Happy holidays to everyone

from all of us at Travelife Magazine.

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A four-course dinner by lamplight at Sabi Sabi’s Selati Lodge

We were seated across our ranger Neil — your ranger usually joins you for dinner, so there were about three or four rangers seated with us eight guests that night — and we were having a wonderful meal of impala carpaccio and a beef steak when suddenly a lion roared in the distance.

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A Boma dinner at Selati Lodge

That’s a photo of our tracker and Neil at the wheel, and we’re seated at the back of the jeep. And we’re racing after a lion in the dark!

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We were in South Africa for a nice holiday for two weeks last month

We sat right next to the open kitchen at Test Kitchen in Cape Town, and had the 11-course dinner. Test Kitchen was just chosen as South Africa’s best restaurant.

The list of 10 best restaurants in South Africa just came out, and we’re happy to note that Travelife Magazine got every restaurant right, at least for the destinations we visited.

We went to four out of the 10 restaurants, and most of the others were in places we didn’t go to.

The food at Test Kitchen in Cape Town, recently chosen South Africa’s best restaurant, was innovative, experimental and enjoyable. We had an 11-course dinner here.

We also visited 2 very new restaurants that we are so sure will make it to the Top 10 Restaurants of South Africa for 2013 if they keep on cooking in the way we experienced last month, living a TRAVELIFE in South Africa.

The Boss and I are big foodies so restaurants were a top priority for our South Africa trip. And at the same time, I’m big on luxury and we’re keen on best-of-breed experiences, so we basically did the very best of South Africa in two weeks.

The action at Test Kitchen in Cape Town on the night we dined there. Test Kitchen was judged South Africa’s best restaurant.

For restaurants, our top picks in the places we visited in South Africa were:

1) Test Kitchen in Cape Town (2012 Restaurant of the Year)
2) Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek (2012 Chef of the Year)
3) La Colombe in Constantia
4) Rust en Vrede in Stellenbosch (2012 Service Award of the Year)

The Boss picked #1 while I picked #2,3 and 4 although I think he would have picked at least #2 as well. I like fancier more traditional restaurants while he likes modern cutting-edge establishments so between us we have a nice mix for a trip.

Remains of dinner and wine at Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek. LQF was chosen South Africa’s #2 best restaurant, and Chef Margot Jansen was chosen South Africa’s best chef.

In the above restaurants list, #2 to #4 are considered among the best in Africa and the Middle East, and this is why we made sure to eat here during our trip. Fantastic food and truly enjoyable meals.

Meanwhile, Test Kitchen (#1 on the Travelife list and in the Top 10 list) is relatively new although it has a famous owner chef. It didn’t receive any major accolades yet because of its newness, but we decided to book dinner here on one of our two evenings in Cape Town. We certainly got that one right.

The food at La Colombe in Constantia. La Colombe has long been recognized as one of the best restaurants in the world.

Margot Jansen of Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek is South Africa’s chef of the year for 2012

In addition, Chef Margot Janssen of Le Quartier Francais was chosen South Africa’s Chef of the Year for 2012. We really enjoyed her food, and dinner here was on par with Test Kitchen for us, although in a different way.

But I’ll let someone else explain the details of these wonderful meals in an upcoming issue of Travelife Magazine.

Table with a view at Le Quartier Francais. South Africa’s #2 best restaurant also has beautiful accommodations, so you can dine, drink and sleep. And not have to drive.

No one travels like us. Or eats like us. Or writes like us.

When we booked these restaurants for our South Africa trip last month, the Top 10 Restaurants in South Africa list had not yet been released.

So we’re quite happy to note that we called things right. We do seriously like food, after all.

We really liked La Colombe in Constantia as well. My meal here coincides with one of my favorite days on the trip.

We’re also pretty sure that two restaurants we additionally picked will make it to the 2013 list. They didn’t make it this year only because they’re too new to do so.

Our top contenders for newbies on the 2013 list are Five Hundred at the Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg and Camphors at Vergelegen in Somerset West, very near Stellenbosch and Cape Town.

On our 2nd night in South Africa, we visited Chef David Higgs of Five Hundred, Johannesburg’s newest fine dining restaurant, in his kitchen. Afterwards we had an amazing meal. We’re so sure he’ll make the list in 2013.

We actually visited internationally famous chef David Higgs of Five Hundred in his kitchen, when Five Hundred was still filled with boxes. This was my pick, by the way, and I remember we were incredibly tired from a very long day by the time we got here — but the food certainly perked us up.

We’d come for dinner at the Saxon Hotel exactly ten days before Five Hundred was going to formally open; but we’d wanted to try his food so much so David Higgs instead created a wonderful tasting menu just for us and served it in a temporary but very beautiful venue in the hotel.

David Higgs explains our tasting menu to us

It was an excellent meal and we were both in raptures. If this is a sign of things to come — Five Hundred is now officially open in Johannesburg, by the way — then Five Hundred will definitely be in the Top 10 list for 2013.

Incidentally, David Higgs used to be the chef for Rust en Vrede, long considered one of South Africa’s best restaurants, and also one of the best restaurants in the world according to the S. Pellegrino.

So we’re glad to see Rust en Vrede still in the Top 10 list as well, even with a different chef at the helm. We very much enjoyed our meal here — this was where I first had a Chalmers steak — and we also liked Rust en Vrede’s boutique wines.

I hope Camphors at Vergelegen in Somerset West will make it to the list next year.

My second choice for a top new restaurant for 2013 is Camphors at Vergelegen, which is the fine dining restaurant of the beautiful Vergelegen Winery. We had a wonderful meal here, accompanied by their equally memorable wines.

This is the restaurant proper of Camphors at Vergelegen. As it was such a fine day when we visited, we had a three-hour+ lunch on the patio instead.

This time, Camphors at Vergelegen had just been open for two weeks; so it was still undergoing birth pains and finalizing lots of things, and we were among its first customers. But what we had on that day was definitely impressive.

I’m sure this will soon be one of the Cape’s top dining venues.

The chef at Camphors at Vergelegen

So there you have it. We’re so happy we got our restaurant selections in South Africa right. And if we had had more dinner slots to fill, in our never-ending TRAVELIFE, here’s what I would have added to our South Africa trip: the Greenhouse at The Cellars-Hohenhort, which is also another place I wanted to stay in, and Jordan in Stellenbosch. Just have to save these for next time.

I don’t want to sound repetetive here but I just can’t help it.

No one travels like us. Or eats like us. Or writes like us. And that’s why we’re #1.









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Famous South African chef David Higgs, of the Saxon Boutique Hotel, talks to Travelife from his kitchen, over pre-dinner champagne.

Last night we had a most wonderful dinner in Johannesburg, living a TRAVELIFE, in the Saxon Hotel, South Africa’s top boutique hotel, to get a preview of the creations of David Higgs, one of South Africa’s most famous chefs.

There are basically two top hotels to stay in, in Johannesburg.

The beautiful Westcliff hotel

The Westcliff, which is run by the Orient Express hotels group, and the Saxon Boutique Hotel. The Westcliff is a grand, elegant and traditional hotel on a hilltop. It’s lovely and it’s everyone’s favorite classic venue for the grand milestones in their lives. Meanwhile Saxon is hip, contemporary and ultra-cool.

They’re both wonderful, and it depends on which type you prefer. But look no further than either of these two, for the best hotel experience in Johannesburg.

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Back to David Higgs. David Higgs used to be at the helm of Rust en Vrede, located about an hour outside Cape Town. It’s one of the top restaurants in the world according to the S. Pellegrino annual ratings three years in a row. The last S. Pellegrino rating (2011) pegged Rust en Vrede at #61.

In May he moved to Johannesburg to oversee all the cooking at the Saxon Boutique Hotel and Villas, and especially for its new fine dining restaurant called Five Hundred.

This was our first course of locally-sourced crab

Five Hundred is only opening next Tuesday, but already it’s gotten great fanfare in Johannesburg because David Higgs really is an internationally-famous chef.

Also there are a lot of good options for dining in the Cape Town area, but much fewer in Johannesburg. The opening of Five Hundred next week will completely change the dining scene in Johannesburg, and this will most definitely rank among South Africa’s top restaurants — and most certainly it’s top new restaurant.

We couldn’t eat at Five Hundred itself, of course, as the restaurant is not yet ready. But as soon as we got to the Saxon, which is breathtaking beautiful in a very chic contemporary way, by the way, The Boss and I got a glass of very good champagne and we snuck into Five Hundred on the second floor of the hotel for a sneak peek and to say hi to David. We’re both foodies so this was a real treat to meet him.

At Five Hundred, there was David and his team working out the last minute details. We said hello and also discussed a little bit about the tasting menu that David had created for us for dinner.

Champagne, champagne, and more champagne…

Then we went back down to what is serving as a temporary restaurant — although it is very lovely as well — and began our evening in the company of two industry contacts of mine in Johannesburg. I’d arranged for The Boss and I to have dinner with them and it was most appropriate to choose what will soon become South Africa’s best new restaurant as the venue. We both wanted to taste David Higg’s food.

Chef David Higgs explains the menu to us

What an enjoyable evening it was. The company was excellent and we all laughed and talked, literally all night.

We’d woken up at 3 AM yesterday and stayed out all day, so we were really hankering for an early evening. But last night, we got home at midnight because the food was excellent and company was wonderful as well.

Saxon’s sommelier will be the first Master Sommelier in South Africa

We had a seven-course meal, and it was literally a foodie version of heaven, accompanied by wonderful local wines that the Saxon’s sommelier had personally picked to ensure the wonderful marriage of food and wine.

Neither the Boss nor I drink very much in general, but last night, I think we drank every single glass put in front of us.

On the way home, we were discussing the wines, and we both agreed that the local Riesling (2011 Riesling Close Encounter from Paul Cluver) to start and the third glass of champagne to end were the standouts.

We loved this first wine with our first course of crab

I also very much liked the 30-year-old port that the sommelier had chosen to accompany a very innovative cheese platter of Reblochon cheese made in France and South Africa.

Francis, the master sommelier, brings us some delicious 30-year-old Port. Perfect with a cheese plate including South African and French Reblochon cheeses.

The Boss sat across me and I looked inquiringly at him with every course served to check how he was enjoying. As I’ve already written, he’s normally very hard to please. But he looked like he was in seventh foodie heaven, so we three ladies were quite relieved.

Oh I would go back to Johannesburg just to eat at Five Hundred again.  Last night we didn’t exactly eat at Five Hundred as we’re a couple of days too early; but we had sort of a preview of their food.

The last of too much delicious champagne last night

I’m posting the menu from last night and a couple of photos below. And in between the food and drinks, we talked about life in Johannesburg and in South Africa in general, as well as about the merging of different cultures and influences. This is truly a rainbow nation.

These two ladies also gave me about 50 new ideas for travel destinations in the African continent, which distressed me no end last night.

There I was 36 hours into a two-week epic luxury food and wine experiential trip to South Africa, and I was already mulling new destinations for next year in my head — because of them.

Our fish course was a cold-water fish caught off the Western Cape

I said to them teasingly: “I will not thank both of you. You’re not going to make me sleep tonight, with all these new travel ideas.”

Sure enough, I woke up at 130 AM, wrote a blog entry and went back to sleep at 3 AM, and woke up at 630 AM here in Johannesburg. So not ideal. But that’s what thinking about a wonderful TRAVELIFE does to you.

And maybe it was all that wine; but towards the end of our meal, as we were all talking about food, The Boss actually told the two ladies having dinner with us, about me: “By the way, she cooks very well.“

An innovative and delicious dessert of Granny Smith apples and caramels in different forms

I can tell you that I almost fell of my chair because The Boss is more often teasing me than praising me. So I said to the ladies: “He usually never says things like this. It must be the wine.”

We four had a very merry time indeed. A wonderful 36 hours in Johannesburg, and just another day-and-a-half in my never-ending, and never-endingly eventful Travelife.

We loved this springbok wrapped in slices of beef. It tasted like veal.

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It’s been a wonderful and amazing 36 hours in Johannesburg so far, living a TRAVELIFE.

Yesterday we arrived in Johannesburg on a 12-hour flight from Hong Kong and checked into the beautiful Westcliff hotel, an Orient-Express hotel that’s one of the city’s most loved and elegant hospitality icons.

It’s also considered one of the top two — if not the top — places to stay in Johannesburg.

 

WHERE TO EAT IN JOHANNESBURG

 

The kids of Soweto township

We literally dropped our bags and then got back into the car for a city tour and a trip to see the township of Soweto, which is about 40 minutes from the city itself.

Then we had an impromptu, delicious and very enjoyable lunch at a famous and trendy African restaurant in Melrose Arch, one of the cool places to hang out.

 

The restaurant had really cool live music as we ate our first lunch in South Africa yesterday

Here we’d had our first taste of springbok in South Africa.

I’d ordered a very tender oxtail as well. Then we’d shared a huge plate of samosas to start and an excellent almond ice cream dish afterwards.

 

 

In the afternoon, we sat by the infinity pool of the Westcliff having drinks at sunset with Ian Jones, the general manager of the Westcliff who has just moved from Canada, and his top executive Wellington Mpofu.

It was lots of fun as we’re all well-traveled people, and so we sat around exchanging stories about favorite destinations, travel experiences and hotels.

The infinity pool of the Westcliff overlooking the city

 

MY BUCKET LIST NOW IS AFRICA

Tanzania, Namibia, Kenya and Mozambique are all high on my bucket list at the moment, and I learned a lot about Africa in general from our conversation with them, and with other people in the business, so far, over 36 short hours in South Africa.

 

The entrance to the apartheid museum

 

DINNER AT THE WESTCLIFF

Afterwards, we had a tasting dinner at the Belle Terrasse restaurant of the Westcliff — a very fitting start to our two weeks of adventures in Africa.

The Belle Terrasse is supposed to be the most elegant restaurant in the city. It certainly had a lovely view and great service, as well as wonderful food. More on that in a later blog.

 

 

RIDING A HOT AIR BALLOON OVER THE CRADLE OF MANKIND

 

Then today, we woke up at 3 AM to catch a hot air balloon flight over the forests, mountains and lakes around the Cradle of Mankind area outside of Johannesburg with a company called Air to Air Africa (www.airtoairafrica.co.za/).

 There are several hot air balloon companies in this area, but we were so glad we chose Air to Air Africa as the service was warm and friendly, and the management is very safety conscious.

Our pilot had 30 years of experience with hot air balloons.

 

That’s our pilot, very much in charge, as we floated over some lovely hills.

We’ve done hot air balloons before, but I’d never had such precise safety orientation before or seen a management so careful about weather conditions.

They also served a mean breakfast afterwards, which we both enjoyed a lot. We weren’t expecting to, as we’d actually decided to do the balloon ride and then have breakfast at a very famous dining destination nearby.

But they were full, and so we had to have the breakfast that came with the hot air balloon package instead. It was very nice and such a wonderful start to a great holiday.

As for our balloon ride, we had a most scenic flight in our balloon over the plains and hills of South Africa, a country so vast and rich in uncountable ways.

I experienced an adrenalin rush because it was just so beautiful.

BREAKFAST IN AFRICA

 

Beautiful croissants after a hot air balloon ride

 

We’d sat out on a terrace of a lodge in the Cradle of Mankind having eggs over easy, sausages and home-baked croissants, with a view of the pool.

It wasn’t luxury as we usually knew it, but everything was perfect.

 

The third wheel at breakfast today….

 

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a giraffe comes over for a really close-up look at us, while a peacock meandered about in the other direction, and a couple of springbok played in an adjacent field.

All very picturesque and surreal — but this was probably the moment that I finally felt we were really in South Africa. A trip we’d been talking about and planning since May, ever since we decided to do a trip together.

 

VISITING THE CRADLE OF MANKIND

 

Welcome sign at South Africa’s Cradle of Mankind. We didn’t expect to be truly fascinated with this attraction, but we were.

DINNER AT THE SAXON

 

The beautiful suite at the Westcliff

 

We were back by just after 6 PM for an hour to change before dinner at the city’s hottest new restaurant, even before it opens next week.

The restaurant Five Hundred is opening on Tuesday with Chef David Higgs at the helm, a really famous chef who used to head one of the top restaurants (in the Cape area) in the world, according to the San Pellegrino guide.

We were simply exhausted by the evening, even before dinner began.

A driver with a fancy car had come to collect us at 715 PM for the restaurant, and we were both falling asleep in the car.

 

This cheese appetizer, created by David Higgs at the Saxon Boutique Hotels,  blew our minds away. We enjoyed it with glasses of 30-year-old Port.

But, boy, the meal and the entire experience certainly woke us up. We had such a wonderful dinner and we drank almost every wine in the accompanying wine tasting course.

This evening deserves a separate blog entry, which I’ll do once I catch my breath back, living a TRAVELIFE in pretty amazing South Africa.

Good night from God’s Own Beautiful Country.

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