge we can get behind. Toro Wine Bar is once again inviting Capetonians to help them empty a 55 litre barrel of Sterhuis Chenin Blanc on Friday, 27 January. A similar event held in October last year proved very popular and very successful - not a drop of wine was left in the barrel. The first glass costs R25, which includes a crystal glass to take home afterwards.
You still have time to taste some fantastic whiskies from around the world or attend a whisky workshop. More than 180 local and international whiskies, a choice of liqueurs, a host of new releases to the SA market and a range of luxury lifestyle products are just some of the highlights of this year’s FNB Whisky Live festival, the largest festival of its kind in the world
On the third level of Dear Me Brasserie in Longmarket Street you’ll find Tjing Tjing Rooftop Bar. The attic-style room with its striking red bar, leather and exposed wooden beams leads to an outdoor balcony, perfect for balmy summer evenings. Tjing Tjing offers a very good wine list and excellent tapas menu. On Wednesday evenings they also host free wine tastings.
The Swartland comes to Kirstenbosch this Saturday, 8 October. Don’t miss the Swartland Country Market where you can meet and greet winemakers, taste the region’s wine and olives, and mouthwatering cuisine, and enjoy great entertainment for adults and children.
Vredehoek’s favourite neighbourhood eatery - The Sidewalk Café - turns two this month. Help them celebrate their birthday by enjoying some delicious 2-for-1 specials and spectacular views over Cape Town. Not sure whether you’d prefer breakfast or dinner or just unwinding with a cocktail or three? Specials run throughout the day!
Beaumont Wines invites you to join them on 8 & 9 October for the Blossom Festival in the Green Mountain Eco Route. Enjoy a bread making day or just pop in to experience a working water mill; both experiences include wine tasting and lunch. The more energetic can discover floral treasures amidst the fynbos on a guided walk.
Trinity boasts a huge 4878mm x 2743mm screen and a Funktion 1 sound system for World Cup games and are serving breakfast and drinks before and during each game. Every week they give away Springbok memorabilia and an authentic replica jersey. Trinity, in association with ABSA Boktown, also offer exclusive packages.
Rugby World Cup or not, &Union in Bree Street runs some great specials throughout the week, including a full breakfast, morning after brunch and the well known Buckets O’ Love. Also on the menu: organic coffee, Real Music Wednesdays, unique wine, as well excellent sandwiches, their famous pregos and Germanic styled Wursts.
Rugby World Cup 2011 is days away and with the time difference it means games take place either early, or very early! Caveau - The Mill & The Courtyard - Sotano and Gourmet Burger are running some great breakfast specials throughout the World Cup - because if you have to wake up early, you shouldn’t have to cook too.
The Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay, which opened to rave reviews this winter, is launching its Summer Night Markets this Friday, 9 September. Experience an authentic slice of South African creativity, culture and cuisine.
Get ready for a magnificent, opulent, tremendous, stupendous, gargantuan, bedazzling, sensual spectacular at the BotRiviera Spring Weekend that includes, inter alia, horse riding, fly fishing, wine and olive oil tastings and blending, sumptuous meals, live music, pottery and art exhibitions, games, face painting, bike courses and much more besides
If you’re looking for a place to relax and enjoy artisan wines and good Italian food, and a place where your clothing brand (or lack of one) does not define you, Toro, which opened its doors at the beginning of August, is the place to be. Toro describes itself as “the coolest version of your favourite place”.
The first ever Toffee Food Festival and Conference promises to be a feast of tastings, meals, workshops, food exhibitions, a food market, a cookbook shop and a pinata exhibition.
We love the smooth and earthy La Muerte Agave De Jalisco from Collective São Gabriel. Win a bottle and try it for yourself.