I’M FILLED with pride. Having returned from visiting the very best hotels and restaurants in Europe, I’m beaming at how well we compete.
As exceptional a property as The Ritz London is, it is far grander than any hotel here but not necessarily better when compared with The Mount Nelson Hotel which, let’s face it, is our nearest equivalent. Both hotels are world famous for Afternoon Tea but The Mount Nelson’s is better. The St Regis Grand in Rome is the best, but that is another story. Afternoon tea at The Nellie is R135 while The Ritz London’s is about R500.
The Ritz London’s new event rooms at William Kent House are magnificently opulent. The red and blue lacquer ceiling of the one where Queen Elizabeth II had a birthday celebration can be seen from Green Park. Their ballroom made way for The Ritz Club casino and private restaurant. I think The Mount Nelson’s redecorated Ballroom (cream brocade on the walls, deep red carpet and gold leaf on the mouldings) is as elegant and will again be the first choice for Cape weddings and large events.
Their new Librisa spa (obscurely named after Cape botanicals) opens in December with a series of unremarkable treatments. What is different is a teen and kiddie treatments and a delicious spa dining menu (I sampled some dishes over breakfast) and can recommend the salmon, the smoked duck breast, home-made yogurts and excellent wheat-free pastries.
www.theritzlondon.com www.mountnelsonhotel.co.za 021-483-1000.
I mentioned my new hobbyhorse to Mount Nelson head chef Ian Mancais who it seems is on my side. In Venice I wanted to eat Venetian dishes (so much so I asked 95 Keerom’s Giorgio Nava to suggest regional dishes for Rome and Florence too) and Ian said he would be looking for defining Cape dishes for the Mount Nelson too.
I look forward to seeing smoor snoek on a table instead of butter to enjoy with bread, or mini boboties as an amuse bouche, rooibos tea-sorbet as a palate cleanser, waterblometjie instead of artichokes on menus etc. Roberto de Carvalho at The 12 Apostle’s Azure (021-437-9000) has a fynbos menu which I think is splendid and I want to see many more restaurants – from eateries to fine-dining establishments that are distinctly different from restaurants elsewhere in South Africa.
I raised this at a press preview at Bowl Restaurant (the first-floor restaurant in The Adderley Hotel). Lannice Snyman mentioned that she and daughter Tamsin had developed the menu for a new spot opening soon at The Gold of Africa Museum (021-405-1540) (www.goldrestaurant.co.za) in Martin Melck House Strand Street) and had incorporated a platter of mixed Cape dishes. Pete Goffe-Wood mentioned he was opening Casia soon on Nitida Estate in Durbanville which I look forward to visiting.
At Bowl I enjoyed the starter and dessert (salmon tartare (R49) and chocolate roulade (R40)) very much and on a previous occasion when I popped in for a light lunch I loved the Thai chicken noodle sandwich with peanut sauce (R38). Sit out overlooking bustling Adderley Street. (021-469-1900).
Trying to replicate our Florentine dining experience in Cape Town we had saffron risotto and La Fiorentina – a 1.5kg t-bone, grilled and sliced into portions for two people (we selected the polenta and mashed potato as accompaniments) (R220 for two) at 95 Keerom. The beef (a Romangnola and Nguni breed) is far better than any meat we had in Italy (although Italian tomatoes are unlike any we have here). It is delicious to eat two cuts of meat (fillet and sirloin) and Nava serves it finely sliced. We almost lost a finger when we tried to cut our own meat in Florence and had to wait for the waitress to do so at the table before dousing it in olive oil.
(95 Keerom 021-422-0765).