African Rain Forest at Western Cape Hotel & Spa reviewed. May 2010. (21-May-10)
THERE are ruby and emerald votive candle lights for African rain forest flowers and long raw-hide thongs for branches.
A wall of dancing fireflies calms you to sleep in the deep, soft beds, like lying on the loam with a warm heavy leaf for cover.
This is the African Rain Forest experience at the Western Cape Hotel & Spa near Kleinmond.
Lucinda, our deft forest guide, said we should have in our birthday suits rather than wearing bathers, but I was too silly and shy not to whip them off when I had the chance. All I could think of after being scrubbed shoulder to foot with oil-rich coarse salt was that my butt was missing out.
Step two of 13 is to shower off the salt so that just the silky oil remains. Next we splash our heads and faces in the mosaic fountain before steaming for 10 minutes.
Visual and textural detail is key here, so rather than be satisfied with utilitarian tiling, there are florid patterns and great whooshes of colour to further evoke the lush, verdant forest. In the sauna stage we choose from lemon, lavender or ylang ylang essential oils to be added to our water jar, again not the sort we see at the gyms but a beautifully hewn, womb-like wooden bowl.
I liked the mist station best (and while I’m choosing favourites, the hot and cold feet Sitz bath the least, as I found them uncomfortable for my legs).
Now it’s rest time which I think it what makes this experience so very much more than moving from sauna to steam room at the gym. In the dim light objects take on a ghoulish shape and the Ethiopian cross on the table beside my z-shaped resting couch seems to wink at me in agreement.
The monsoon comes flooding down and I’m grateful for the towel with which to cover my face. I need to create a tent-like shape with my hands as the wet towel, so close to my face, reminds me of the torture technique they used on anti-apartheid activists.
I’m much happier turned onto my tummy with the water, now pelting and pulsating through any muscular tension in my backs and legs. Again I wished myself without a bather.
Walking towards the Candle Room, my skin, baby soft with the application of rich moisturizing cream, I notice the lurid feather headdresses on the wall. If someone walked around the corner with a quill though his nose I’d probably not even look twice as I have allowed the visual and other sensory cues to transport me to another, more exotic place.
In the dressing room I see the time. Not only have I relaxed but also freed myself from my inner clock. It is two hours later than I expect it is and I am now late for another appointment. The impact of this spa experience is so great it succeeds in stopping time. Even the grey hairs and crows feet around my eyes are diminished.
Heading back to Pringle Bay we stopped at Harold Porter Botanical Garden for a picnic of delicious pies from Angie’s Pudding and Pie and there after at Betty’s Bay we saw the African penguins at Stony Point.
Sure the spa treatment will set you back R520 per person for the two hour experience and entrance to the Gardens and Penguins is a combined R26 but when you consider the investment in yourself, it’s a whole lot cheaper than anti-wrinkle cream.
Follow BrianBerkmanZA on Twitter or email Brian@BrianBerkman.com for media relations campaigns. • Permalink • Comments [0]
News from Indaba, restaurant specials and tribute to Lannice Snyman (13-May-10)
WHILE the winter rains come down in Cape Town, Durban puts its tongue out at us with its warm and sunny weather and bath-temperature seas.
As a first time visitor to Indaba, the massive tourism show, I am overwhelmed by what’s on offer and a little sad that The Western Cape isn’t without competition. It is a shock to my parochial view that Cape Town isn’t the only crown on our lady South Africa. We may be simply one of her tiaras.
Bleary-eyed and with stubbled chin I met Le Quartier Francais’ owner Susan Huxter while on the pre-dawn bus to the plane.
She mentioned her exceptional meal at Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant that topped the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
The Tasting Room, her restaurant with Chef Margot Janse moved up six places on that list to 31. They have a stellar special offer if you move very fast: for R350 per person they will surprise you with a special menu designed by Margot Janse and her team to let you taste the best of The Tasting Room. Call 021-8762151 today.
At Indaba I chatted to entrepreneurial Chef Bruce Robertson who has become a Licensed Gourmet Guide (the first one, he claims) and also launched bush de.vine with recruitment ace Theresa Dold that will match chefs with lodges.
He was chatting to Cape Grace GM Nigel Pace, where Bruce worked before launching The Showroom.
I love the Cape Grace’s Library as a smart and convenient place for business meetings and look forward to trying Chef Malika van Reenen’s Vegan Tasting Menu at The Cape Grace’s Signal restaurant.
We will be dining at La Colombe, now in twelfth place on World’s 50 Best as well as at Uitsig and The River Club in the next weeks, but here’s a taste of their special offer. Diners at Constantia Uitsig Restaurant will be able to enjoy a three-course menu with a carafe of wine at a cost of R260 for lunch and R290 for dinner; a three-course lunch with a carafe of wine, and a five-course degustation dinner menu with individual wine pairings at La Colombe at a cost of R280 and R380 respectively.
A three or four-course lunch or dinner (with a carafe of wine of course) will be on offer at River Café for an impressive R195 or R225 respectively.
River Café patrons will be delighted to note that one child per dining adult eats absolutely free this winter and in addition, the popular laidback eatery will be offering a 20% discount on table of 10 or more for breakfast bookings.
At Indaba I also heard the very sad news that Lannice Snyman had died. She was regional chair of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards and wrote her first book Free from the Sea in 1979 which sold more than 150,000 copies in 10 impressions. Snyman had twin careers of food writing, restaurant reviewing and book publishing.
Tortoises and Tumbleweeds, dedicated to her parents, was her 16th book but she has published 11 books that are still in print including Vin De Constance with Michel Roux Jnr which won the 2007 Gourmand Award: Best Food and Wine Matching Book in the World.
I experienced her as a very warm and generous person whose life revolved around her family and the kitchen of their Hout Bay home, where I know her husband Mike and daughters Tamsin and Courtenay will continue to celebrate her spirit and contribution to eating well.
www.lannicesnyman.com
• Permalink • Comments [0]
Lunch at 15 on Orange reviewed. As first seen in 48 Hours. (06-May-10)
IT took big name chefs like Alain Ducasse and Gordon Ramsay to put hotel restaurants back on the global map as premier dining locations. Many years ago the only place “respectable” people would go to dine was the Grill Room at a fine hotel, but as individual tastes have developed, and destination restaurants became the norm, most only look to hotel restaurants for special-occasion dining, rather than for a cuisine experience.
The opening of 15 on Orange Hotel in the Gardens has established that once again hotel restaurants are the first-dining choice.
I think it was the opening of Bombay Brasserie at The Taj that confirmed for me that hotel restaurants were again up with the stars.
As I had hoped, the superb food at Nobu at the One&Only and the quality offering at Maze were not just flashes in the pan. Rudi Liebenberg’s success at The Mount Nelson’s stylish Cape Colony also proves the trend.
Don’t just take my word for it. EatOut magazine voted The Green House at the Cellars Hohenort Hotel tops too.
What impressed me about the food setup at 15 On Orange is that while there are separate sections at which to dine, any item from the very extensive menu can be ordered at any of the dining sections.
This isn’t unique, despite hotel manager Douglas Allen's suggestion that it is, as The Cape Grace has had this policy for a while now, but nonetheless, I commend them for arranging their kitchen in such a way as to make it possible.
More impressive though is the chef, Michael Mayepa, who hails from Mauritius and brings many years of finicky food (and pernickety clients) from luxury cruise liners and grand hotels to a menu that is very varied and will, undoubtedly, please everyone.
We started with the Maryland Crab Cakes (R90) served up with an excellent sweet corn relish, caper aioli and herby salad. Scrumptious. The Steak Tartare (R75), that classic French bistro starter, is hand chopped tenderloin, elegantly served with the traditional accompaniment of egg yolk, onions, parsley and toast points. I like that they specify that the meat is A-grade Chalmar and the olive oil comes from Morgenster.
You could also order the antipasti platter of cured meats, pickled artichokes, roasted peppers, marinated olives and mozzarella for R80 or the Thai-style mussels (R65) served in a rich, spicy coconut milk sauce.
The Caesar Salad (R55) was good. I like that they cut up the lettuce leaves rather than present great chunks of them with which to fight. Add grilled chicken (R80) or prawns (R95). I think the Lobster Cobb salad (R120) sounds delicious as a single course smart lunch.
There are four soups on offer which again asserts the menu’s global origins – Goulash from Hungary, Gazpacho from Spain, Tom Yum from the East and Italian Minestrone.
As our main courses, my friend the restaurateur Giorgio Nava, through whom I was invited to 15 On Orange, ordered the Wiener Schnitzel (R90) which he enjoyed. It looked crisp and delicious and authentically Austrian accompanied by a warm potato salad while I ordered the roasted rack of Karoo lamb Dijonnaise (R135) which was splendid in every way – I loved the pureed celeriac, the spicy harissa ratatouille, sweet roasted garlic, and the divinely tender encrusted lamb. What impressed me the very most about 15 on Orange wasn’t even something they made. Rather than produce less than the best confectionery, they buy in from Cassis in the Gardens Centre.
15 On Orange Hotel, Corner Grey’s Pass and Orange Street, 021 469 8000.
Brian Berkman has public relations clients, writes about dining out and luxury travel and the good life. Follow his Tweets at BrianBerkmanZA or see www.BrianBerkman.com • Permalink • Comments [0]
|
|