Whirlwind
Cape Town Trip
– February 2008
Tuesday 19 February 2008
We arrived in Cape Town at 20:40, on Tuesday, 19 February
2008, for one of those whirlwind business trips.
Being hungry, and it being Cape
Town, there was no hope for a Steers on our way to Century City, so we decided on the N1 City
McDonalds.
Well, firstly, they were ‘understaffed’, so
service was poor. While we wait at the
window for our order, we saw this huge rat running across the parking spot,
sniffing and pausing for some food scraps.
Trying to ignore that, we drove on.
Hein stayed in this flat last week and told me
about it – but I wasn’t quite prepared…
It’s a lovely spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom
flat in The Island Club, Century
City (R700/night)– a mere
5 minute walk from the Regus offices.
And a News Café and a Woolworths food … and the Canal Walk Mall.
The first thing that strikes you in the flat –
is the black carpet. Yip, your eyes are
not mistaking you. With – a glass dining
room table with white plastic chairs.
And to top it all – a cherry-red sofa!
Movie Set Delicious!!!!!
The sofa was quite comfy, but if you drop the
smallest piece of paper on the carpet – it shows. The bedroom has black cotton sheets and I
liked the duvet cover. Walls a bit too
bland.
The patio is large with an ‘okay-ish’ table and
chairs. You walk down the steps right to
the water’s edge.
In the bathroom, there’s a washing machine and
tumble dryer. The kitchen was nicely
decorated with black marble counter tops and expensive appliances, including a
dishwasher.
EXCEPT …………….
NO COFFEE MACHINE OR COFFEE PLUNGER.
And that after I have asked (hinted) twice – now how can you spend so
much money on furnishings and appliances (who need a dishwasher, anyway) but
you can’t spend R200 on a coffee machine?
Why are these people in the hospitality
industry?
We sat down on the patio – it was a glorious
night – to enjoy our McDonalds.
Yuck! Everything was just bad.
Wednesday 20 February 2008
For breakfast on the Wednesday, we went around
the corner to the News Café. Although
I’ve packed some Nescafe sachets and tried to drink it, I just couldn’t. So I was gasping for my good-coffee morning fix. The waitress was very friendly and we had an omelet
and Eggs Benedict with a few strong Americano coffees.
Last year, I’ve contacted an old work friend
from 1992, Elenore. Told her when down
in Cape Town, I
will meet her.
After my coffee fix and numerous directions to
Blouberg, I went to meet her. She looked
just the same. I left my car there and
we drove to Green Point. Parked close to
the sea and caught up with 16 years’ chit-chat.
The weather was beautiful and every now and then, I deeply inhaled the
sea breeze.
After a few hours, we decided to go to La Perla
for lunch. It’s in the beach road, Sea
Point. What a lovely restaurant! (www.laperla.co.za)
The décor is artistic, mixed with beautiful old
furniture. Just loved the chairs! The deck area is also quite popular,
especially with the European visitors – catching some sun.
Cranberry juice was on the menu, so we ordered
2. The waiter came back – sorry, no
cranberry juice. But we can have cloudy
apple juice. We ordered 2. I had grilled calamari and Elenore had fried
calamari. The juice (Woolworths brand, I
think) was divine. We ordered 2
more. Sorry, no more …
And let me tell you – this restaurant is not
cheap!
At 2 o clock, I fetched my car, drove to
Checkers and bought a coffee plunger and coffee.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr Flat
Owner.
Then I said a quick hi to Hein and Kevin at a
new Mama Roma Restaurant in the Colosseum building and went to the flat for a
rest.
For dinner, we drove to Kalk Bay,
to The Harbour House. (www.harbourhouse.co.za)
At the ground floor is the Polana
Restaurant. What a magnificent little
place. Amazing ambience, decor and the
sea view…
We sat in this window, looking down on the
rocks and the sea. Isn’t it
amazing? Apparently with high tide, they
have to close the windows. The interior
décor is just so amazing – quite Moroccan.
They have mainly tapas and drinks on offer there.
My virgin Mojito was concocted of lime and
lemon juice and soda water with lots and lots of fresh mint leaves. So different, but really refreshing – one
should just check your teeth afterwards.
Kevin & Karin and Corneels & Karen
joined us there. For dinner we went
upstairs to The Harbour House. As you
can see, not my kind of furniture. All
white and prim and proper. But the menu is an absolute pleasure and the food
divine. The moon was so splendid, we had
to take a photo.
We had some interesting choices:
GAZPACHO OF PLUM
TOMATO R38
Served with red onion, green pepper, sweet
basil, garlic croutons and soft boiled egg - it was tasty, not too icy, and not
too spicy.
GRILLED RIB-EYE R130.00
On a
spinach & cream cheese ravioli with tender-stem broccoli. Served with a wild mushroom & truffle
ragout - I should have had that – the
sauce was amazing! And the steak butter-tender.
We had
quite a few ‘special’ choices, some with yellow fish, other with tuna and stir-fry. The yellow fish had a bacon, chorizo and
white bean sauce. Divine.
For
dessert, we had:
LEMON AND LIME TART R50
Caramelized
lemon and lime tart, served with chocolate sorbet - wonderfully light and
citrus, quite unusual with the choc sorbet.
Layers of
dark chocolate mousse, meringue & soft almond biscuit, served with a fudge
sauce - it was only a slice – nothing as ‘wow’ as the description.
Thursday 21 February 2008
Thursday
morning we met Linda at the Canal Walk - Mugg & Bean and had some
interesting bagels (under the heading Deli
Corner):
Smoked Salmon Trout
Smoked salmon trout, cucumber salad, cream cheese and capers R 38.90
Smoked salmon trout, cucumber salad, cream cheese and capers R 38.90
Bacon and Brie
Crispy back bacon, brie cheese, fruit chutney and crunchy rocket R 34.90
Crispy back bacon, brie cheese, fruit chutney and crunchy rocket R 34.90
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