My writing these days is about little more than food and booze. And although the title of this entry suggests otherwise....it was a wine and food road trip.
What is said to be the best resto in Africa, is in Franschhoek. Ages ago, some of my colleagues and I decided to go here once during our stint in Cape Town. We had decided on the 5th of December. I made the booking, found a guesthouse and off we went.
More wine tasting on the way in first. Simonsig this time, a lovely winery in Stellenbosch. We had lunch, drove to the Guesthouse and sobered up. Deckchairs by the pool, surrounded by roses and vegetable patches. An amazing place, run by a well travelled Dutch couple. We polished off a bottle of Simonsig Viognier when it was that time of the day, and off we went to Le Quartier Francais.
And wow. A nice non snobbish atmosphere. Friendly and incredibly accomodating staff, and all four of us ordering the seven course tasting menu. With wine (apart from the size 4 Vietnamese Aussie chick who would kill herself drinking that much). We swapped the foie gras for scallops or duck, and two of us the orange buttermilk desert for amarula panna cotta. No problem what soever, we could make all the changes we liked. Amazing flavours, very nice wines to go with it. The most expensive meal I have ever had in my life, but man, was it worth it. The dickhead at the table next to us would not agree though: he hadn't liked his dessert and told the waitress it was revolting, in the rudest, unfriendliest way. Heated argument between him and the GF followed. I almost turned around and informed him of the existence of the phrase 'not to my liking' but thought the better of it. We paid and walked back to the guesthouse. With happy tummies.
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cape Town. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
A million dollar day trip
Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, Muizenberg (picture), coastal routes and sundowners at the Radisson. What a fantastic day and a fantastic weekend. Hopefully sufficiently recharged for the next five days before flying back to Old Blighty.
Boot full of wine...
...and this excludes the stuff that's being sent to our homes. An amazing day in Stellenbosch ended in the manager of Eaglevlei coming over to thank us for our purchases and walk us to our cars with the bottles. The mission for today is to buy extra luggage.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Back in CT
Sitting in an internet cafe, feeling remarkably well. The former as there is no internet connection in my apartment (that is pretty crap altogether so trying to move to hotel asap), the latter as the weekend has been fairly alcoholic so far.
The week had been tough, really tough. Work wise that is. So Nick and I decided to visit the Whiskey Festival in the CTICC (their RAI). Tasting tasting tasting until we were both whiskeyed out.
Then yesterday Patricia and I decided to go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting. After one boutique winery (an amazing one that took us forever to get to via dodgy dirt roads), it was time for lunch. The Lonely Planet had recommended a resto called 96 Winery Road so off we went to...indeed....Winery Road. They had a six course lunch on offer with wines. Trish was the DD but I had the wines. Didn't drink all of them, but defo half. And the food portions were small (they better be with six courses). Anyhow....it was 3.45pm by the time we were done. Enough time to visit Vergelegen, the reason we went to Stellenbosch to begin with. But it started raining. Pouring. And it was nowhere near as close as the map suggested. So plans canned. New try next week.
Just when I was sobered up again it was time to meet some colleagues in a wine bar down town. Our new director is a local, and it was very sweet of him to abandon his family for a Saturday night and come out with us. G&T to kick off with, more wine, some tapas, a cheese platter, desert wine. And back to the Westin's cigar lounge for a whiskey. In bed by 1.15am and as I said, slightly surprised I feel so good.
Tomorrow my team will be complete for the first time so hopefully work will get a bit better. Hopefully the weather will get better too, this is a pretty poor effort by the Capetonian weather gods.
The week had been tough, really tough. Work wise that is. So Nick and I decided to visit the Whiskey Festival in the CTICC (their RAI). Tasting tasting tasting until we were both whiskeyed out.
Then yesterday Patricia and I decided to go to Stellenbosch for wine tasting. After one boutique winery (an amazing one that took us forever to get to via dodgy dirt roads), it was time for lunch. The Lonely Planet had recommended a resto called 96 Winery Road so off we went to...indeed....Winery Road. They had a six course lunch on offer with wines. Trish was the DD but I had the wines. Didn't drink all of them, but defo half. And the food portions were small (they better be with six courses). Anyhow....it was 3.45pm by the time we were done. Enough time to visit Vergelegen, the reason we went to Stellenbosch to begin with. But it started raining. Pouring. And it was nowhere near as close as the map suggested. So plans canned. New try next week.
Just when I was sobered up again it was time to meet some colleagues in a wine bar down town. Our new director is a local, and it was very sweet of him to abandon his family for a Saturday night and come out with us. G&T to kick off with, more wine, some tapas, a cheese platter, desert wine. And back to the Westin's cigar lounge for a whiskey. In bed by 1.15am and as I said, slightly surprised I feel so good.
Tomorrow my team will be complete for the first time so hopefully work will get a bit better. Hopefully the weather will get better too, this is a pretty poor effort by the Capetonian weather gods.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Food heaven
A three course lunch menu at one of the 50 best resto's in the world, for 20 quid. Or so I thought. But there must have been some sort of small print that I missed. Had I read it, it would have informed me of the fact that the deal is Mon-Thu only. Luckily, my company consisted of four foodies and an easy going guy happy to discover the finer things in life with us.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
So off the normal menu we ate. And we ate well. We ate ridiculously well. We ate the best food any of us had had in a long time. Half my starter was rabbit with some chicken liver and other stuff, wrapped in black something ham (forgive me my lack of details, we also had some wine). The other half was scallop wrapped in said ham. The joys of sharing (gosh I wonder why we fall ill one after another). As a main I had lamb with some tomato chickpea courgette type ratatouille and a beautiful potatoey dish. The food porn is on the other girls' cameras so I can't show any dishes, but trust me... they looked to die for and so they were. Choosing deserts turned out to be almost impossible so we ordered the whole menu (four of them) to share. Lemoncake, chocolate ganache, an eton mess type dish and cashew creme. All with little bits and bobs that kept us very quiet for quite a while.
Needless to say the expense allowance the client gave us doesn't cover these type of lunches so it'll probably be the Cape Town equivalent of beans on toast the rest of the week. But it was so worth it.
The photo at the top left I took on the way to the wine shop on the estate. Bought a bottle or port that I am dying to open in London. The last time I had saffa port was in 1997. I won't easily forget Madelon and I, sitting by the fire a friendly Zimbabwean made for us, dining on raw carrots and beautiful port. Not many drinks bring up fonder memories.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Cape Town update
Time for an update. Between sleeping, working and eating, there is very little time for anything else. Not that we work ridiculous hours, 10 a day on average, but eating out every day is a time consuming activity. Waistline would be at serious risk if it weren't for all the seafood here. I pretty much eat it every night, staying clear of pasta's, chips and steaks and the likes. Southafricans don't seem keen on their veg, but the Kauai (a health food chain) on client's site does good salads to contribute to our five a day. Hopefully it won't be long until we can move into our apartments (key requests: NO sharing, internet and gym or pool) and can start cooking healthy meals ourselves.
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
European team is still great. We get along really well, which is pretty key when spending so much time together! We share meals, spa visits and frustrations after hours and buy each other lunch and coffees during the day. The floor we have at the client is huge and old but functional. One of the meeting rooms is our control centre. Two walls have been turned into massive grids of months and work flows and post it notes in all colours specify what team is doing what and when. Our morning prayers are held there too, just to make sure we will never lose sight of our deliverables! For relo's who worry I have gone all religous within a week: morning prayers are 30 minute team catch ups where we share issues and tasks of the day to be able to supplement each other as much as possible.
Friday a week I will fly back to old blighty for a week, before heading back to Cape Town. Three weeks later, I will do that again. Two twelve hour flights a month. That's a lot of airmiles!
Sunday, 11 October 2009
And another hard day....
....in the life of a consultant. This Lighthouse was our view during lunch. A lovely Greek place along the ocean in Green Point. In between a long walk and a longer walk. After the longer walk, Patricia and I saw it fit to book ourselves a spa session. Pedi/mani for me, scrub massage for her. A place to come back to. Half asleep we took a cab home for dinner in the hotel. After all that walking and relaxing there is nothing more for me to do today than sleep. Zzzzzz
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Cape Town day 4
From the moment we met in the BA lounge, we were a team. Over the past three days we looked after each other, car pooled together, had dinner together and developed in-jokes. Last night a Dutch colleague joined and from today, the team will include her. Regardless of what we work on, we're in it together. It's good. Today we plan to go up Table Mountain and do sundowners on Camps Bay. Good food and good cocktails are the main goal I believe.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
It's nice to wake up to blue sky every morning and see the big flat mountain from the brekkie room. It's utterly confusing to read dutchish all the time, and I am starting to mix up my languages big time. I also wonder if I never took the lift last time I was here. It's called a hijser, and I'm sure I didn't know that. Few things to get used to as well: condoms in the ladies at work. Being served by black people wherever you go (just when I'd started to get used to being served by Eastern European girls in London). And a cheerfullness around me I am not used to. This will be a good few weeks.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Cape Town
My job can be a weird one. On Monday morning I interviewed with our Southafrican client (from Mary's place in the Dam, on 5 hours sleep and no coffee) and on Tuesday night I was on a plane to Cape Town. After having effed up the dry run interview, my directors were really worried but the one that counted went well. Maybe I should deprive myself of coffee more often....
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
So.... BA business class. Nice. My own little pod with loads of privacy and a flat bed. Two of us weren't so lucky: they were bumped down to Economy. Thank god I wasn't as we got in at 8am and were in the office by nine. At least I had rested well.
In the office, I introduced myself to a Southafrican colleague by first name only. A lady standing next to me turns around and says "Saskia? I believe you know my husband". I gave her a puzzled stare. She was right though, I do know her husband, who I met when working in Amsterdam. How on earth she put one and one together that quickly this morning? Beats me. Very funny though.
We had a solid day of work both in the office and on site. Good team, good energy. I ended up being team leader despite being the most junior on the team. Feel flattered, but it will be challenging. Irish sr mngr and I instantly bonded at Heathrow over a mutual love of gin tonic (that wasn't available in the lounge) and quickly polished off a bottle of Syrah over dinner just now. Oh, the Irish...
More updates soon. Time for a decent sleep first!
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